Install Koel Media Streamer on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04

Koel is a open source, personal web media streamer based on Vue on the client side and powered by Laravel. It allows you to stream your music and provide ubiquitous access to your music files anywhere there’s internet connection.

Koel is designed to handle large music collections and optimized for MP3 streaming. It basically works with any media format that can be streamed over HTTP / HTTPS, including AAC, OGG, WMA, FLAC, APE and more.

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to easily install Koel streaming server on Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 LTS servers and desktops.

For more about Koel, please check out its homepage.

When you’re ready, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with Koel. To install MariaDB run the commands below.

sudo apt update
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 18.04 and 18.10 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

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon to 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

Step 2: Create Koel Database

Now that you’ve installed all the MariaDB is required for Koel to function, continue below to create Koel database and user. First run the commands below to create a blank Koel database.

To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called koeldb

CREATE DATABASE koeldb;

Create a database user called koeluser with new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON koeldb.* TO 'koeluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 3: Install PHP 7.2 / Node.js / Yarn

To quickly install Koel media streamer, you should use PHP Composer. The commands below show you how to install PHP Composer on Ubuntu.

First run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install php7.2 php7.2-cli php7.2-common php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xml php7.2-mysql php7.2-curl php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to install composer.

sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS  | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Install Node.js and Yarn

You’ll also need Node.js and Yarn to get Koel working. To install both, run the commands below:

curl -sL  | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Run the commands below to add Yarn’s repository key.

curl -sS | sudo apt-key add -

After that, run the commands below to add Yarn’s repository to Ubuntu.

echo "deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list

When you’re done, run the commands below to install Yarn

sudo apt update
sudo apt install yarn

Step 4: Download and Configure Koel

Now that required packages are installed, follow the steps below to install Koel. You’ll need to get the latest from Github. To do that run the commands below.

Then run the commands below to download Koel latest version and install Koel in your home directory.

cd ~/
git clone 
cd koel
git checkout -b v3.7.2
composer install
php artisan koel:init

When you run the last command above, you’ll be prompted to create specify the database name and user account.

Koel cannot connect to the database. Let's set it up.

 Your DB driver of choice [MySQL/MariaDB]:
  [mysql     ] MySQL/MariaDB
  [pgsql     ] PostgreSQL
  [sqlsrv    ] SQL Server
  [sqlite-e2e] SQLite
 > mysql
 DB host: localhost
 DB port (leave empty for default) []:
 DB name: koeldb
 DB user: koeluser
 DB password: database_user_password

After that, you will again be prompted to create Koel admin account.

Let's create the admin account.
 Your name [Koel Admin]: superadmin
 Your email address [[email protected]]: [email protected]
 Your desired password:
 Again, just to make sure:
Seeding initial data
The absolute path to your media directory. If this is skipped (left blank) now, you can set it later via the web interface.
 Media path []:
Compiling front-end stuff

Finally, run the commands below to start the server:

php artisan serve

Open your browser and browse to the server name or IP address followed by port 8080

Server started on

You should see Koel login page.

Enjoy!

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