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--- install_22_4 [2024/02/07 17:45] – [Next steps] system
+++ install_22_4 [2026/08/16 10:26] (current) – system
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+<nav type="pills" justified="false">
+  * [[:user_manuals|Back to Documentation]]
+  * [[:install_22_4|Install on Ubuntu 22.04]]
+</nav>
-====== Installing RADIUSdesk on Ubuntu 22.04 using Nginx ======
+----
+====== Installation of RADIUSdesk on Ubuntu 22.04 with Nginx ======
 ===== Skills required for the installation =====
 To install RADIUSdesk, you need sufficient knowledge and experience with Linux:
   * Installing the Linux operating system.
-  * Edit text files from the terminal using a text editor such as Vi or Nano.
+  * Editing text files via the terminal with a text editor such as Vi or Nano.
-  * Install packages from a repository.
+  * Installing packages from a repository.
   * You must be familiar with how TCP/IP networks work.
@@ Line 12: / Line 18: @@
   * Nginx is a web server that seems to have overtaken Apache in terms of popularity and number of active websites on the Internet.
-  *  It is new, lightweight, fast, highly scalable and capable of handling a large load without overloading your system.
+  * It is new, lightweight, fast, highly scalable and capable of handling a large load without overloading your system.
   * Nginx is the new Apache so to speak.
   * This section describes the steps you need to take to get RADIUSdesk up and running with a LEMP stack on Ubuntu 22.04
@@ Line 18: / Line 24: @@
 <alert type="info">
-  * We recently switched from CakePHPv3 to CakePHPv4.
+  * We **(not so recently)** switched from CakePHPv3 to CakePHPv4.
-  *  If you manage devices with MESHdesk and APdesk, make sure you also run the instructions that include cake3 so that your system is backwards compatible.
+  * If you manage devices with MESHdesk and APdesk, make sure you also run the instructions that include cake3 so that your system is backwards compatible.
-  * The firmware on these devices might still point to the cake3 directory, so we need to include support for this directory.
+  * The firmware on these devices may still point to the cake3 directory, so we need to include support for this directory.
 </alert>
 -----------
+===== What we need =====
-===== What do we need =====
+  * A standard Nginx installation on Ubuntu is actually very simple.
+  * The more complicated part is customizing Nginx for the following tasks:
-  *A standard Nginx installation on Ubuntu is actually very simple.
-  * The more complicated part is customising Nginx for the following tasks:
 <panel type="default" no-body="true">
 ^ Requirement      ^ Comment       ^
 | Interpreting PHP scripts    | We want the web server to call the PHP interpreter when a page with the .php extension is requested.  |
-| Access MySQL functions from PHP | Since we are setting up a LEMP server, we need to install a MySQL server and access it from PHP. We will install MariaDB, which is a direct replacement for MySQL. |
+| Accessing MySQL functions from PHP | Since we are setting up a LEMP server, we need to install a MySQL server and access it from PHP. We will install MariaDB, which is a direct replacement for MySQL. |
-| Change the expiration date of HTTP headers to encourage caching. | We want files that do not change (e.g. CSS or images) to be cached on the client side to make the client experience more pleasant |
+| Change the expiration date of the HTTP headers to encourage caching. | We want files that do not change (e.g. CSS or images) to be cached on the client side to make the experience more pleasant for the client |
-| Compress the text before it is served to the client. | We can compress the text that flows between the client and the server and in this way reduce the number of bytes transmitted over the wire, which in turn should provide a more pleasant experience for the client |
+| Compress the text before it is sent to the client. | We can compress the text that flows between the client and the server and in this way reduce the number of bytes transmitted over the wire, which in turn should provide a more pleasant experience for the client |
 | Enable rewrite rules in CakePHP for pretty URLs | CakePHP uses the .htaccess files in Apache to enable pretty URLs. Since Nginx does not support .htaccess files, we need to modify Nginx to behave the same way. |
@@ Line 52: / Line 56: @@
+==== Adding a sudo user  ====
+  * We assume that you have a clean installation of Ubuntu 22.04 WITHOUT Apache installed.
-==== Add a sudo user  ====
-  * We assume that you have installed a clean installation of Ubuntu 22.04 WITHOUT Apache.
   * If you have not yet added a sudo user add one now.
 <code bash>
 # Add the system user
 sudo adduser system
-# Update the system to the latest
 sudo usermod -aG sudo system
+# Update the system to the latest
+sudo apt-get upgrade
 </code>
 ==== Introduction to network technology under Ubuntu 22.04  ====
-  * If you do not yet have a working network configuration on the server on which you want to perform the installation, please use this section as a reference, otherwise simply continue with the next section.
