How to Install UVdesk with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

Install Apache

Apache is a popular web server that UVdesk needs to run. Installing Apache2 on your Ubuntu system is the first step to get UVdesk working. You can install Apache2 by running the commands ‘sudo apt update’ and ‘sudo apt install apache2’ in your terminal.

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 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. You should see the Apache2 default test page, as shown below. When you see that, Apache2 will work as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB

UVdesk needs a database to store its information, and MariaDB is a great open-source choice. To install MariaDB on your Ubuntu server, you’ll run the commands ‘sudo apt update’ and ‘sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client’. This sets up the database system for UVdesk.

To install MariaDB, run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

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

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

sudo mysql_secure_installation

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

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): 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 the MariaDB server when done.

Create UVdesk database

After installing MariaDB, you need to create a specific database for UVdesk to use. You can create this blank UVdesk database by first logging into MariaDB using ‘sudo mysql -u root -p’ and then running the command ‘CREATE DATABASE uvdesk;’. This prepares the database for UVdesk.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called uvdesk

CREATE DATABASE uvdesk;

Create a database user called uvdeskadmin with a new password

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

Next, grant the user full access to the uvdeskadmin database.

GRANT ALL ON uvdesk.* TO 'uvdeskadmin'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Now that the MariaDB server is installed and a database created go and install UVdesk.

Install PHP and Related Modules

UVdesk requires PHP to function, and we’ll install version 7.4. Since this might not be in Ubuntu’s default list, you need to add a third-party repository first. Run ‘sudo apt-get install software-properties-common’ and ‘sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php’ to get PHP 7.4.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.4

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

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.4

sudo apt update

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

sudo apt install php7.4 libapache2-mod-php7.4 php7.4-common php7.4-gmp php7.4-curl php7.4-intl php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-mysql php7.4-gd php7.4-xml php7.4-imap php7.4-mailparse php7.4-cli php7.4-zip

After installing PHP 7.4, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

Then, save the changes on the following 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.

Next, enable Apache modules for FastCGI support, then restart the Apache service.

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

To test PHP 7.4 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.

Install UVdesk

It’s time to install UVdesk using its GitHub repository. First, you need to install Composer, which helps manage UVdesk’s code, along with tools like Curl and Git. Run ‘sudo apt install curl git’ and then use the provided command to install Composer.

sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

After installing curl and Composer above, please change it to the Apache2 root directory and download UVdesk packages from GitHub.

sudo mkdir /var/www/uvdesk
sudo chown $USER:$USER /var/www/uvdesk
cd /var/www/uvdesk
composer clear-cache
composer create-project uvdesk/community-skeleton helpdesk-project

After running the commands above, you should see a success message similar to the one below:

To start things off, here are a few commands to help you setup:

  * Configuring your project:

    php bin/console uvdesk:configure-helpdesk

  * Run your project through a local php web server:

    php bin/console server:run

Made with 💖  by the UVDesk Team. Happy helping :)

Then, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for UVdesk to function.

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

Configure Apache

To let Apache know how to serve your UVdesk site, you need to create a configuration file. You’ll set up this Apache configuration file for UVdesk by running ‘sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/uvdesk.conf’. Copy and paste the provided content into this file.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/uvdesk.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/uvdesk/helpdesk-project/public
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/uvdesk/helpdesk-project/public/>
        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 UVdesk

With the Apache configuration ready, you need to enable it for your server to use UVdesk. To enable the UVdesk site and make it live, run the commands ‘sudo a2ensite uvdesk.conf’, ‘sudo a2enmod rewrite’, and ‘sudo systemctl restart apache2.service’. Then, you can access the UVdesk setup wizard in your browser.

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

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

http://example.com/.

The wizard will check your MySQL database connection for any issues and configure it with your application.

Type in the database and user you created above and continue.

The wizard will create a default super admin account that can be used to access your application’s backend.

Create a UVdesk super admin account.

Proceed with the wizard until you’ve successfully installed the platform. Then, done, start using it.

That’s it!

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to install UVdesk on Ubuntu 20.04 | 18.04. If you find any error above, please use the form below to report.