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Debian GNU/Linux

We explain which packages need to be installed and configured in a few steps in this article. We use an environment without a desktop.

When you install Debian, you will eventually reach a "Software selection" dialog that contains a list of checkboxes for selecting the software you want to install initially. Here, the "Debian desktop environment" checkbox is already checked. If you uncheck this checkbox and leave all other desktop environment checkboxes (GNOME, Xfce, etc.) unchecked, this results in a GUI-less installation:

Software selection

System Requirements#

The general system requirements.

This article refers to Debian GNU/Linux 13 "trixie". To determine which Debian version is in use, you can run the following command in the console:

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cat /etc/debian_version

The system architecture should be x86 in 64-bit:

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uname -m

x86_64 means 64-bit, i386 or i686 means only 32-bit.

Package installation#

The standard repositories of Debian GNU/Linux already include all necessary packages to install

  • the Apache web server 2.4,
  • the scripting language PHP 8.4,
  • the database management system MariaDB 11.8, and
  • the caching server memcached

to install:

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apt update
apt install apache2 libapache2-mod-php mariadb-client mariadb-server memcached unzip sudo moreutils php php-{bcmath,cli,common,curl,gd,imagick,json,ldap,mbstring,memcached,mysql,pgsql,soap,xml,zip}

Configuration#

The installed packages for Apache web server, PHP, and MariaDB already come with configuration files. It is recommended to store custom settings in separate files rather than modifying the existing configuration files. With each package upgrade, any divergent settings would be flagged or overwritten. The default configuration settings are supplemented or overridden by the custom ones.

PHP#

First, a new file is created and populated with the required settings:

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sudo nano /etc/php/8.4/mods-available/i-doit.ini

This file receives the following content as specified by us. For more information about the parameters, visit PHP.net

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allow_url_fopen = Yes
file_uploads = On
magic_quotes_gpc = Off
max_execution_time = 300
max_file_uploads = 42
max_input_time = 60
max_input_vars = 10000
memory_limit = 256M
post_max_size = 128M
register_argc_argv = On
register_globals = Off
short_open_tag = On
upload_max_filesize = 128M
display_errors = Off
display_startup_errors = Off
error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT
log_errors = On
default_charset = "UTF-8"
default_socket_timeout = 60
date.timezone = Europe/Berlin
session.gc_maxlifetime = 604800
session.cookie_lifetime = 0
mysqli.default_socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

The memory_limit must be increased if needed, e.g., for very large reports or extensive documents.
The value (in seconds) of session.gc_maxlifetime should be greater than or equal to the Session Timeout in the system settings of i-doit.
The date.timezone parameter should be adjusted to the local time zone (see list of supported time zones).

Then the required PHP modules are activated and the Apache web server is restarted:

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sudo phpenmod i-doit memcached

Apache Web Server#

The default VHost is deactivated and a new one is created:

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sudo a2dissite 000-default
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/i-doit.conf

This file receives the following content as specified by us. For more information about the parameters, visit httpd.apache.org

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<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin i-doit@example.net

        DocumentRoot /var/www/html/
DirectoryIndex index.php
DocumentRoot /var/www/html

    <Directory /var/www/html>
        ## See https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#allowoverride
        AllowOverride None

        ## Apache Web server configuration file for i-doit
        ##
        ## This file requires:
        ##
        ## - Apache HTTPD >= 2.4 with enabled modules:
        ##   - rewrite
        ##   - expires
        ##   - headers
        ##   - authz_core
        ##
        ## For performance and security reasons we put these settings
        ## directly into the VirtualHost configuration and explicitly set
        ## "AllowOverride None". After each i-doit update check if the .htaccess file, in the i-doit directory,
        ## has changed and add the changes in the VirtualHost configuration.
        ##
        ## See the i-doit Knowledge Base for more details:
        ## <https://kb.i-doit.com/>

        ## Disable directory indexes:
        Options -Indexes +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch

        <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD}  =GET
            RewriteRule "^$" "/index.php"

            ## Deny access to meta files:
            <Files "*.yml">
                Require all denied
            </Files>

            ## Deny access to hidden files:
            <FilesMatch "^\.">
                Require all denied
            </FilesMatch>

            ## Deny access to bash scripts:
            <FilesMatch "^(controller|.*\.sh)$">
                Require all denied
            </FilesMatch>

            ## Deny access to all PHP files…
            <Files "*.php">
                Require all denied
            </Files>

            ## Deny access to wrongly created config backup files like ...inc.php.0123123 instead of ...inc.012341.php
            <FilesMatch "\.php\.\d+$">
                Require all denied
            </FilesMatch>

            ## …except some PHP files in root directory:
            <FilesMatch "^(index\.php|controller\.php|proxy\.php)$">
                <IfModule mod_auth_kerb.c>
                    Require valid-user
                </IfModule>
                <IfModule !mod_auth_kerb.c>
                    Require all granted
                </IfModule>
            </FilesMatch>

            ## …except some PHP files in src/:
            <Files "jsonrpc.php">
                Require all granted
            </Files>