+  * If you do not yet have a working network configuration on the server on which you want to perform the installation, use this section as a reference, otherwise simply continue with the next section.
-  * Since there is a big difference between Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 22.04, we feel that this section will help those who need to get used to the new way of working.
+  * Since there is a big difference between Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 22.04, we believe this section will help those who need to get used to the new way of working.
   * We assume that you have a bare VM (like the one from https://www.osboxes.org/ubuntu-server/ )
   * We also assume that you have used it to create a VM in Virtualbox and now only see the local loopback interface (127.0.0.1) when you enter the ip a command.
-  *  To see which interfaces are available (although some may not yet be configured)
+  *  To see which interfaces are available (even if some are not yet configured)
 <code bash>
 ip a
  </code>
-  * On my system it lists three since I plan to use the VM also as a router with Coova Chilli running on the one interface. So we have **lo**, **enp0s3** and **enp0s8**.
+  * On my system, three interfaces are shown as I plan to use the VM as a router as well, with Coova Chili running on the one interface. So we have **lo**, **enp0s3** and **enp0s8**.
-  * For now I will just configure both of those interfaces to be DHCP clients.
+  * At the moment I will only configure these two interfaces as DHCP clients.
 <code bash>
 sudo vi /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml
  </code>
-  * We edit the file to look like this (adapt to fit your system's interfaces)
+  * We edit the file so that it looks like this (adapt it to the interfaces of your system)
 <code bash>
-# This file is generated from information provided by
+# This file is generated from the information provided by
-# the datasource.  Changes to it will not persist across an instance.
+# the data source.  Changes to it do not persist across an instance.
-# To disable cloud-init's network configuration capabilities, write a file
+# To disable the network configuration functions of cloud-init, write a file
-# /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg with the following:
+# /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg with the following content:
 # network: {config: disabled}
 network:
@@ Line 98: / Line 100: @@
                     optional: true
 </code>
-  * Apply the network configuration using command:
+  * Apply the network configuration with the command:
 <code bash>
 sudo netplan --debug apply
 </code>
-  * If all went well our VM will now have an IP Address (via DHCP) which we can use.
+  * If everything went well, our VM now has an IP address (via DHCP) that we can use.
 <code bash>
 ip addr
@@ Line 123: / Line 125: @@
        valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
 </code>
-  * Now that we have a working network setup on our machine we can continue.
+  * Now that we have set up a working network on our computer, we can continue.
 ==== Install Nginx ====
-  * We assume you have a clean install of Ubuntu 22.04 **WITHOUT** Apache installed.
+  * We assume that you have installed a clean installation of Ubuntu 22.04 WITHOUT Apache.
@@ Line 137: / Line 139: @@
 </alert>
-  * Make sure it is up to date.
+  * Make sure that it is up to date.
 <code bash>
 # Get the latest package lists
@@ Line 144: / Line 146: @@
 sudo apt-get upgrade
 </code>
-  * Ensure the English language pack is installed
+  * Make sure that the English language pack is installed
 <code bash>
 sudo apt-get -y install language-pack-en-base
@@ Line 152: / Line 154: @@
 sudo apt-get -y install nginx
 </code>
-  * Ensure the web server starts up and is running
+  * Make sure that the web server is started and running
 <code bash>
 sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
 sudo systemctl start nginx.service
 </code>
-  * Navigate to the IP Address of the server where you installed **Nginx** using a browser to ensure Nginx serves content e.g. http://127.0.0.1
+  * Using a browser, navigate to the IP address of the server on which you have installed Nginx to ensure that Nginx is providing content, e.g. http://127.0.0.1
 ==== Configure Nginx to interpret .php files ====
 === php-fpm ===
   * The default installation of Nginx does not support serving .php files.
   * We will install a program (actually a service) called **php-fpm**.
   * This service waits for requests for interpretation.
-  * Install the php-fpm service by installing the default version 8.1 of the packages
+  * Since Ubuntu 22.04 is quite dated by now, we can not use the standard version of PHP (8.1) that comes with Ubuntu.
+  * RADIUSdesk's CakePHP app is now using CakePHPv5 which requires a minimum of PHP 8.2.
+  * We will add an external, well maintained, repository from which we will install PHP 8.3.
+  * PHP 8.3 is the default version on Ubuntu 24.04, so it keeps things predictable and according to a convention.
