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How to Setup eduTrac SIS LMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

Richard

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The text is a detailed tutorial on how to install and configure the eduTrac SIS Learning Management System (LMS) on Ubuntu using the Nginx HTTP Server. It includes steps for thorough setup like installing Nginx HTTP Server, MariaDB Database Server, PHP 7.2-FPM, and related modules as well as configuring eduTrac Database. Lastly, it provides guidelines…

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure eduTrac SIS Learning Management System (LMS) on Ubuntu with Nginx HTTP Server.

Our previous tutorial showed you how to install eduTrac LMS on Ubuntu with Apache2, which you can get from here.

eduTrac is an open-source student information system that helps you build and manage online courses for students, teachers, and anyone who wants to build their online courses.

eduTrac supports collaboration, communication, and built-in modules for a grade book, timesheet, financial, and more, packaged with popular web tools like PHP, MySQL, and JQuery.

eduTrac has an intuitive and powerful backend that will immediately start you with solutions for large businesses, universities, and schools to easily create tailored, individual learning scenarios.

For more about eduTrac, please check their Homepage

To get started with installing eduTrac, follow the steps below:

Install Nginx HTTP Server

You will need a web server to run eduTrac, and the Nginx HTTP server is probably the second most popular open-source web server available today. So go and get it for eduTrac.

To install the Nginx server, run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

After installing the Nginx web server, the commands below can 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 has been installed browse your browser to the URL below to test whether the web server works.

http://localhost

If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.

Install MariaDB Database Server

eduTrac also needs a database server to store its content. The MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source servers to use with eduTrac.

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

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 the MariaDB welcome message

Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules

eduTrac is a PHP-based CMS, 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-FPM and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, 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

Restarting the Nginx web server whenever you change the PHP configuration file would be best. To do so, run the commands below:

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

eduTrac Database

Now that you’ve installed all the required packages continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create an eduTrac 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 edutrac

CREATE DATABASE edutrac CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

Create a database user called edutracuser with a new password

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

Then, grant the user full access to the edutrac database.

GRANT ALL ON edutrac.* TO 'edutracuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download eduTrac’s Latest Release.

After installing the server and packages above, please get the latest copy of eduTrac from its download site.

After downloading, use the commands below to extract the archived content into the Nginx root directory.

cd /var/www/
sudo apt install git
sudo git clone -b develop https://github.com/parkerj/eduTrac-SIS.git edutrac

After downloading, run the commands below to create a phinx.php file and edit the database details you created above. Your phinx.php file should look similar to the below once you’ve edited it:

defined('DB_HOST') or define('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1'); // Usually localhost or 127.0.0.1.
defined('DB_NAME') or define('DB_NAME', ''); // Database name.
defined('DB_USER') or define('DB_USER', ''); // Database username.
defined('DB_PASS') or define('DB_PASS', ''); // Database password.
defined('DB_PORT') or define('DB_PORT', 3306); // Database port.

Run the command below to create the file from its sample file.

sudo cp /var/www/edutrac/phinx.sample.php /var/www/edutrac/phinx.php

Then open the phinx.php file, edit the highlighted lines, and save.

sudo nano /var/www/edutrac/phinx.php

Make the highlighted changes below.

/**
 * If you are installing on a development server such
 * as WAMP, MAMP, XAMPP or AMPPS, you might need to
 * set DB_HOST to 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost.
 */
defined('DB_HOST') or define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // MySQL server host.
defined('DB_NAME') or define('DB_NAME', 'edutrac'); // Database name.
defined('DB_USER') or define('DB_USER', 'edutracuser'); // Database username.
defined('DB_PASS') or define('DB_PASS', 'database_password_here'); // Database password.
defined('DB_PORT') or define('DB_PORT', 3306); // Database port.

After that, run the commands below from inside the edutrac folder to complete.

sudo ./etsis core migrate

You should see similar messages below:

Phinx by CakePHP - https://phinx.org. 0.8.1

using config file ./phinx.php
using config parser php
using migration paths 
 - /var/www/edutrac/app/migrations
using environment production
using adapter mysql
using database edutrac

 == 20160916002812 InitialSchema: migrating
 == 20160916002812 InitialSchema: migrated 1.3309s

 == 20160916035404 CurrencyTable: migrating
 == 20160916035404 CurrencyTable: migrated 0.0661s

All Done. Took 1.6338s

When you’re done, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for the eduTrac root directory and give Nginx control.

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

Configure Nginx

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for eduTrac. This file will control how users access eduTrac

content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called edutrac

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/edutrac

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/xavoc;
    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 / {
    index index.html index.php;
    try_files $uri /index.php$is_args$args;
      }

    location ~ \.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 eduTrac

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

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/edutrac /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name, then log in to sign in.

http://example.com/login

Username: etsis
Password: edutracsis

Log in and begin building your courses

Congratulation! You have successfully installed eduTrac LMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04

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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.
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