Installing the Webserver, Webhosting and VIMP on Debian 11 "Bullseye"
Version: 4.4+
In this article we will install all server software (Apache2 or NGINX, MariaDB, PHP, FFmpeg, Postfix etc.) for VIMP and configure the web hosting.
Installing the basic packages:
First, we update the package sources:
apt update
Then we install the required packages:
apt install mariadb-server php-mysql php7.4 php7.4-gd php7.4-cli php7.4-xsl php7.4-curl php7.4-json php7.4-mbstring php7.4-zip php7.4-xmlrpc php7.4-ldap php-imagick libimage-exiftool-perl ffmpeg nano openssl time
For the VIMP Corporate editions please also install the following packages:
apt install php7.4-ldap php7.4-sqlite3
If you want to use NGINX, install the following packages afterwards:
apt install nginx php-fpm
If you want to use Apache2, install these packages instead:
apt install apache2 libapache2-mod-php7.4
As MTA (Mail Transport Agent) we use postfix. Other MTAs like Sendmail and Exim can of course also be used. Make sure that the MTA is configured so that PHP can send emails.
apt update
apt install postfix
Next, we create the required folders on the server:
mkdir -p /var/www/vimp/web mkdir /var/www/logs
NGINX Configuration:
If you are using NGINX, we will first create a separate server block for VIMP. If you are using Apache2, please skip this section.
nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/vimp
And paste the following VIMP configuration (please correct the paths for root and the logs according to your configuration and enter the correct server name):
server {
rewrite_log off;
listen 80;
listen [::]:80 ipv6only=on;
# replace /var/www/vimp/ with your actual VIMP installation folder path in the following line
root /var/www/vimp/web;
# replace your_servername with your actual server name in the following line
server_name your_servername;
# replace /var/www/vimp/ with your actual VIMP installation folder path in the following lines
access_log /var/www/logs/vimp_nginx_access.log;
error_log /var/www/logs/vimp_nginx_error.log warn;
index index.php frontend.php webtv.php backend.php frontend_dev.php webtv_dev.php backend_dev.php index.html;
charset utf-8;
server_tokens off;
client_max_body_size 500M;
# Disable access log for favicon.ico
location = /favicon.ico {
log_not_found off;
access_log off;
}
# Disable access log for robots.txt
location = /robots.txt {
allow all;
log_not_found off;
access_log off;
}
# Prevent access to files/folders which starts with a dot
location ~ /\. {
deny all;
access_log off;
log_not_found off;
}
# Directive for dynamic JS files which are processed by PHP
location ~ ^/(.+)\.js\.php(/|$) {
error_page 417 = @appwebtv;
error_page 418 = @appfrontend;
error_page 419 = @appbackend;
if ( $query_string ~ "app=webtv" ) { return 417; }
if ( $query_string ~ "app=frontend" ) { return 418; }
if ( $query_string ~ "app=backend" ) { return 419; }
}
# Directive for dynamic JS files which are processed by PHP
location @appfrontend {
index index.php;
#include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
#fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.*)$;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_buffers 32 256k;
fastcgi_buffer_size 512k;
fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 512k;
fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$query_string;
}
# Directive for dynamic JS files which are processed by PHP (no longer needed for VIMP 5.1 and higher)
location @appwebtv {
index webtv.php;
#include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
#fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.*)$;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_buffers 32 256k;
fastcgi_buffer_size 512k;
fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 512k;
fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
try_files $uri $uri/ /webtv.php$is_args$query_string;
}
# Directive for dynamic JS files which are processed by PHP
location @appbackend {
index backend.php;
#include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
#fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.*)$;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_buffers 32 256k;
fastcgi_buffer_size 512k;
fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 512k;
fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
try_files $uri $uri/ /backend.php$is_args$query_string;
}
# All front controllers for symfony
location ~ ^/(index|frontend_dev|frontend_cache|backend|backend_dev|backend_cache|getMedia|health|webtv|webtv_dev|webtv_cache)\.php(/|$) {
#include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
#fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.*)$;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_buffers 32 256k;
fastcgi_buffer_size 512k;
fastcgi_busy_buffers_size 512k;
fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
}
# Try to serve file directly, fallback to rewrite to default frontend controller
location / {
index index.php;
try_files $uri $uri/ @rewriteapp;
}
# Rewrite fallback to index.php
location @rewriteapp {
rewrite ^(.*)$ /index.php$1 last;
}
}
Now we activate the configuration by creating the following shortcut:
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/vimp /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Test it briefly:
nginx -t
And restart NGINX, if everything is ok:
service nginx restart
Note: When using an SSL certificate, the configuration looks slightly different, as two server blocks are then created (depending on the certificate provider in detail). In any case, however, make sure that you change all occurrences of
fastcgi_param HTTPS off;
to
fastcgi_param HTTPS on;
after including the certificate, so that the scripts can be delivered over HTTPS.
