How to Install HumHub Social Network with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install HumHub on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with an Apache2 HTTP server.

HumHub is a free, flexible social networking engine that makes building and maintaining your social networking websites for any purpose easy.

Its lightweight, powerful, and user-friendly backend will allow you to easily manage your users and security.

For more on HumHub social platform, please visit its home page

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

Install Apache2 HTTP

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server, so install it since HumHub needs it.

To install Apache2 HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt 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, Apache2 will work as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

HumHub also needs a database server to store its content. MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with HumHub.

To install MariaDB, run the commands below.

sudo apt 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 MariaDB server

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, type the password you created above to sign on. If successful, you should see a MariaDB 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-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip php7.2-sqlite

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, save the changes on the lines below in the file. The value below is an ideal 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
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

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

Create HumHub Database

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

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

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called humhub

CREATE DATABASE humhub;

Create a database user called humhubuser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the humhub database.

GRANT ALL ON humhub.* TO 'humhubuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

After installing PHP and related modules, you must restart Apache2 to reload PHP configurations.

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.

Download HumHub’s Latest Release

To download and install HumHub, visit its download page here.

Or use the commands below to download and install via the command line. At the time of this writing, the latest version is 1.3.20.

cd /tmp
wget https://www.humhub.com/en/download/start?version=1.3.20
tar xvaf humhub-1.3.20.tar.gz
sudo mv humhub-1.3.20 /var/www/humhub

Since you just ran the web server as root, you should ensure the www-data user and group own any newly created files.

To do that, run the commands below:

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

Configure Apache

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

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/humhub.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 [email protected]
     DocumentRoot /var/www/humhub
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/humhub/>
        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 HumHub and Rewrite Module

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

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

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name or hostname. This is often localhost but can be a hostname or IP address. Your server admin or hosting company will have this information available.

http://example.com/

Continue with the installation wizard.

Next, validate that all requirements are met and continue.

Then type in the database name, username, and password and continue.

Next, choose the type of community you want to build and continue.

After that, create an admin account to manage the platform and complete the setup.

After installing, log in and start building your social networking site.

Conclusion:

You have learned how to install HumHub on Ubuntu with an Apache2 HTTP server. If you find any errors above, please leave a comment below.

Thanks,

Comments

Este

February 5, 2020

When i do “tar xvaf humhub-1.3.20.tar.gz” I have the error :
“tar: humhub-1.3.20.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now”

What i need to do pls ?

Mike

May 23, 2020

Did you really mean to install it to /var/www/humhub? On Ubuntu 18.04, Apache is configured to serve /var/www/html.

Also, it might be a good idea to delete the phpinfo file, as you don’t want people to know what you’re running.