Setup Hubzilla Platform on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP 7.2-FPM

Our previous tutorial showed you how to setup Hubzilla on Ubuntu with Apache2 HTTP server. For those wanting to run it with Nginx, the steps below should be a great place to start. You can view our past tutorial on Hubzilla here.

Hubzilla is an open source, web publishing platform (CMS) for creating interconnected websites. Like a shared hosting service, websites created on Hubzilla are isolated and have no idea who is accessing their content, and controlled access to data is limited to permissions settings between individual accounts on a site.

This Platform is built on the LAMP or LEMP stack.. It lets you focus on building content by leveraging its easy managment portal designs and technical quality without the bloats.

Whether you’re creating a personal or business website, Hubzilla platform can help you create and manage your content on every device with its modern user and admin interface.

This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install Hubzilla on Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 LTS.

If you currently runing your website and content on other CMS like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla you may want to give Hubzilla a try. It’s a great alternative to those PHP based content mangement systems.

For more about Hubzilla, visit its homepage.

When you’re ready to get Hubzilla working on Ubuntu, please continue with the steps below:

Step 1: Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is the second most popular web server in use. so install it, since Hubzilla needs it.

To install Nginx HTTP on Ubuntu 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 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

To test Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see Nginx default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.

nginx default home page test

Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with Magento. To install MariaDB 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

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

mariadb welcome

Step 3: Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules

PHP 7.2-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. in order 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

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

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

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Nginx.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below are great settings to apply in your environments.

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

After making the change above, save the file and close out.

Step 3: Restart Nginx

After installing PHP and related modules, all you have to do is restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations.

To restart Nginx, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Step 4: Create Hubzilla Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for Hubzilla CMS to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank Magento database.

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

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called hubzilla

CREATE DATABASE hubzilla;

Create a database user called hubzillauser with new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON hubzilla.* TO 'hubzillauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download and Install Hubzilla via Git

Run the commands below to download Hubzilla latest content. run each command line until you’re done.

sudo apt install git
cd /var/www/html
sudo git clone  hubzilla
sudo mkdir -p "store/[data]/smarty3"
sudo chmod -R 777 store
cd hubzilla
sudo util/add_addon_repo  hzaddons
sudo sudo util/update_addon_repo hzaddons

Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/hubzilla/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/hubzilla/

Step 6: Configure Nginx Hubzilla CMS Site

Finally, configure Nginx configuration file for Hubzilla CMS . This file will control how users access Hubzilla CMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called hubzilla

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

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html/limesurvey;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
        if ($is_args != "") {
        rewrite ^/(.*) /index.php?q=$uri&$args last;
      }
    rewrite ^/(.*) /index.php?q=$uri last;
      }


    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.

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

Step 7: Enable the Hubzilla CMS Site and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below, then restart Nginx server.

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

Next, open your brwoser and go to the URL. and continue with the installation.

You should see Hubzilla installation page. validate that all requirements are met and continue..

Next, type in the database connection info you created above and click Submit.

Hubzilla ubuntu install

Then configure the site settings and submit.

Hubzilla ubuntu install

That’s it!

Next, Go to your new hub register and register as new member. Remember to use the same email you have entered as administrator email. This will allow you to enter the site admin panel.

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