When you want to run Thirty Bees eCommerce platform on Ubuntu, Apache2 should be the default webserver. however, for those wanting to use Nginx HTTP server instead, the steps below should be a great place to start.
Thirty Bees is a fork of a popular and widely used open source eCommerce platform called PretaShop. It added cutting-edge features that are might not be available with PrestaShop. With over 500 features, it allows businesses to scale and grow.
If you’re looking for a highly functional eCommerce platform to manage your online stores, you’ll find Thirty Bees to be useful. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install Thirty Bees on Ubuntu 16.04 / 17.10 and 18.04 with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP support.
For more about Thirty Bees, please check its homepage.
This post covers installing the latest version of Thirty Bees, which at the time of writing was at version 1.0.4
To get started with installing Thirty Bee, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Install Nginx
Thirty Bees requires a webserver to function 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
After installing Nginx, run the commands below to disable directory listing.
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 Database Server
MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with Thirty Bees. 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 17.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
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 mariadb.service
Step 3: Install PHP 7.1-FPM and Related Modules
PHP 7.1-FPM may not be available in 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-FPM
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.1-FPM
sudo apt update
Next, 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-bcmath 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 Nginx PHP default file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/nginx/php.ini
Then make the change the following lines below in the file and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Step 4: Create Thirty Bees 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 a blank Thirty Bees 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 thirtybees
CREATE DATABASE thirtybees;
Create a database user called thirtybeesuser with new password
CREATE USER 'thirtybeesuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON thirtybees.* TO 'thirtybeesuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Step 5: Download Thirty Bees Latest Release
Next, visit Thirty Bees site download a free version by running the commands below.
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into Nginx root directory.
cd /tmp && wget https://github.com/thirtybees/thirtybees/releases/download/1.0.4/thirtybees-v1.0.4.zip sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/thirtybees sudo unzip thirtybees-v1.0.4.zip -d /var/www/html/thirtybees/
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Thirty Bees to function.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/thirtybees/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/thirtybees/
Step 6: Configure Nginx
Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for Thirty Bees. This file will control how users access Thirty Bees content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called thirtybees
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/thirtybees
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/thirtybees; index index.php index.html index.htm; server_name example.com www.example.com; client_max_body_size 100M; location / { try_files $uri $uri/ =404; } location ~ \.php$ { include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf; fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock; fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name; } }
Save the file and exit.
Step 7: Enable the Thirty Bees
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/thirtybees /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see Thirty Bee setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
http://example.com/install

Follow the onscreen wizard. validate that all requirements are met. next type in the database info you created above and continue.

If everything is right, you should be able to connect and install Thirty Bees.

After installing, run the commands below to delete the install folder.
sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/thirtybees/install/
Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Thirty Bees.
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