 <code bash>
-sudo apt-get -y install php-fpm
+sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
-sudo systemctl enable php8.1-fpm
+sudo apt install software-properties-common -y
-sudo systemctl start php8.1-fpm
+sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
+sudo apt install php8.3 -y
+sudo apt install php8.3-fpm
+sudo systemctl enable php8.3-fpm
+sudo systemctl start php8.3-fpm
 </code>
-==== Modify Nginx ====
+==== Change Nginx ====
-  * Now that the php-fpm service is installed, let's modify the default Nginx server to use it.
+  * Now that the php-fpm service is installed, we need to modify the default Nginx server to use it.
   * Edit the default server file:
 <code bash>
@@ Line 182: / Line 191: @@
 index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
 </code>
-  * Enable PHP processing by leaving this section uncommented. Note that we are using the UNIX socket and that we are using 8.1 and not 7.4, which was originally specified in the configuration file.
+  * Enable PHP processing by leaving this section uncommented. Note that we are using the UNIX socket and that we are using 8.3 and not 7.4, which was originally specified in the configuration file.
 <code bash>
-# pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
+# Pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
 #
 location ~ \.php$ {
@@ Line 190: / Line 199: @@
     #
     #       # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
-    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
+    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
     #       # With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
     #       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
@@ Line 208: / Line 217: @@
 sudo systemctl reload nginx.service
 </code>
-  * Create a test //.php// file to confirm that it does work
+  * Create a test //.php// file to confirm that it works.
 <code bash>
 sudo vi /var/www/html/test.php
 </code>
-  * Contents:
+  * Content:
 <code bash>
 <?php
@@ Line 223: / Line 232: @@
 ==== Install MariaDB ====
 === Why MariaDB? ===
-  * We have found that the version of MySQL that is delivered by default with Ubuntu 22.04 causes problems with RADIUSdesk.
+  * We have found that the version of MySQL that is comes by default with Ubuntu 22.04 causes problems with RADIUSdesk.
   * For this reason, we have installed MariaDB as an alternative.
   * MariaDB is an open-source relational database management system that is often used as an alternative to MySQL as the database part of the popular LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Python/Perl).
-  * It is intended as a drop-in replacement for MySQL.
+  * It is intended as an immediate replacement for MySQL.
-  * Make sure to provide a root password for the MariaDB database when asked for it if you are security conscious, otherwise just press the ESC key.
+  * Be sure to provide a root password for the MariaDB database when prompted if you are security conscious, otherwise just hit the ESC key.
 <code bash>
-sudo apt-get -y install mariadb-server php8.1-mysql
+sudo apt-get -y install mariadb-server php8.3-mysql
 sudo systemctl enable mariadb
 sudo systemctl restart mariadb
@@ Line 235: / Line 245: @@
 </code>
-=== Disable strict mode ===
+=== Deactivate strict mode ===
-  * With Ubuntu 22.04, the bundled version of MariaDB is on version 10.3, which has introduced some strict modes that have some issues with the RADIUSdesk database implementation.
+  * On Ubuntu 22.04, the bundled version of MariaDB is on version 10.3, which has introduced some strict modes that have some issues with the RADIUSdesk database implementation.
   * We will disable the strict SQL mode in MariaDB by creating a new file /etc/mysql/conf.d/disable_strict_mode.cnf
 <code bash>
@@ Line 246: / Line 256: @@
 sql_mode=IGNORE_SPACE,NO_ZERO_IN_DATE,NO_ZERO_DATE,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION
 </code>
-  * Save the file and restart the MySQL Server
+=== Enable the Event Scheduler ===
+  * MariaDB and MySQL has a built in Event Scheduler (like CRON for a database) which is disabled by default.
+  * We make use of this feature to automatically optimize some of the database tables.
+  * We will enable the Event Scheduler in MariaDB by creating a new file /etc/mysql/conf.d/enable_event_scheduler.cnf
+<code bash>
+sudo vi /etc/mysql/conf.d/enable_event_scheduler.cnf
+</code>
+  * Enter these two lines:
+<code bash>
+[mysqld]
+event_scheduler=on
+</code>
+  * Save the file.
+  *  Restart the MySQL server
 <code bash>
 sudo systemctl restart mariadb
+</code>
+  * You can confirm that it is now enabled by checking the following from the SQL terminal:
+<code bash>
+sudo mysql -u root
+MariaDB [(none)]> SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'event_scheduler';
++-----------------+-------+
+| Variable_name   | Value |
++-----------------+-------+
+| event_scheduler | ON    |
++-----------------+-------+
+row in set (0.001 sec)
 </code>
 -----
-==== Performance tune Nginx ====
+==== Performance tuning for Nginx ====
-=== Modify expiry date for certain files ===
+=== Change the expiry date for certain files ===
-  * Edit the ///etc/nginx/sites-available/default// file:
+  * Edit the file ///etc/nginx/sites-available/default// file:
 <code bash>
 sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
 </code>
-  * Add the following inside the server section:
+  * Add the following within the server section:
 <code bash>
 location ~ ^/cake4/.+\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|ico|js|css)$ {
@@ Line 268: / Line 302: @@
 }
 </code>
-  * Add below only if you require backward compatibility (MESHdesk and APdesk).
