Symfony 2 Notes No SQL dump file was needed, the defaults data are added by doctrine fixtures bundle (see install explaination just below) Category count_post property does not exist because it's more powerfull to count posts each time the cache was re-generated The sidebar view was rendered into PublicController and the result was in file cache or APC cache (if APC extension was enabled) AbstractController contains helpers for Public and Admin controllers for pagination and getting the best cache, like it was explain in previous point Install Import Symfony2 using composer : composer install Create database : doctrine:database:create Create schema of database : doctrine:schema:create Load DataFixtures : doctrine:fixtures:load and validate with Y to continue Dump assets assetic:dump Enjoy !