Geek Rewind

,

How to Install Open Web Analytics with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

Richard

·

Open Web Analytics (OWA) is an open-source platform used to track and analyze website and application usage. It is effective for small to medium-size businesses and web admins seeking to evaluate and enhance their web performance. OWA offers built-in support for platforms like WordPress and MediaWiki. This post provides a step by step guide to…

This article explains installing Open web analytics with Apache support on Ubuntu Linux.

Open Web Analytics (OWA) is an open-source platform built with PHP that you can use to track and analyze how people use your websites and applications.

Installing Open Web Analytics with Apache support on Ubuntu Linux allows you to track and analyze how people use your websites and applications. It provides full website analytics for small and medium-sized businesses and web admins who want to know how their web pages are performing and how to improve them.

OWA is a great place to start when you want to take complete control of your website analytics and data without using third-party solutions like Google Analytics.

It also has built-in support for tracking websites with popular content management frameworks such as WordPress and MediaWiki and other features that may not be available with other analytics platforms.

For more on OWA, please visit its home page

Install Apache HTTP Server

Apache HTTP Server is the most popular web server. Install it since OWA 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 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 whether Apache2 is installed, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.

http://localhost
Apache2 Test Page

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with OWA. 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 service to start 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

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

mariadb welcome

Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu’s 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-curl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli

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 OWA Database

Once you’ve installed all the packages required for OWA to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank OWA database.

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

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called owadb

CREATE DATABASE owadb;

Create a database user called owauser with a new password

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

Then, grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON owadb.* TO 'owauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download and Install OWA

Run the commands below to download OWA’s latest content. At the time of this post, the latest version is 1.6.2.

cd /tmp 
wget https://github.com/padams/Open-Web-Analytics/archive/1.6.2.zip
unzip 1.6.2.zip
sudo mv Open-Web-Analytics-1.6.2 /var/www/html/owa

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

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

Configure Apache OWA Site

Finally, configure the Apache configuration file for OWA. This file will control how users access OWA content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called owa.conf.

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

     <Directory /var/www/html/owa/>
          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 OWA Site and Rewrite Module

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

sudo a2ensite owa.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/

Let’s Get Started. to begin the installation wizard.

Open Web Analytics Ubuntu

On the next page, type in the database connection info and create an administrator account to manage the platform in the back end. and continue

Open Web Analytics Ubuntu

After entering the info above, click Next to create a superuser account to manage the platform.

Open Web Analytics Ubuntu

You’ll then be given the tracking code to add to the website you want to track.

Open Web Analytics Ubuntu

To track your web traffic with OWA, you must ensure extra code is added to each web page.

In most websites, blogs, CMS, etc., you can use a pre-made plugin to do the technical work. However, if no plugin exists, you can edit your website templates and add this code to the </head> tag, often defined in a ‘header.php,’ ‘header.tpl‘, or a similar template file.

JavaScript Tracking Code

Make sure this code is on every page of your website. We recommend pasting it immediately before the closing </head> tag.

You’ll find the private website configuration system at http://example.com/index.php.

Enjoy!

You may also like the post below:

Richard Avatar
Richard
Richard, the owner and lead writer at Geek Rewind, is a tech enthusiast passionate about simplifying complex IT topics. His years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations have honed his ability to provide practical insights and solutions. Richard aims to make technology more accessible and actionable. He’s deeply committed to the Geek Rewind community, always ready to answer questions and engage in discussions. He enjoys watching football, cheering for the Minnesota Vikings, and spending time with his family when he’s not writing or managing Geek Rewind.
,

Comments

  1. Waweru Gerald Avatar
    Waweru Gerald

    This was very informative. Thanks for this

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Exit mobile version