+  * Only add the following information if you require backward compatibility (MESHdesk and APdesk).
 <code bash>
 location ~ ^/cake3/.+\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|ico|js|css)$ {
@@ Line 289: / Line 323: @@
   * RADIUSdesk consists of three components.
     * **rd** directory with its contents contains all the HTML and JavaScript code and is used as the presentation layer.
-    * **cake4** is a CakePHPv4 application and can be considered the engine room. Here the data is processed before being presented by the presentation layer.
+    * **cake4** is a CakePHPv5 (used to be CakePHPv4) application and can be considered the engine room. This is where the data is processed before it is displayed by the presentation layer.
-    * **login** is a directory with various login pages which are centrally managed through the RADIUSdesk **Dynamic Login Pages** applet.
+    * **login** is a directory with various login pages that are managed centrally via the **RADIUSdesk Dynamic Login Pages** applet.
-  * Later we will create various symbolic links from locations inside the **rdcore** directory to locations inside the web server's document root directory.
+  * Later we will create various symbolic links from locations within the **rdcore** directory to locations within the document root directory of the web server.
 === Required packages ===
-  * Make sure the following packages are installed.
+  * Make sure that the following packages are installed.
 <code bash>
-sudo apt-get -y install php-cli php-mysql php-gd php-curl php-xml php-mbstring php-intl php-sqlite3 git wget
+sudo apt-get -y install php8.3-cli php8.3-mysql php8.3-gd php8.3-curl php8.3-xml php8.3-mbstring php8.3-intl php8.3-sqlite3 git wget
-sudo systemctl restart php8.1-fpm
+sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm
 </code>
-  *  Check out the **rdcore** git repository.
+  * Check out the **rdcore** git repository.
 <code bash>
 cd /var/www
 sudo git clone https://github.com/RADIUSdesk/rdcore.git
 </code>
-  *  This will create an **rdcore** directory that contains some subfolders.
+  * This will create an **rdcore** directory containing some subfolders.
+  * Check out the CakePHPv5 API back-end application
+<code bash>
+cd /var/www
+sudo git clone https://github.com/RADIUSdesk/rd_cake5.git
+</code>
   * It is recommended that you also include the RD Mobile UI.
   * Check out the **rd_mobile** git repository.
@@ Line 312: / Line 351: @@
 </code>
-=== Create softlinks ===
+=== Create soft links ===
   * We will create softlinks in the directory where Nginx provides the RADIUSdesk content.
 <code bash>
 cd /var/www/html
 sudo ln -s ../rdcore/rd ./rd
-sudo ln -s ../rdcore/cake4 ./cake4
+sudo ln -s ../rd_cake5 ./cake4
 #If backward compatibility is required for older firmware of MESHdesk
-sudo ln -s ../rdcore/cake4 ./cake3
+sudo ln -s ../rd_cake5 ./cake3
 sudo ln -s ../rdcore/login ./login
 sudo ln -s ../rdcore/AmpConf/build/production/AmpConf ./conf_dev
-sudo ln -s ../rdcore/cake4/rd_cake/setup/scripts/reporting ./reporting
+sudo ln -s ../rd_cake5/rd_cake/setup/scripts/reporting ./reporting
 #For the RD Mobile UI
 sudo ln -s ../rd_mobile/build/production/RdMobile ./rd_mobile
@@ Line 328: / Line 367: @@
 === Change ownership ===
-  * Change the ownership of the following files to www-data so Nginx can make changes to the files/directories
+  * Change the ownership of the following files to www-data so that Nginx can make changes to the files/directories
 <code bash>
 sudo mkdir -p  /var/www/html/cake4/rd_cake/logs
@@ Line 343: / Line 382: @@
 </code>
-=== The Database ===
+=== The database ===
   * Make sure that the time zone on the server is set to UTC
   * Fill the time zone data in the DB
 <code bash>
-#NOTE FAILING THIS STEP will break the RADIUS graphs
+#NOTE FAILING TO DO THIS STEP will break the RADIUS graphs
-#There might be some error messages in the output which is fine - no need to be alarmed
+#Some error messages may appear in the output, which is not a problem - no need to worry
 sudo su
 mysql_tzinfo_to_sql /usr/share/zoneinfo | mysql -u root  mysql
@@ Line 369: / Line 408: @@
 <alert type="warning">
   * RADIUSdesk is under active development and sometimes we add SQL patches.
