SuiteCRM is an open-source alternative to the popular customer relationship management (CRM) software, SugarCRM. SuiteCRM got started when the SugarCRM team stopped developing their open-source version of the popular CRM application.
SuiteCRM is one of the best open-source CRM management software to run your business. Thousands of businesses worldwide use it to manage their CRM and ERP processes. It contains all the functionalities required for running any business with CRM needs.
For more about SuiteCRM, please check its homepage.
This brief tutorial will show students and new users how to install SuiteCRM on Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 LTS.
To get started with installing SuiteCRM, follow the steps below:
Install Nginx HTTP Server
SuiteCRM requires a web server, and the Nginx HTTP server is the most popular open-source web server available today. To install the Nginx server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx
After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used 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
Now that Nginx is installed open your browser and browse to the URL below to test whether the web server is working.
http://localhost
If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.
Install MariaDB Database Server
SuiteCRM also requires a database server to store its content. MariaDB is a great place to start if you’re looking for a genuinely open-source database server. 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 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 18.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
Next, run the commands below to secure the database server with a root password if you were not prompted to do so during the installation.
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
Once MariaDB is installed, run the commands below to test whether the database server was successfully installed.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Type the root password when prompted.
The server was successfully installed if you see a similar screen as shown above.
Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
SuiteCRM is a PHP-based CMS, and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu’s default repositories. To run PHP 7.2 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
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common 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-imap 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 memory_limit = 256M cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
You should restart the Nginx web server whenever you make changes to the PHP configuration file. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Once PHP is installed, create a test file called phpinfo.php in the Nginx default root directory. ( /var/www/html/)
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Next, open your browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address, followed by phpinfo.php
http://localhost/phpinfo.php
You should see the PHP default test page.
Create SuiteCRM Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages required for SuiteCRM to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank SuiteCRM database.
To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called suitecrm
CREATE DATABASE suitecrm;
Create a database user called suitecrmuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'suitecrmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON suitecrm.* TO 'suitecrmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download SuiteCRM Latest Release
To get SuiteCRM’s latest release, you may want to use the GitHub repository. Install the git tool to download SuiteCRM packages.
sudo apt install curl git curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
After installing the curl above, change into the Nginx root directory and download SuiteCRM packages from Github.
cd /var/www/html sudo git clone https://github.com/salesagility/SuiteCRM.git suitecrm cd /var/www/html/suitecrm sudo composer install --no-dev
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for the SuiteCRM root directory and give Nginx control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/suitecrm/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/suitecrm/
Step 6: Configure Nginx
Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for SuiteCRM. This file will control how users access WebsiteBaker content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called suitecrm
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/suitecrm
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/suitecrm;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
client_max_body_size 100M;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Enable the SuiteCRM and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/suitecrm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the SuiteCRM setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
http://example.com/install.php
Then follow the on-screen instruction. Accept the agreement. then continue
Next, validate that all your PHP requirements are met and continue
Afterward, type in the database connection info you created above and continue. You’ll also create an admin account to manage the SuiteCRM portal.
After installing, log on to the backend using the admin account created previously.
Enjoy!
Congratulation! You have successfully installed SuiteCRM on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10.
