Configure Vtiger CRM on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP 7.1 Support

When deciding on what open source CRM platform to use to run your marketing department,  Vtiger CRM is a good place to start. this open source CRM software is written in PHP and offer features that help you run your business and collaborate with your customers.

Vtiger CRM system is based on PHP. It is designed for ease of use to allow enterprises and business owners to collaborate and automate engaging experiences with customers through out the entire process.

If you’re looking for an open source, functional, high performance customer relationship management platform for your business, you’ll find Vtiger to be useful. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install Vtiger CRM on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP 7.1 support.

To get started with installing Vtiger CRM, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Nginx

Vtiger CRM requires a webserver and the second most popular webserver in use today is Nginx. So, go and install Nginx on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

Next, run the commands below 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

Step 2: Install MariaDB

Vtiger also requires a database server. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server.

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

sudo systemctl restart mysql.service

Step 3: Install PHP FPM and Related Modules

PHP 7.1 isn’t available on 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 7.1

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.1

sudo apt update

Run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.1-fpm php7.1-common php7.1-mbstring php7.1-xmlrpc php7.1-soap php7.1-gd php7.1-xml php7.1-intl php7.1-mysql php7.1-cli php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-ldap php7.1-zip php7.1-curl

After install PHP, run the commands below to open FPM PHP default file.

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

Then make the change the following lines below in the file and save.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
max_execution_time = 30
display_errors = Off
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Step 4: Create Vtiger Database

Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create Vtiger database.

Run the commands below to logon to the database server. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called vtigercrmdb

CREATE DATABASE vtigercrmdb;

Create a database user called vtigercrmuser with new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON vtigercrmdb.* TO 'vtigercrmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download Vtiger Latest Release

Next, visit Vtiger site and download the latest version.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into Nginx root directory.

cd /tmp && wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/vtigercrm/files/vtiger%20CRM%207.0.1/Core%20Product/vtigercrm7.0.1.tar.gz
tar xzf vtigercrm7.0.1.tar.gz
sudo mv vtigercrm /var/www/html/vtigercrm

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Concrete5 to function.

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

Step 6: Configure Nginx

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

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

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/vtigercrm;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

     client_max_body_size 100M;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
         include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the Vtiger

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

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/vtigercrm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Step 8 : Restart Nginx

To load all the settings above, restart Nginx by running the commands below.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see Concrete5 setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

Then follow the on-screen instructions until you’ve successfully installed Vtiger.

Type the database info and create an admin account for the portal.

After a brief time, the installation should complete and the platform ready to be used.

Enjoy!

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