This article describes the steps to install and use ICEHRM on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.
ICE HRM is a free web Human Resource Management (HRM) platform for businesses and individuals to manage all their human resource needs from a single portal.
It offers HR resource modules for employee data, leaves, attendance, recruitment, and more, from an intuitive interface that is easy to configure and set up.
ICE HRM works great with Apache webserver. However, Nginx is also a great web server gaining lots of traction. Although we covered installing ICE HRM with Apache2, this post shows students and new users how to install it with Nginx.
How to install ICEHRM on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support
As described above, ICE HRM is a free web Human Resource Management (HRM) platform for businesses and individuals to manage all their human resource needs from a single portal.
Below is how to install it on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.
Install Nginx HTTP Server
ICE HRM requires a web server, and the second most popular web server in use today is Nginx. So, go and install Nginx on Ubuntu by running the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx
Next, run the commands below to 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
Install MariaDB
ICE HRM also requires a database server. And MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it, 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
sudo systemctl restart mysql.service
Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules
PHP 7.2-FPM isn’t available on 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-FPM
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
Run the commands below to install PHP 7.2-FPM and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-soap php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-intl php7.2-mysql php7.2-cli php7.2 php7.2-ldap php7.2-zip php7.2-curl
After installing PHP, run the commands below to open the FPM PHP default file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
Then change to the following lines below in the file and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On memory_limit = 256M cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 upload_max_filesize = 100M date.timezone = America/Chicago
Create ICE HRM Database
Now that you’ve installed all the required packages, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create the ICE HRM database.
Run the commands below to log on to the database server. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called icehrm
CREATE DATABASE icehrm;
Create a database user called icehrmuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'icehrmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON icehrm.* TO 'icehrmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download ICE HRM Latest Release
Next, visit the ICE HRM site and download the latest version.
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into the Nginx root directory.
cd /tmp && wget https://github.com/gamonoid/icehrm/releases/download/v23.0.0.OS/icehrm_v23.0.0.OS.zip unzip icehrm_v23.0.0.OS.zip sudo mv icehrm_v23.0.0.OS /var/www/html/icehrm
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Concrete5 to function.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/icehrm/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/icehrm/
Configure Nginx
Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for ICE HRM. This file will control how users access ICE HRM content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called icehrm
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/icehrm
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;
root /var/www/html/icehrm;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
client_max_body_size 100M;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
location /app/api/ {
try_files $uri $uri/ /app/rest.php?/$uri&$args;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Enable the ICE HRM
After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/icehrm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Restart Nginx by running the commands below to load all the settings above.
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name, followed by install. Finally, you should see the Concrete5 setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
http://example.com
Then follow the on-screen instruction and type in the database connection info you created above. Then click Install Application.
After installing the app, run the commands below to delete the install directory.
sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/icehrm/app/install/
You can log in to the backend with the username and password below
username: admin
password: admin
Enjoy!
