Bitnami eXo Platform for AWS Cloud

Description

eXo Platform is an open source social-collaboration software designed for enterprises. It is full featured, based on standards, extensible and has an amazing design.

First steps with the Bitnami Stack for eXo Platform

Welcome to your new Bitnami application running on Amazon Web Services! Here are a few questions (and answers!) you might need when first starting with your application.

What credentials do I need?

You need two sets of credentials:

The application credentials that allow you to log in to your new Bitnami application. These credentials consist of a username and password.
The server credentials that allow you to log in to your AWS Cloud server using an SSH client and execute commands on the server using the command line. These credentials consist of an SSH username and key.

Watch the following video to learn quickly how to obtain the application credentials of those applications deployed using the AWS Console:

What is the administrator username set for me to log in to the application for the first time?

Username: user

How do I get my SSH key or password?

SSH username: bitnami

What are the default ports?

A port is an endpoint of communication in an operating system that identifies a specific process or a type of service. Bitnami stacks include several services or servers that require a port.

IMPORTANT: Making this application's network ports public is a significant security risk. You are strongly advised to only allow access to those ports from trusted networks. If, for development purposes, you need to access from outside of a trusted network, please do not allow access to those ports via a public IP address. Instead, use a secure channel such as a VPN or an SSH tunnel. Follow these instructions to remotely connect safely and reliably.

Port 22 is the default port for SSH connections.

Bitnami opens some ports for the main servers. These are the ports opened by default: 80, 443.

How to start or stop the services?

Each Bitnami stack includes a control script that lets you easily stop, start and restart services. The script is located at /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh. Call it without any service name arguments to start all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

Or use it to restart a single service, such as Apache only, by passing the service name as argument:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Use this script to stop all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Restart the services by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart

Obtain a list of available services and operations by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh

How to configure outbound email settings?

For eXo Platform 4.1 or newer

To send email using eXo Platform via SMTP, it is necessary to specify the SMTP settings in the /opt/bitnami/apps/exoplatform/gatein/conf/exo.properties file.

Here is an example of the configuration parameters using a Gmail SMTP server. Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Gmail account username and password respectively.

exo.email.smtp.from=USERNAME@gmail.com
exo.email.smtp.host=smtp.gmail.com
exo.email.smtp.port=465
exo.email.smtp.starttls.enable=true
exo.email.smtp.auth=true
exo.email.smtp.username=USERNAME@gmail.com
exo.email.smtp.password=PASSWORD
exo.email.smtp.socketFactory.port=465
exo.email.smtp.socketFactory.class=javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory

Find more information in this guide.

For eXo Platform 4.1.0 or older

To send email using eXo Platform via SMTP, it is necessary to specify the SMTP settings in the /opt/bitnami/apps/exoplatform/scripts/setenv-customize.sh file.

Here is an example of the configuration parameters using a Gmail SMTP server. Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Gmail account username and password respectively.

EXO_EMAIL_FROM="USERNAME@gmail.com"
EXO_EMAIL_SMTP_HOST="smtp.gmail.com"
EXO_EMAIL_SMTP_PORT="465"
EXO_EMAIL_SMTP_STARTTLS_ENABLE=true
EXO_EMAIL_SMTP_AUTH=true
EXO_EMAIL_SMTP_USERNAME="USERNAME@gmail.com"
EXO_EMAIL_SMTP_PASSWORD="PASSWORD"

After saving the changes to the file, restart the Tomcat server:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart tomcat

To configure the application to use the SMTP service provided by Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), refer to the guide on using Amazon SES.

To configure the application to use other third-party SMTP services for outgoing email, such as SendGrid or Mandrill, refer to the FAQ.

NOTE: If you are using Gmail as the outbound email server and have experienced issues trying to send emails correctly, check the How to troubleshoot Gmail SMTP issues to learn the causes of these issues and how to solve them.

How to create a full backup of eXo Platform?

Backup

The Bitnami Stack for eXo Platform is self-contained and the simplest option for performing a backup is to copy or compress the Bitnami stack installation directory. To do so in a safe manner, you will need to stop all servers, so this method may not be appropriate if you have people accessing the application continuously.

Follow these steps:

Change to the directory in which you wish to save your backup:
```
  $ cd /your/directory
```

Stop all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Create a compressed file with the stack contents:

  $ sudo tar -pczvf application-backup.tar.gz /opt/bitnami

Restart all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

You should now download or transfer the application-backup.tar.gz file to a safe location.

Restore

Follow these steps:

Change to the directory containing your backup:
```
  $ cd /your/directory
```

Stop all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Move the current stack to a different location:

  $ sudo mv /opt/bitnami /tmp/bitnami-backup

Uncompress the backup file to the original directoryv

  $ sudo tar -pxzvf application-backup.tar.gz -C /

Start all servers:

  $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

If you want to create only a database backup, refer to these instructions for MySQL and PostgreSQL.

How to create an SSL certificate for Apache Tomcat?

A detailed guide is available in the official Apache Tomcat documentation at http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/ssl-howto.html.