Apache2 Configuration:
If you are using Apache2, we will create a custom vHost for VIMP. If you are using NGINX, please skip this section.
nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/vimp.conf
In the created configuration file we paste the following code and adjust the server name, email address and DocumentRoot path if necessary:
<VirtualHost *:80>
# enter your server name/domain in the following line
ServerName my.vimp.domain
# enter your webmaster's e-mail address in the following line
ServerAdmin my@email.address
# replace /var/www/vimp/ with your actual VIMP installation folder path in the following line
DocumentRoot /var/www/vimp/web
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>
# replace /var/www/vimp/ with your actual VIMP installation folder path in the following line
<Directory "/var/www/html/web/">
Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
AllowOverride all
<IfVersion < 2.3>
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</IfVersion>
<IfVersion >= 2.4>
Require all granted
</IfVersion>
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Then we activate the module "rewrite", the new vHost and we deactivate the module mpm_event and activate mpm_prefork as a precaution:
a2enmod rewrite
a2ensite vimp
a2dismod mpm_event
a2enmod php7.*
We restart Apache later so that the new configuration is activated.
Configure PHP
There are 2 php.ini files interesting for us. One is for the FPM or Apache2 PHP module, the other is for the PHP CLI (CLI=Command Line Interface).
We first edit the php.ini for the module. Under NGNIX, edit the following file:
nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
and under Apache2 this one:
nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
and adjust the following lines as follows:
upload_max_filesize = 4096M
post_max_size = 4096M
register_argc_argv On
memory_limit = 1024M
max_execution_time = 60
max_input_time = 120
Save the file and restart NGINX or Apache2 (for larger upload limits, increase both 4096M values accordingly):
service nginx restart
resp.
service apache2 restart
We proceed in the same way with the php.ini for php-cli. A restart of NGINX or Apache2 is not necessary afterwards.
nano /etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini
Adjust the directives like follows (please note the difference in memory_limit):
upload_max_filesize = 4096M
post_max_size = 4096M
register_argc_argv On
memory_limit = -1
max_execution_time = 60
max_input_time = 120
Create database and database user:
For MariaDB 10.5 we have to set the sql_mode first. Let's create a separate configuration file for VIMP for this purpose:
cd /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d
nano vimp.cnf
In this file we copy the following lines:
[mysqld]
sql_mode = IGNORE_SPACE,NO_ZERO_IN_DATE,NO_ZERO_DATE,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO
And restart the MySQL service after saving:
service mysql restart
After that we create the database for VIMP:
# mysql
The MySQL client answers with the mysql> prompt:
mysql> create database DATENBANKNAME default character set utf8 collate utf8_unicode_ci;
mysql> create user 'DATENBANKBENUTZER'@'%' identified by 'PASSWORT';
mysql> grant all privileges on DATENBANKNAME.* to 'DATENBANKBENUTZER'@'%' with grant option;
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> exit;
After the preparations we install VIMP:
If you install VIMP Light, VIMP Ultimate [Standard], VIMP Corporate Campus or VIMP Corporate Enterprise, you need to install the SourceGuardian PHP extension at this point. You can find instructions on how to do this for NGINX here and for Apache2 here.
The upload and installation of the VIMP installer is described in this article.
Basic usage
The installation is now complete. Now call up your portal in the browser.
During installation, three users are created to represent the three user roles:
- "admin" (password: "admin") as administrator
- "moderator" (password: "moderator") as moderator
- "user" (password: "user") as standard user
Please change all passwords as soon as possible. If you don't need a user anymore, you can delete him in the admin area. Just be sure to keep the admin user!
Last update on 2022/01/31 by Admin.