When deciding on free open source invoicing and time tracking applications, don’t ignore InvoiceNinja. This free open source platform based on PHP can get the job done.
InvoiceNinja is a popular open source application for invoicing and time tracking management system based on PHP. It is designed from the ground up for ease of use to allow business owners create and manage their business invoices and expenses.
If you’re looking for a robust, secure and easy to use invoicing and time tracking system that’s 100% free, you’ll find InvoiceNinja to be useful. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install InvoiceNinja on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP support.
This post covers installing the latest version of InvoiceNinja, which at the time of writing was v4.0.1
To get started with installing InvoiceNinja, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Install Apache2 Web Server
InvoiceNinja requires a webserver to function and the most popular webserver in use today is Apache2. So, go and install Apache2 on Ubuntu by running the commands below:
sudo apt install apache2
After installing Apache2, run the commands below to disable directory listing globally.
sudo sed -i "s/Options Indexes FollowSymLinks/Options FollowSymLinks/" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server
InvoiceNinja also requires a database server to function. 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 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 libapache2-mod-php7.1 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-zip php7.1-curl
After install PHP 7.1, run the commands below to open PHP-FPM default file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/apache2/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 = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Step 4: Create InvoiceNinja Database
Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First go and create a blank InvoiceNinja 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 invninjadb
CREATE DATABASE invninjadb;
Create a database user called invninjauser with new password
CREATE USER 'invninjauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant invninjauser full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON invninjadb.* TO 'invninjauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Step 5: Download InvoiceNinja Latest Release
Next, visit InvoiceNinja site and download the latest version.
After downloading, run the commands below to create a root directory for InvoiceNinja and extract the downloaded file into Apache2 root directory.
cd /tmp && wget https://download.invoiceninja.com/ninja-v4.0.1.zip unzip ninja-v4.0.1.zip sudo mv ninja /var/www/html/invoiceninja
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for InvoiceNinja to function.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/invoiceninja/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/invoiceninja/
Step 6: Configure Apache2
Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for InvoiceNinja. This file will control how users access InvoiceNinja content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called invoiceninja.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/invoiceninja.conf
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.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/invoiceninja/public
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/html/invoiceninja/public>
Options +FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Step 7: Enable the InvoiceNinja and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo a2ensite invoiceninja.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite
Step 8 : Restart Apache2
To load all the settings above, restart Apache2 by running the commands below.
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see InvoiceNinja setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
Then follow the on-screen instructions. you will be asked to input your database configuration, administrative details and other configuration settings. When complete you may sign-in and start using InvoiceNinja. Return to http://example.com/login/ anytime thereafter to sign-in.
Enjoy!
Congratulation! You have successfully installed InvoiceNinja on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10
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