How to enable SSL access over HTTPS?

You can configure Apache Tomcat to enable SSL access to applications using HTTPS. It is necessary to configure Tomcat with the location of the Apache SSL certificate, as described below.

Check that the certificate file is present at /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/conf/ssl/tomcat.cert.pem and the certificate key file is present at /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/conf/ssl/tomcat.key.pem.

Uncomment the following line in the /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/conf/server.xml file:

   <Connector port="8443"
              protocol="HTTP/1.1" SSLEnabled="true"
              maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="25" maxSpareThreads="75"
              enableLookups="false" disableUploadTimeout="true"
              acceptCount="100" scheme="https" secure="true"
              clientAuth="false" sslProtocol="TLS"
              keystoreFile="conf/myKeystore"
              keystorePass="your_password"
              SSLCertificateFile="/opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/conf/ssl/tomcat.cert.pem"
              SSLCertificateKeyFile="/opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/conf/ssl/tomcat.key.pem"/>

Restart the Apache Tomcat server

You should now be able to access your Web applications over HTTPS by browsing to https://SERVER-IP:8443.

How to create an SSL certificate?

OpenSSL is required to create an SSL certificate. A certificate request can then be sent to a certificate authority (CA) to get it signed into a certificate, or if you have your own certificate authority, you may sign it yourself, or you can use a self-signed certificate (because you just want a test certificate or because you are setting up your own CA).

Follow the steps below:

Generate a new private key:

 $ sudo openssl genrsa -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key 2048

Create a certificate:
```
 $ sudo openssl req -new -key /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/cert.csr
```
IMPORTANT: Enter the server domain name when the above command asks for the "Common Name".
Send cert.csr to the certificate authority. When the certificate authority completes their checks (and probably received payment from you), they will hand over your new certificate to you.

Until the certificate is received, create a temporary self-signed certificate:

 $ sudo openssl x509 -in /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/cert.csr -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.crt -req -signkey /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key -days 365

Back up your private key in a safe location after generating a password-protected version as follows:
```
 $ sudo openssl rsa -des3 -in /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key -out privkey.pem
```
Note that if you use this encrypted key in the Apache configuration file, it will be necessary to enter the password manually every time Apache starts. Regenerate the key without password protection from this file as follows:
```
 $ sudo openssl rsa -in privkey.pem -out /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key
```

Find more information about certificates at http://www.openssl.org.

How to enable HTTPS support with SSL certificates?

TIP: If you wish to use a Let's Encrypt certificate, you will find specific instructions for enabling HTTPS support with Let's Encrypt SSL certificates in our Let's Encrypt guide.

NOTE: The steps below assume that you are using a custom domain name and that you have already configured the custom domain name to point to your cloud server.

Bitnami images come with SSL support already pre-configured and with a dummy certificate in place. Although this dummy certificate is fine for testing and development purposes, you will usually want to use a valid SSL certificate for production use. You can either generate this on your own (explained here) or you can purchase one from a commercial certificate authority.

Once you obtain the certificate and certificate key files, you will need to update your server to use them. Follow these steps to activate SSL support:

Use the table below to identify the correct locations for your certificate and configuration files.

Variable	Value
Current application URL	https://[custom-domain]/
	Example: https://my-domain.com/ or https://my-domain.com/appname
Apache configuration file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf
Certificate file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.crt
Certificate key file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server.key
CA certificate bundle file (if present)	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt

Copy your SSL certificate and certificate key file to the specified locations.

NOTE: If you use different names for your certificate and key files, you should reconfigure the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile directives in the corresponding Apache configuration file to reflect the correct file names.

If your certificate authority has also provided you with a PEM-encoded Certificate Authority (CA) bundle, you must copy it to the correct location in the previous table. Then, modify the Apache configuration file to include the following line below the SSLCertificateKeyFile directive. Choose the correct directive based on your scenario and Apache version:

Variable	Value
Apache configuration file	/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf
Directive to include (Apache v2.4.8+)	SSLCACertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt"
Directive to include (Apache < v2.4.8)	SSLCertificateChainFile "/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt"

NOTE: If you use a different name for your CA certificate bundle, you should reconfigure the SSLCertificateChainFile or SSLCACertificateFile directives in the corresponding Apache configuration file to reflect the correct file name.

Once you have copied all the server certificate files, you may make them readable by the root user only with the following commands:
```
 $ sudo chown root:root /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server*

 $ sudo chmod 600 /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server*
```
Open port 443 in the server firewall. Refer to the FAQ for more information.
Restart the Apache server.

You should now be able to access your application using an HTTPS URL.

How to force HTTPS redirection with Apache?

Add the following lines in the default Apache virtual host configuration file at /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf, inside the default VirtualHost directive, so that it looks like this:

<VirtualHost _default_:80>
  DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs"
  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
  RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]
  ...
</VirtualHost>

After modifying the Apache configuration files:

Open port 443 in the server firewall. Refer to the FAQ for more information.
Restart Apache to apply the changes.

