Install IonCube Loader on CentOS 6

Introduction

In this tutorial, I explain how to install the IonCube Loader on CentOS6. IonCube was founded in 2002, and introduced tools to protect software written using the PHP programming language from being viewed, changed, and run on unlicensed computers. The encoding technology grew out of earlier work on the PHP Accelerator project, and at first launch included an online encoding service where PHP scripts can be uploaded and an encoded version downloaded in return, and a command line tool for Linux soon after.

Prerequisites

(virtual) server
CentOS 6 installed

Step 1 – Download IonCube

Download the required files into the /tmp directory on your system and extract them.

For CentOS on a 32bit system:

cd /tmp
wget http://downloads3.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86.tar.gz
tar xfz ioncube_loaders_lin_x86.tar.gz

For CentOS on a 64bit system:

cd /tmp
wget http://downloads3.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.tar.gz
tar xfz ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.tar.gz

Step 2 – Install IonCube Loader

Select the right IonCube Loader to install. To do this, check your PHP version first. To display the PHP version, run php -v.
Example Output:

PHP 5.6.4 (cli) (built: Jun 26 2012  21:17:27)
Copyright (c) 1997-2013 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.4.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2013 Zend Technologies with the ionCube PHP Loader (enabled) + Intrusion Protection from ioncube24.com (unconfigured) v5.0.18, Copyright (c) 2002-2015, by ionCube Ltd.

After that, locate the extension directory of the installed PHP version using the command below:

php -i | grep extension_dir

Example Output:

extension_dir => /usr/lib/php5/20131226 => /usr/lib/php5/20131226
sqlite3.extension_dir => no value => no valut

Copy the IonCube Loader to the extension directory:

cp /tmp/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.6.so /usr/lib/php5/20131226/

Step 3 – Configure IonCube Loader

Open the configuration file and add the IonCube Loader:

vi /etc/php.ini

zend_extension = /usr/lib/php5/20131226/ioncube_loader_lin_5.6.so

Restart your web server to apply the changes:

systemctl restart httpd

Step 4 – Test IonCube Loader

Check if the IonCube Loader is enabled with the command php -m.

Conclusion

The IonCube Loader is now installed on your server. Enjoy!

Reprint: https://community.hetzner.com/tutorials/how-to-install-ioncube-loader-centos-6