-  * The SQL patches are located at **/var/www/html/cake4/rd_cake/setup/db/**.
+  * The SQL patches are located under **/var/www/html/cake4/rd_cake/setup/db/**.
   * These patches are non-destructive and you can run them against the database
-  * See the sample below
+  * See the example below
 <code bash>
-sudo mysql -u root rd < /var/www/rdcore/cake4/rd_cake/setup/db/8.068_add_email_sms_histories.sql
+sudo mysql -u root rd < /var/www/html/cake4/rd_cake/setup/db/8.068_add_email_sms_histories.sql
+</code>
+  * Some of these patches may add new columns to existing database tables. In this case, it is recommended to clear the CakePHP models (tables) cache to ensure that the latest changes are also applied there:
+<code bash>
+sudo su
+cd /var/www/rdcore/html/rd_cake/tmp/cache/models
+rm *
+exit
 </code>
 </alert>
 === Configure Nginx ===
-  * Configure Nginx to rewrite some RdCore URLs starting with ///cake4/rd_cake//.
+  * Configure Nginx to rewrite some RdCore URLs that start with ///cake4/rd_cake//.
   * Edit ///etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default//
 <code bash>
 sudo vi /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
 </code>
-  * Add this once section directly below **server_name** item. (This is so that this rule is **hit** first for the reporting side. We do not use CakePHP for the reporting anymore due to performance issues.
+  * Insert this section directly under the **server_name** entry. (This is so that this rule is **hit** first for the reporting side. Due to performance issues, we no longer use CakePHP for reporting.
 <code bash>
 server_name _;
@@ Line 392: / Line 437: @@
 }
 </code>
-  * If you need backward compatibility support (MESHdesk and APdesk) also add this section:
+  * If you need support for backward compatibility (MESHdesk and APdesk), add this section as well:
 <code bash>
 location /cake3/rd_cake/node-reports/submit_report.json {
@@ Line 398: / Line 443: @@
 }
 </code>
-  * Add the following configuration block inside the server section (This you can add towards the end):
+  * Insert the following configuration block into the server section (you can add this towards the end):
 <code bash>
 location /cake4/rd_cake {
@@ Line 405: / Line 450: @@
 }
 </code>
-  * If you need backward compatibility support (MESHdesk and APdesk) also add this section:
+  *  If you need support for backward compatibility (MESHdesk and APdesk), add this section as well:
 <code bash>
 location /cake3/rd_cake {
@@ Line 418: / Line 463: @@
 === Important URLs ===
-  * The following URLs are important to reach the UI
+  * The following URLs are important to reach the user interface
-  * To load the optimized UI, go to http://127.0.0.1/rd/build/production/Rd/
+  * To load the optimized user interface, go to http://127.0.0.1/rd/build/production/Rd/
-  * If you want to serve the content directly out of the webroot, do the following:
+  * If you want to deliver the content directly from the webroot, proceed as follows:
 <code bash>
 sudo cp -R /var/www/html/rd/build/production/Rd/* /var/www/html/
@@ Line 426: / Line 471: @@
   * To load the RD Mobile UI, go to http://127.0.0.1/rd_mobile
-== Login Credentials ==
+== Login credentials ==
   * By default you can log in with the following credentials
 Username: **root** Password: **admin**
@@ Line 436: / Line 481: @@
   * To activate the cron scripts, execute the following command, which adds the **RADIUSdesk** cron scripts to the cron system
 <code bash>
-sudo cp /var/www/html/cake4/rd_cake/setup/cron/cron4 /etc/cron.d/
+sudo cp /var/www/html/cake4/rd_cake/setup/cron/rd_cake5 /etc/cron.d/
 </code>
   * If you want to change the default intervals at which the scripts are executed, simply edit the file /etc/cron.d/cron3.
 ===== Add LETSENCRYPT certificate =====
-  * Instead of repeating the existing documentation, we simply add a URL with the appropriate instructions.
+  * Instead of repeating the existing documentation, we simply add a URL with the corresponding instructions
-  * You may want to do the following first before following the instructions in the URL
+  * Before you follow the instructions in the URL, you should first do the following
 <code bash>
 sudo apt-get update
@@ Line 450: / Line 494: @@
   * https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-secure-nginx-with-let-s-encrypt-on-ubuntu-22-04
 ===== Next steps =====
-  * Be sure to also install **FreeRADIUS**
+  * Make sure that you also install **FreeRADIUS**.
   * [[install_22_4_freeradius|Install FreeRADIUS]]