            ## …except some PHP files in src/tools/php/:
            <FilesMatch "^(rt\.php|barcode_window\.php|barcode\.php)$">
                Require all granted
            </FilesMatch>

            ## …except some PHP files in src/tools/php/qr/:
            <FilesMatch "^(qr\.php|qr_img\.php)$">
                Require all granted
            </FilesMatch>

            ## …except some PHP files in src/tools/js/:
            <FilesMatch "^js\.php$">
                Require all granted
            </FilesMatch>
        </IfModule>

        ## Deny access to some directories:
        <IfModule mod_alias.c>
            RedirectMatch 403 /imports/.*$
            RedirectMatch 403 /log/.*$
            RedirectMatch 403 /temp/.*(?<!\.(css|xsl))$
            RedirectMatch 403 /upload/files/.*$
            RedirectMatch 403 /upload/images/.*$
            RedirectMatch 403 /vendor/.*$
        </IfModule>

        ## Cache static files:
        <IfModule mod_expires.c>
            ExpiresActive On
            # A2592000 = 30 days
            ExpiresByType image/svg+xml A2592000
            ExpiresByType image/gif A2592000
            ExpiresByType image/png A2592000
            ExpiresByType image/jpg A2592000
            ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
            ExpiresByType image/ico A2592000
            ExpiresByType text/css A2592000
            ExpiresByType text/javascript A2592000
            ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access 1 year"
            ExpiresDefault "access 2 week"

            <IfModule mod_headers.c>
                Header append Cache-Control "public"
            </IfModule>
        </IfModule>

        ## Pretty URLs:
        <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
            RewriteEngine On
            RewriteRule favicon\.ico$ images/favicon.ico [L]
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-l
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
            RewriteRule .* index.php [L,QSA]
        </IfModule>

        ## Deny access to all ini files…
        <Files "*.ini">
            Require all denied
        </Files>

    </Directory>

    TimeOut 600
    ProxyTimeout 600

    <FilesMatch "\\.php$">
        <If "-f %{REQUEST_FILENAME}">
            SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php/php8.4-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
        </If>
    </FilesMatch>

    LogLevel warn
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

i-doit ships custom Apache settings in files named .htaccess. These must be reviewed after each update and updated in the VirtualHost configuration. The .htaccess file is located in the i-doit directory, e.g., /var/www/html/.htaccess.

In the next step, the new VHost and the required Apache module rewrite are activated, and the Apache web server is restarted:

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sudo a2ensite i-doit
sudo a2enmod rewrite proxy_fcgi setenvif
sudo systemctl restart apache2 php8.4-fpm

MariaDB#

To ensure MariaDB delivers good performance and can be operated securely, you should not only follow our guide but also inform yourself further. Starting with a secure installation where the recommendations should be followed. Additionally, the root user should receive a secure password.

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sudo mariadb-secure-installation

The InnoDB shutdown mode still needs to be changed. The value 0 causes a full purge and change buffer merge to be performed before MariaDB shuts down:

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mysql -u root -p -e "SET GLOBAL innodb_fast_shutdown = 0"

A new file is created for the custom configuration settings and our default configuration is inserted:

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sudo nano /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/99-i-doit.cnf

This file contains the new configuration settings. For optimal performance, these settings should be adjusted to the (virtual) hardware. For optimal settings, please refer to mariadb.com

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[mysqld]
# This is the number 1 setting to look at for any performance optimization
# It is where the data and indexes are cached: having it as large as possible will
# ensure MySQL uses memory and not disks for most read operations.
# See https://mariadb.com/kb/en/innodb-buffer-pool/
# Typical values are 1G (1-2GB RAM), 5-6G (8GB RAM), 20-25G (32GB RAM), 100-120G (128GB RAM).
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 1G
# Redo log file size, the higher the better.
# MySQL/MariaDB writes one of these log files in a default installation.
innodb_log_file_size = 512M
innodb_sort_buffer_size = 64M
sort_buffer_size = 262144 # default
join_buffer_size = 262144 # default
max_allowed_packet = 128M
max_heap_table_size = 32M
query_cache_min_res_unit = 4096
query_cache_type = 1
query_cache_limit = 5M
query_cache_size = 80M
tmp_table_size = 32M
max_connections = 200
innodb_file_per_table = 1
# Disable this (= 0) if you have slow hard disks
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit = 1
innodb_flush_method = O_DIRECT
innodb_lru_scan_depth = 2048
table_definition_cache = 1024
table_open_cache = 2048
innodb_stats_on_metadata = 0
# The maximum number of instances is defined by the table_open_cache_instances system variable.
# The default value of the table_open_cache_instances system variable is 8, which is expected to handle up to 100 CPU cores.
# If your system is larger than this, then you may benefit from increasing the value of this system variable.
table_open_cache_instances = 8
sql-mode = ""

Finally, MariaDB is started:

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sudo systemctl restart mysql

Next Step#

The operating system is now prepared so that i-doit can be installed:

Continue to Setup