How to debug Apache errors?

Once Apache starts, it will create two log files at /opt/bitnami/apache2/logs/access_log and /opt/bitnami/apache2/logs/error_log respectively.

The access_log file is used to track client requests. When a client requests a document from the server, Apache records several parameters associated with the request in this file, such as: the IP address of the client, the document requested, the HTTP status code, and the current time.
The error_log file is used to record important events. This file includes error messages, startup messages, and any other significant events in the life cycle of the server. This is the first place to look when you run into a problem when using Apache.

If no error is found, you will see a message similar to:

Syntax OK

How to change the Java memory settings?

The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) determines the default settings for your Java application:

JAVA_OPTS="-Xms256m -Xmx512m"

You can increase these Java settings for your application if necessary. The settings are in the /opt/bitnami/java/bitnami/setenv.sh file. Here is an example of how to change the memory settings:

$ export JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Xms256M -Xmx768M"

IMPORTANT: This file is a symlink to a configuration file that changes depending on the instance type that you are currently using. The symlink will be automatically changed when you resize your server.

How to debug errors in Tomcat?

The main Apache Tomcat configuration file is at /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/conf/server.xml.

Once Apache Tomcat starts, it will create several log files in the /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/logs directory. The main log file is the catalina.out file where you can find error messages. On some platforms, you may need root account privileges to view these files.

How to find the PostgreSQL database credentials?

Database username: postgres.
Database password: The same as the application password. Find out how to obtain application credentials.

How to connect to the PostgreSQL database?

You can connect to the PostgreSQL database from the same computer where it is installed with the psql client tool.

$ psql -U postgres

You will be prompted to enter the *postgres* user password. This is the same as the [application password](/aws/faq#how-to-find-application-credentials).

How to upload files to the server with SFTP?

Although you can use any SFTP/SCP client to transfer files to your server, the link below explains how to configure FileZilla (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X), WinSCP (Windows) and Cyberduck (Mac OS X). It is required to use your server's private SSH key to configure the SFTP client properly. Choose your preferred application and follow the steps in the link below to connect to the server through SFTP.

How to upload files to the server

Troubleshooting eXo Platform

How to debug errors in eXo Platform?

The eXo Platform log file is stored at /opt/bitnami/apps/exoplatform/platform.log.

How to change the password for a user manually?

To change the password for a user in eXo Platform, you will have to execute a database query. To do this, follow the steps below:

Execute the following command:

 $ psql -U postgres -p POSTGRESQL_PORT -h localhost -d bitnami_exoplatform -c "UPDATE jbid_io_creden c SET text=MD5('YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD') FROM jbid_io u WHERE u.id = c.identity_object_id AND u.name='YOUR_USER_NAME';"

Remember to replace POSTGRESQL_PORT with the port for PostgreSQL (by default 5432), YOUR_NEW_PASSWORD with the new password and YOUR_USER_NAME with the current username of your account in eXo Platform.

Can I configure eXo platform in a high-availability setup?

The default Bitnami setup is not prepared for a clustered deployment. You can find more information on how to do that over at the eXo clustered deployment documentation guide.

How to enable development or debug mode in eXo Platform?

Development or debug modes are disabled by default in the Bitnami Stack for eXo Platform because of their performance impact. Enabling these modes will help you debug eXo Platform in case of problems.

Development Mode

Follow these steps:

Open the /opt/bitnami/apps/exoplatform/scripts/setenv-customize.sh file in a text editor. Uncomment the lines below so they look like this:
```
   EXO_DEV=true
   EXO_JCR_SESSION_TRACKING=true
   EXO_TOMCAT_UNPACK_WARS=true
```
Restart Tomcat in order for these changes to take effect, either using the manager or manually:
```
 $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart tomcat
```

Debug Mode

Follow these steps:

Open the /opt/bitnami/apps/exoplatform/scripts/setenv-customize.sh file in a text editor. Uncomment the lines below so they look like this:
```
 EXO_DEBUG=true
 EXO_DEBUG_PORT="8000"
```
Restart Tomcat in order for these changes to take effect, either using the manager or manually:
```
 $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart tomcat
```

You can find more information about these modes in the documentation for Debug mode and Development mode.

How to configure a redirect for main page to /portal?

eXo Platform runs in the /portal URL by default and, from eXo Platform 4.1.1 and later versions, an automatic redirection has been added from the main domain to the /portal application.

If you have an older version and want to add a simple redirection like the one included in newer versions of Bitnami Stack for eXo Platform, add the following at the beginning of the file in the /opt/bitnami/apps/exoplatform/conf/httpd-app.conf file.

Redirect / /portal
...

Then, restart the Apache server:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Where can I learn more about eXo Platform?

Learn more about eXo Platform from the eXo Platform website and the eXo Platform community website.

NOTE: eXo Platform Enterprise is the commercial offering of eXo Platform. You can learn more about it at the eXo Platform edition comparison page. If you are using eXo Platform Enterprise edition, you will need to register a license after the 30 day trial expires.