How to Install Snipe-IT with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install the Snipe-IT Asset Management platform on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with an Apache2 HTTP server.

Snipe-IT is a free, open-source IT asset management system written in PHP.

With Snipe-IT, you can easily manage your IT assets with its user-friendly portal, including managing users and security roles.

Whether you’re creating a personal or company asset management platform, Snipe-IT can help you build and manage your content on every device with its intuitive and powerful user and admin dashboard…

For more on Snipe-IT, please visit its home page

To get started with installing Snipe-IT, follow the steps below:

Install Apache2 HTTP

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server, so install it since Snipe-IT 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 determine if the Apache2 HTTP server is installed, simply open your web browser and type in the server’s IP or hostname.

When you see a page similar to the one below, Apache2 is installed and working.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

Snipe-IT also needs a database server to store its content. And MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers with Snipe-IT.

To install MariaDB run the commands below.

sudo apt 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

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 on to the MariaDB server.

sudo mysql -u root -p

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

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-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip php7.2-sqlite

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
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

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

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.

Create Snipe-IT Database

Now that you’ve installed all the required packages, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a Snipe-IT database.

Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called snipeit

CREATE DATABASE snipeit;

Create a database user called snipeituser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the snippet database.

GRANT ALL ON snipeit.* TO 'snipeituser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Snipe-IT Latest Release

You may want to use the GitHub repository to get Snipe-IT’s latest release. Install Composer, Curl, and other dependencies to get started.

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, change into the Apache2 root directory and download Snipe-IT packages from Github.

cd /var/www/
sudo git clone https://github.com/snipe/snipe-it snipeit
sudo cp /var/www/snipeit/.env.example /var/www/snipeit/.env

Next, edit the .env file created above and make the highlighted changes to suit your environment.

sudo nano /var/www/snipeit/.env

Make the highlighted changes.

# --------------------------------------------
# REQUIRED: BASIC APP SETTINGS
# --------------------------------------------
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_KEY=ChangeMe
APP_URL=example.com
APP_TIMEZONE='UTC'
APP_LOCALE=en
MAX_RESULTS=500

# --------------------------------------------
# REQUIRED: DATABASE SETTINGS
# --------------------------------------------
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_DATABASE=snipeit
DB_USERNAME=snipeituser
DB_PASSWORD=type_password_here
DB_PREFIX=null
DB_DUMP_PATH='/usr/bin'
DB_CHARSET=utf8mb4
DB_COLLATION=utf8mb4_unicode_ci

# --------------------------------------------
# OPTIONAL: SSL DATABASE SETTINGS

Save the file and exit.

Next, return to the Snipe-IT root directory and update all packages via Composer.

cd /var/www/snipeit
sudo composer install --no-dev --prefer-source

From the Snipe-IT directory, run the commands below:

sudo php artisan key:generate

It should prompt and show you an application key.

**************************************
*     Application In Production!     *
**************************************

 Do you really wish to run this command? (yes/no) [no]:
 > yes

Application key [base64:6KnX/HGkNNcUGw2uucxBKT8+OwQ58yBp7vfa7sfwpDg=] set successfully.

Since you just ran the web server as root, you should ensure the www-data user and group own any newly created files.

To do that, run the commands below:

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

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Snipe-IT. This file will control how users access Snipe-IT content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called snipeit.conf.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/snipeit.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/snipeit/public
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/snipeit/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 Snipe-IT and Rewrite Module

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

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

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name or hostname. This is often localhost but can be a hostname or IP address. Your server admin or hosting company will have this information available.

http://example.com/

Continue with the installation wizard, validate that all requirements are met, and continue.

Next, create a system admin account to manage the platform.

After installing, log in and start to begin managing your IT assets.

Conclusion:

You have learned how to install Snipe-IT on Ubuntu with an Apache2 HTTP server. If you find any errors above, please leave a comment below.

Thanks,