Setup Xavoc ERP | CRM | CMS Platform On Ubuntu Linux With Nginx

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure Xavoc ERP | CRM and CMS platform on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with Nginx HTTP servers.

Our previous tutorial showed you how to run Xavoc platform on Ubuntu with Apache2 installed. This one shows you how to set it up with Nginx instead.

For the uninitiated, Xavoc is an open source, ERP | CRM and CMS platform that can serve as strong alternative to the popular CRM and ERP platforms today.

Xavoc is one of the best open-source CRM and ERP platform to run your business and manage your customers. It comes with a Drag and Drop Website Builder, E-Commerce module, and many other features for individual and professionals.

Xavoc might be a good place to start when you’re looking for an open source CRM | ERP and CMS platform for your company.… It’s built on the LAMP / LEMP stack, and offers features that will help you run your business and collaborate with your customers and employees…

For more about Xavoc, please check its homepage.

To get started with installing Xavoc, follow the steps below:

Install Nginx HTTP Server

Xavoc requires a web server and Nginx HTTP server is the most popular open source web server available today.

To install 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 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. to test whether the web server is working, open your browser and browse to the URL below.


If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.

Install MariaDB Database Server

Xavoc also requires a database server to store its content. If you’re looking for a truly open source database server, then MariaDB is a great place to start.

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 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

Now that MariaDB is installed, to test whether the database server was successfully installed, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

type the root password when prompted.

mariadb welcome

If you see a similar screen as shown above, then the server was successfully installed.

Install PHP 7.1-FPM and Related Modules

Xavoc is a PHP based platform and for now, only PHP 7.1-FPM.  PHP 7.1 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To run PHP 7.1 on Ubuntu 14.04, 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 7.1-FPM

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.1-FPM and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.1-fpm php7.1-common php7.1-mysql php7.1-gmp php7.1-curl php7.1-intl php7.1-mbstring php7.1-xmlrpc php7.1-gd php7.1-bcmath php7.1-imap php7.1-xml php7.1-cli php7.1-zip

After installing PHP 7.1, run the commands below to open PHP default configuration file for Nginx.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/fpm/php.ini

The lines below is a good settings for most PHP based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Everytime you make changes to PHP configuration file, you should also restart Nginx web server. To do so, run the commands below:

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Create Xavoc Database

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

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

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called xavoc

CREATE DATABASE xavoc;

Create a database user called xavocuser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON xavoc.* TO 'xavocuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Xavoc Latest Release

Xavoc community edition can be downloaded from its download page here.

On Ubuntu terminal, run the commands below to download, then extract to its root directory.

cd /tmp
wget 
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/xavoc
sudo unzip xepan2.zip -d /var/www/xavoc

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Xavoc root directory and give Nginx control.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/xavoc/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/xavoc/

Configure Nginx

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for Xavoc. This file will control how users access Xavoc content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called xavoc

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

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;

    server_name  example.com www.example.com;
    root   /var/www/xavoc;
    index  index.php;
    
    access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;

    client_max_body_size 100M;
  
    autoindex off;

    location / {
    index index.html index.php;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
      }

    location ~ \.php$ {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
         include fastcgi_params;
         fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
    }
}

Save the file and exit.

Enable the Xavoc

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

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

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see Xavoc setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.


Then follow the on-screen instruction. Type in the database name, database user account. then create a backend admin account and continue.

After a brief moment, the software should be installed and ready to use.

You can then login and begin setting up your business profile.

Conclusion:

You have successfully learned how to install Xavoc ERP | CRM and CMS platform on Ubuntu. You may need to configure additional settings, but the steps above give you a basic starting point.

If you find errors with the steps above, please comment below:

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