Global Configuration is used for specifying certain configuration settings that can have a deep impact on the overall appearance and operation of your web site. Most of the settings listed in Global Configuration are automatically configured during the installation and that you can modify per your requirements. For example, you can change the Location Settings if you are in a different time zone. You can perform a variety of functions for your web site with this tool, such as these:
- Specify the web site metadata that is used by search engines to locate your web Metadata contain keywords that describe your web site.
- Specify the lifetime of the session. The session is created when a user logs into your site and is deleted when that user logs out. When you specify the lifetime of the session, the session is deleted automatically after the specified time. The lifetime is important for visitors who forget to log out of the web By default, the value of the Session Lifetime field is 15 minutes, and the user is automatically logged out if there is no activity during this time period. (While working on the exercises in this book, I suggest increasing this time limit to avoid having to log in repeatedly.)
- Specify the mail settings to indicate the mailer to use for e-mailing (e.g., PHP, Sendmail, SMTP, etc.). If you use SMTP as a mail server, you can also specify the SMTP username and Specifying the mail settings is required if you want to send and receive e-mail from your web site.
- Allow or disallow new user registration on your web site.
- Enable or disable web services (e.g., Google Search, Google Maps, ). Web services are facilities provided in the form of web methods that can be invoked by your application to add more functionality to your web site. For example, invoking Google Search will allow your visitors to search the Net from your site, and they will get exactly the same output that they would get while searching from Google.
- Allow or disallow the FTP If FTP is allowed, you can specify the FTP username and password here.
- Specify the location of media files and temporary file.
- Specify the database name (to store the contents of your web site), its type, and its hostname.
Source: Harwani B M (2015), Foundations of Joomla!, Apress; 2nd ed edition