Server Setup (Linux)

This document covers a basic server configuration under Linux. The operating system used here is Linux with the distribution Debian Bullseye 11.

HumHub is being installed into the /var/www/humhub directory in this case and runs with the user/group www-data.

The URL https://humhub.example.com is used in this example. Replace it with an URL of your choice.

important

HumHub can of course also be run on an existing server setup or shared hosting if all requirements are met.

Database

In this section we will create a database with the following values:

• Datebase: humhub_prod_db
• User: humhub_prod
• Password: change-me

Of course these values, especially the password, should be changed according to your environment.

Installation

Install and configure the MariaDB Server using Debian packages.

apt update
apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client automysqlbackup
mysql_secure_installation

Create Database Schema

Open the MySQL console

mysql -u root -p

Create a new database user

mysql> CREATE USER 'humhub_prod' IDENTIFIED BY 'change-me';

Create a MySQL Database, e.g.:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE `humhub_prod_db` CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
mysql> GRANT ALL ON `humhub_prod_db`.* TO `humhub_prod`@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'change-me';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

important

Do not forget to change the change-me placeholder!

PHP

Installation

apt update
apt install php php-cli \
    php-imagick php-curl php-bz2 php-gd php-intl \
    php-mysql php-zip php-apcu-bc php-apcu php-xml php-ldap

Configuration

Set the following parameters inside the PHP configuration file php.ini to at least following values:

upload_max_filesize = 32M
post_max_size = 32M
max_execution_time = 120

The php.ini file is located in one of the following folders depending on the runtime mode (FPM or Apache2 module):

• /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
• /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini

Example for Apache2 module:

sed -i 's/max_execution_time = 30/max_execution_time = 600/g' /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
sed -i 's/post_max_size = 8M/post_max_size = 128M/g' /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
sed -i 's/upload_max_filesize = 2M/upload_max_filesize = 128M/g' /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

systemctl restart apache2

Example for FPM:

sed -i 's/max_execution_time = 30/max_execution_time = 600/g' /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
sed -i 's/post_max_size = 8M/post_max_size = 128M/g' /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
sed -i 's/upload_max_filesize = 2M/upload_max_filesize = 128M/g' /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini

systemctl restart php7.4-fpm

WebServer

Preparation

Install Certbot and obtain SSL certificates for the portal.

apt install certbot
certbot certonly --standalone -d humhub.example.com

Apache

Install Apache 2.4 core and modules from Debian package repositories.

apt update
apt install apache2 \
    libapache2-mod-xsendfile \
    php-fpm 

Create configuration file /etc/apache2/sites-available/humhub.conf with the following content:

<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerName humhub.example.com
  ServerAdmin root@humhub.example.com

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile        /etc/letsencrypt/live/humhub.example.com/cert.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile     /etc/letsencrypt/live/humhub.example.com/privkey.pem
  SSLCertificateChainFile   /etc/letsencrypt/live/humhub.example.com/fullchain.pem

  DocumentRoot /var/www/humhub

  <Directory /var/www/humhub/>
     Options -Indexes -FollowSymLinks
     AllowOverride All
  </Directory>

  <DirectoryMatch "/var/www/humhub/(\.|protected|themes/\w+/views|uploads/file)">
     Order Deny,Allow
     Deny from all
  </DirectoryMatch>

  <FilesMatch "^\.">
     Order Deny,Allow
     Deny from all
  </FilesMatch>
  
  <DirectoryMatch "/var/www/humhub/(static|uploads|themes|assets)">
        Header set Cache-Control "max-age=172800, public"
  </DirectoryMatch>
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName humhub.example.com
   Redirect / https://humhub.example.com
</VirtualHost>

Enable the virtual host, additional Apache2 configurations and required modules.

a2enmod ssl rewrite headers proxy_fcgi setenvif
a2enconf php7.4-fpm
a2ensite humhub

systemctl reload apache2

NGINX

apt update
apt install nginx \
    php-fpm

Create configuration file /etc/nginx/site-available/humhub.conf with the following content:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    server_name humhub.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name:443$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    listen [::]:443 ssl;
    
    root /var/www/humhub;

    server_name humhub.example.com;
    
    #include snippets/letsencrypt.conf;
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/humhub.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/humhub.example.com/privkey.pem;

    charset utf-8;
    client_max_body_size 256M;

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

    location ~ ^/(protected|framework|themes/\w+/views|\.|uploads/file) {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~ ^/(assets|static|themes|uploads) {
        expires 10d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";
    }

    location ~ \.php {
        fastcgi_split_path_info  ^(.+\.php)(.*)$;

        #let yii catch the calls to unexisting PHP files
        set $fsn /index.php;
        if (-f $document_root$fastcgi_script_name){
                set $fsn $fastcgi_script_name;
        }

        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fsn;
    }
}

Activate the configuration:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/humhub.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/humhub.conf
systemctl restart nginx

Mail

If emails are supposed to be sent directly from this server, an SMTP server has to be installed.

Postfix

apt update
apt install postfix

Please choose Internet Site as installation type.