How to Install Magnolia CMS on Ubuntu Linux

This article describes the steps one can take to install Magnolia CMS on Ubuntu Linux.

Magnolia is an open-source content management framework based on Java. It allows anyone to build and maintain websites for any purpose. Developed by Magnolia International Ltd, it supports multi-language, multi-site on an enterprise scale.

Whether creating a personal or business website, Magnolia CMS can help you create and manage your content on every device with its intuitive and powerful admin dashboard.

Magnolia is a Java-based CMS, so you must install Java. To install Java JDK 8, follow the steps below:

Add A Third-Party PPA to Ubuntu

The easiest way to install Oracle Java JDK 8 on Ubuntu is via a third-party PPA. To add that PPA, run the commands below

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java

After running the commands above, you should see a prompt to accept the PPA key onto Ubuntu. Accept and continue

Continue below to install Java 8.

Download Oracle Java 8 Installer

Now that the PPA repository has been added to Ubuntu run the commands below to download Oracle Java 8 installer. The installer should install the latest Java JDK 8 on your Ubuntu machines.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install oracle-java8-installer

You’ll be prompted to access the software’s license terms when you run the commands above. Accept and continue.

Configure Oracle JDK8 as Default

Set Oracle JDK8 as default; install the oracle-java8-set-default package to do that. This will automatically set the JAVA env variable.

sudo apt install oracle-java8-set-default

The command above will automatically set Java 8 as the default. And that should complete your installation; you can check your Java version by running the following command.

javac -version

Download and install Magnolia

Now that Java is installed, run the commands below to download Magnolia content, then extract it to the /opt directory.

cd /tmp && wget https://netix.dl.sourceforge.net/project/magnolia/magnolia/Magnolia%20CE%205.6.5/magnolia-community-demo-bundle-5.6.5-tomcat-bundle.zip

Unzip the downloaded content.

unzip magnolia-community-demo-bundle-5.6.5-tomcat-bundle.zip

Move the content to the /opt directory and install.

sudo mv magnolia-5.6.5 /opt/magnolia

Then run the commands below to begin the installation.

cd /opt/magnolia
sudo ./apache-tomcat-8.5.5/bin/magnolia_control.sh start --ignore-open-files-limit

After this, you should be able to access the site content by going to the server hostname or IP address followed by port 8080.

ex. http://localhost:8080

This is the page you should see. On this page, click the links below that read.

Run the Web update on the author instance
Run state on the public instances

Those links will take you to the installation pages.

This is only necessary once after the initial setup and again whenever you install a new module or update an existing one. Magnolia will auto-detect if a Web update has to be run when you attempt to log in. Running it ensures that all modules shipping with Magnolia or installed at a later point in time are correctly configured.