How to Install ElkArte Forum with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure ElkArte Forum software on Ubuntu 18.04 with Apache2 HTTP Server.

ElkArte is a modern, community-building forum software based on Simple Machine Forum (SMF), but with improved code and new features that may not be available on SMF.

Many other forum software is based on SMF, including ElkArte. SMF is designed for ease of use to allow webmasters to create forum communities with all the features needed from a bulletin board with fewer resources.

If you’re looking for a simple forum platform that’s free to use and easy to customize, you’ll find ElkArte to be useful.

For more about ElkArte Forum software, please visit its homepage.

To get started with installing ElkArte, follow the steps below:

Install Apache

ElkArte is PHP-based and requires a webserver. The most popular open-source web server in use today is Apache2. To install Apache2, run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install apache2

After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
sudo systemctl start apache2.service
sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

To test the Apache2 setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see the Apache2 default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with ElkArte. To install MariaDB run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start and enable the MariaDB service to start up when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
New password: Enter password
Re-enter new password: Repeat password
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y

Restart MySQL server

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon into the MariaDB server

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MySQL welcome message

Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-pgsql php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-imagick php7.2-bcmath php7.2-gmp php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini

Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is a great setting to apply in your environment.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, save the file and close it.

To restart Apache2, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in the Apache2 root directory by running the commands below

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Then type the content below and save the file.

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php

http://localhost/phpinfo.php

You should see the PHP default test page.

Create ElkArte Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create an ElkArte database.

Run the commands below to log on to MySQL. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called elkarte

CREATE DATABASE elkarte;

Create a database user called elkarteuser with a new password

CREATE USER 'elkarteuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the elkarteuser database.

GRANT ALL ON elkarte.* TO 'elkarteuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download ElkArte Latest Release

Next, continue below to download the ElkArte package. To download, go to the link below and download the latest version.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into the Apache2 root directory.

wget https://github.com/elkarte/Elkarte/releases/download/v1.1.6/ElkArte_v1-1-6_install.zip
sudo mkdir /var/www/elkarte
sudo unzip ElkArte_v1-1-6_install.zip -d /var/www/elkarte

Change or modify the directory permission to fit the Apache2 configuration.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/elkarte
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/elkarte

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for ElkArte. This file will control how users access ElkArte content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called elkarte. conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/elkarte.conf

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location.

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin admin@example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/elkarte
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/elkarte/>
          Options FollowSymlinks
          AllowOverride All
          Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
    
</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Enable the ElkArte and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite elkarte.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see the ElkArte setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.