How to Install Elgg with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

computer screen with icons on dashboard
computer screen with icons on dashboard

This article describes installing the Elgg social networking engine on Ubuntu Linux with Apache support.

Elgg is an open-source social networking engine framework that makes building and maintaining social networking websites for any purpose easy.

This open-source cm enables you to will help you build robust social networking websites for your school, company, or any group looking to collaborate around the same ideas or issues.

Whether you’re creating a personal or company social networking platform, Elgg CMS can help you build and manage your content on every device with its intuitive and powerful user and admin dashboard.

For more on Elgg’s social platform, please visit its home page

How to install Elgg social networking engine on Ubuntu Linux with Apache support

As described above, Elgg is an open-source social networking engine framework that makes building and maintaining social networking websites for any purpose easy.

Below is how to install it on Ubuntu Linux with Apache.

Install Apache2 HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. Install it since Elgg CMS 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, then Apache2 is working as expected.

http://localhost
apache2 ubuntu install

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Magento. 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 17.10 and 18.04 LTS

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

Type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server to test if MariaDB is installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

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

mariadb welcome

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-sqlite3 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

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 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
date.timezone = America/Chicago

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

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.

PHP 7.2 ubuntu nginx

Create Elgg Database

Once you’ve installed all the packages required for Elgg CMS to function, continue below to start configuring the servers.

First, run the commands below to create a blank Elgg database.

To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called elgg

CREATE DATABASE elgg;

Create a database user called elgguser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON elgg.* TO 'elgguser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download and Install Elgg CMS

Run the commands below to download Elgg CMS’s latest content. Then unzip the download file and move the content to the Apache2 default root directory.

cd /tmp && wget https://elgg.org/download/elgg-2.3.7.zip
unzip elgg-2.3.7.zip
sudo mv elgg-2.3.7 /var/www/html/elgg

Next, create an Elgg data directory to store data content.

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/elgg/data

Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/elgg/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/elgg/

Configure Apache2 Elgg CMS Site

Finally, configure the Apache2 configuration file for Elgg CMS. This file will control how users access Elgg CMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called elgg.conf.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/elgg.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/html/elgg
     ServerName example.com

     <Directory /var/www/html/elgg/>
          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.

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

Enable the Elgg CMS Site

After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below, then restart the Apache2 server.

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

Next, open your browser, go to the URL., and continue with the installation.

http://example.com

You should see the Elgg installation wizard page. Click Next to continue.

Elgg Ubuntu install

Validate that PHP requirements are met, enter the database connection info you created above, and continue.

Elgg Ubuntu install

Next, type in the site info, specify the database directory you created above and continue.

Elgg Ubuntu setup

Next, create the admin password and complete the wizard.

After that, Elggshould is installed and ready to use.

Elgg Ubuntu install

To login to the backend, type the URL below:

http://example.com/admin

Enjoy!

You may also like the post below:

Posted by
Richard

I love computers; maybe way too much. What I learned I try to share at geekrewind.com.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: