Siberian CMS is a smooth, open source and user-friendly content management system (CMS) for agencies. You can use it to build apps and manage your content on your own servers.
If you looking for a simple CMS system that is easy to install, simple to maintain and flexible, then you should be looking at Siberian.
With Siberian, you get a platform with feature-rich editor, user-friendly admin portal to manage your users and create as many roles as needed, from a customizable and powerful administrative dashboard.
This CMS platform is fast and lightweight, gives webmasters extensible features to collaborate and automate engaging experiences with users across multiple devices, including mobile.
For more about Siberian, please check their Homepage
This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install Siberian on Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.10 and 18.04 LTS.
To get started with installing Siberian, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Install Apache2 HTTP Server
Siberian requires a web server and Apache2 HTTP server is the most popular open source web server available today. To install Apache2 server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used 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
Now that Apache2 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 Apache2 is successfully installed.
Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server
Siberian 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.

If you see a similar screen as shown above, then the server was successfully installed.
Step 3: Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
Siberian is a PHP based CMS and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To run PHP 7.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, 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 7.2
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default configuration file for Apache2.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/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 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 Apache2 web server. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Now that PHP is installed, to test whether it’s functioning, create a test file called phpinfo.php in Apache2 default root directory. ( /var/www/html/)
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Next, open your browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address followed by phpinfo.php
You should see PHP default test page.

Step 4: Create Siberian CMS Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for Siberian to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank Siberian database.
To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called siberian
CREATE DATABASE siberian;
Create a database user called siberianuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'siberianuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON siberian.* TO 'siberianuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Step 5: Download Siberian Latest Release
To get Siberian latest release you may want to use Github repository… Install Composer, Curl and other dependencies to get started…
sudo apt install curl git curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
After installing curl and Composer above, change into the Nginx root directory and download Siberian packages from Github…
cd /var/www/html sudo git clone https://github.com/Xtraball/SiberianCMS.git
Next, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Siberian root directory and give Apache2 control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/SiberianCMS/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/SiberianCMS/
Step 6: Configure Apache2
Finally, configure Apache2 site configuration file for Siberian. This file will control how users access Siberian content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called siberian.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/siberian.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/SiberianCMS/siberian ServerName example.com ServerAlias www.example.com <Directory /var/www/html/SiberianCMS/siberian/> 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 Siberian and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo a2ensite siberian.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see Siberian setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
Then follow the on-screen instruction to complete the setup. Select the arrow pointing right to continue.

On the database connection page, type in the database user and password you created above and continue.

Next, create an admin account and continue

Create your first app and complete the installation.

After that, installation should complete and site ready to use.

Congratulation! You have successfully installed Siberian CMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04.
You may also like the post below:
Why did i stuck on Installation Step with 100% progress? Please advice
Fixed by install Plesk panel and config fastcgi as default handler
Thank you for the guild, so helpful. however, i don’t know my domain name. you said i should edit the highlighted domain name to mine. do i need to create a domain name before that? If yes, please how do i go about it
Hello,
Thanks a lot for this guide. I follow exactly it.
I use Ubuntu Server without Graphic Interface, so to connect to the website I use another PC by the local Network.
my Apache2 Server IP adress : 192.168.1.38.
I’m blocked at Step 7, when I try to connect to the site :example.com
ON my PC I use the URL : http://192.168.1.38 to be connected but this is not the SiberianCMS pageweb that appears but the Apache2 Ubuntu default page like Step1.
What is the URL to access SiberianCMS webpage from local network at step 7 ?
Do I need to change URL for something like : http://192.168.1.38/xxxx/xxxx/
Do I need to modify hosts file or something else ?
Thank you. By Advance.
You have to route your server to the adress:
$ sudo nano /etc/hosts
then add another line: 127.0.0.1 [your url]
Best regards
hi it doesn’t work for me, i did axectly what you said 2 times. is there an update or somethig
i get an error when i try the database