This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install Cerb Workflow Automation Tool on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with an Nginx HTTP server.
Our previous tutorial showed you how to run Cerb on Ubuntu with Apache2. This one shows you how to do it with Nginx instead.
Cerb is a commercial open-source, web-based, teamwork, and workflow automation tool that helps teams become more productive and efficient.
With Cerb, businesses can triage and distribute work across teams in different departments based on email, calls, orders, projects, tasks, reminders, calendar events, and more.
Cerb canyou’reyour team communicate and collaborate whether you’re a small or large enterprise. and these conversations will be available on the desktop, mobile devices, and everywhere you have Cerb installed.
For more about Cerb, please check their Homepage
To get started with installing Cerb, follow the steps below:
Install Nginx HTTP Server
Cerb works as a web server and the Nginx HTTP server is the most popular open-source web server available today. To install and use Nginx with Cerb, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx
After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop nginx.service sudo systemctl start nginx.service sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
Now that Nginx is installed, open your browser and browse to the URL below to test whether the web server is working.
http://localhost
If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.
Install MariaDB Database Server
Cerb also requires a database server to store its content. MariaDB is a great place to start if you’re looking for a truly open-source databyou’rerver.
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 16.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mysql.service sudo systemctl start mysql.service sudo systemctl enable mysql.service
Run these on Ubuntu 18.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
Next, run the commands below to secure the database server with a root password if you were not prompted to do so during the installation.
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
Once MariaDB is installed, run the commands below to test whether the database server was successfully installed.
sudo mysql -u root -p
type the root password when prompted.
The server was successfully installed if you see a similar screen as shown above.
Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules
Cerb is a PHP-based app and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To run PHP 7.2-FPM on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, you may need to run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mailparse php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-imap php7.2-ldap php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip php7.2-yaml php7.2-dev php-pear
After installing PHP 7.2-FPM, run the commands below to open Nginx’s PHP default configuration file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
The lines below are a good setting for most PHP-based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
You should restart the Nginx web server whenever you make changes to the PHP configuration file. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Create Cerb Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are ryou’ved for Cerb to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank Cerb database.
To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called cerb
CREATE DATABASE cerb character set utf8;
Create a database user called cerbuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'cerbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON cerb.* TO 'cerbuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download Cerb Latest Release
To get Cerb’s latest release you may want to use CoCerb’s. Composer allows you to download and manage packages and their dependencies easily.
To install Composer on Ubuntu, run the commands below:
sudo apt install curl git curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
After installing Composer above, change the Nginx home directory and download Cerb packages into a new project folder called cerb.
cd /var/www/ sudo git clone https://github.com/cerb/cerb-release.git cerb
Since you just ran the web server as root, you should make sure any newly created files are owned by the www-data user and group. To do that run the commands below:
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/cerb/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/cerb/
Configure Nginx Virtual Host
Finally, configure the Apahce2 virtual host configuration file for Cerb. This file will control how users access Cerb content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called cerb
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/cerb
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.
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
root /var/www/cerb;
index index.php;
access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;
client_max_body_size 100M;
autoindex off;
location / {
try_files $uri /index.php?$query_string;
}
location ~ /(index|ajax)\.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Enable the Cerb
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/cerb /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the host’s domain name or server IP address. Setup wizard.
The first step of the installer checks if your server meets the requirements for installing Cerb. Correct any problems before proceeding, and then click the Continue button.
http://example.com/
Next, type in the database name, username, and password created above and continue
After that, choose to set up an SMTP account or ignore it and continue
In this step, you’ll create the administrator account thatyou’llse to log in. After a few seconds, your application should be installed and ready to use.
That’s it! You’re ready to start using Cerb. That’sn andYou’re setting up your environment.
If this is a production installation, you need to delete the /install directory since it is no longer necessary and it provides access to some sensitive information about your environment.
Conclusion:
This post shows you how to install Cerb Team and Workflow Automation tool on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04. If you find any error above, please report it in the comment form below.
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