This article describes steps one can take to install XWiki CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Tomcat.
XWiki is an opensource content management framework written and based on Java. It allows anyone to build enterprise-class websites for any purpose. XWiki CMS system offers a platform for developing projects and collaborative applications using the wiki paradigm.
Some of the features include WYSIWYG editing, OpenDocument based document import/export, tagging, and strong rights management and more.
Whether you’re creating a personal or business website, XWiki CMS can help you create and manage your content on every device with its intuitive and powerful admin dashboard…
Xwiki is a Java based CMS, so you must have Java installed in order to use it. To install Java JDK 8, follow the steps below:
Add A Third Party PPA to Ubuntu
The easiest way to install Oracle Java JDK 8 on Ubuntu is via a third party PPA. To add that PPA, run the commands below
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
After running the commands above, you should see a prompt to accept the PPA key onto Ubuntu. accept and continue
Continue below to install Java 8.
Download Oracle Java 8 Installer
Now that the PPA repository has been added to Ubuntu, run the commands below to download Oracle Java 8 installer. the installer should install the latest Java JDK 8 on your Ubuntu machines.
sudo apt update sudo apt install oracle-java8-installer
When you run the commands above you’ll be prompted to access the license terms of the software. accept and continue.
Configure Oracle JDK8 as Default
Set Oracle JDK8 as default, to do that, install the oracle-java8-set-default package. This will automatically set the JAVA env variable.
sudo apt install oracle-java8-set-default
The command above will automatically set Java 8 as the default. and that should complete your installation, you can check you java version by running following command.
javac -version
Download Tomcat Packages
XWiki also requires Tomcat webserver. the steps below show you how to download and install Tomcat webserver on Ubuntu. Run the commands below to download Tomcat version 9.
cd /tmp && wget
Next, run the commands below to extract the downloaded packages.
tar -xzf apache-tomcat-9.0.10.tar.gz
Create a directory for Tomcat files. and move the files there by running the commands below.
sudo mv apache-tomcat-9.0.10 /opt/tomcat9
Create Tomcat users by running the commands below. this users will own the Tomcat directory content.
sudo useradd -r tomcat9 --shell /bin/false
Then give the user control of the directory.
sudo chown -R tomcat9 /opt/tomcat9
Configure Tomcat9 Service
Now that the pakcage is extracted, run the commands to open Tomcat configuration file for its default user
sudo nano /opt/tomcat9/conf/tomcat-users.xml
Then create an account with password for the user and save by copying and pasting the line below into the file. just before the </tomcat-users>
<role rolename="manager-gui"/>
<role rolename="admin-gui"/>
<user username="admin" password="password_here" roles="manager-gui,admin-gui"/>
Save the file and exti.
Next, run the commands below to create a server account for Tomcat
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service
then copy and paste the lines below into the file and save
[Unit] Description=Tomcat9 After=network.target [Service] Type=forking User=tomcat9 Group=tomcat9 Environment=CATALINA_PID=/opt/tomcat9/tomcat9.pid Environment=JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/ Environment=CATALINA_HOME=/opt/tomcat9 Environment=CATALINA_BASE=/opt/tomcat9 Environment="CATALINA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m" Environment="JAVA_OPTS=-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Dnet.sf.ehcache.skipUpdateCheck=true -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled -XX:+UseParNewGC" ExecStart=/opt/tomcat9/bin/startup.sh ExecStop=/opt/tomcat9/bin/shutdown.sh [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and exit.
sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl start tomcat.service sudo systemctl restart tomcat.service sudo systemctl enable tomcat.service
Install MariaDB Database Server
XWiki 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 be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always 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 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
Next, run the commands below to logon 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 xwiki
CREATE DATABASE xwiki;
Create a database user called xwikiuser with new password
CREATE USER 'xwikiuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON xwiki.* TO 'xwikiuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download and Install XWiki
Now that Java is installed, run th commands below to download XWiki content, then extract to the /opt directory.
cd /tmp && wget
Move the content to the /opt directory and install.
sudo mv xwiki-enterprise-web-8.4.6.war /opt/tomcat9/webapps/xwiki.war
Then run the commands below to give tomcat user permission to that file.
sudo chown tomcat9:tomcat9 /opt/tomcat9/webapps/xwiki.war
Restart Tomcat server by running the commands below.
sudo systemctl restart tomcat.service
After this, you should be able to access the site content by going to the server hostname or IP address followed by port 8080.
ex.
This should being up XWiki wizard.
If you get error 500, you should run the commands below to the commands below:
sudo apt-get install libmysql-java sudo ln -s /usr/share/java/mysql-connector-java.jar /opt/tomcat9/lib sudo nano /opt/tomcat9/webapps/xwiki/WEB-INF/hibernate.cfg.xml
Then make the hightlighted changes to the file and save.
<!-- MySQL configuration. Uncomment if you want to use MySQL and comment out other database configurations. Notes: - if you want the main wiki database to be different than "xwiki" you will also have to set the property xwiki.db in xwiki.cfg file --> <property name="connection.url">jdbc:mysql://localhost/xwiki?useSSL=false</property> <property name="connection.username">xwikiuser</property> <property name="connection.password">new_password_here</property> <property name="connection.driver_class">com.mysql.jdbc.Driver</property> <property name="dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5InnoDBDialect</property> <property name="dbcp.poolPreparedStatements">true</property> <property name="dbcp.maxOpenPreparedStatements">20</property> <mapping resource="xwiki.hbm.xml"/> <mapping resource="feeds.hbm.xml"/> <mapping resource="activitystream.hbm.xml"/> <mapping resource="instance.hbm.xml"/> <mapping resource="mailsender.hbm.xml"/>
Restart Tomcat and try again.
Continue to the next page and validate that all requirements are met. then go and enter the datbase info you created above.
After entering the database info, continue with the defaults until you’ve successfully setup XWiki .
