ERPNext for Bitnami Cloud Hosting

Description

ERPNext is an open source, web based application that helps small and medium sized business manage their accounting, inventory, sales, purchase, administration, project, customer support and website.

First steps with the Bitnami ERPNext Stack

Welcome to your new Bitnami application running on Bitnami Cloud Hosting! 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 Bitnami Cloud Hosting server using an SSH client and execute commands on the server using the command line. These credentials consist of an SSH username and key.

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

Username: user@example.com

What SSH username should I use for secure shell access to my application?

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 change the default administrator password?

For security, it is recommended that you change the default administrator password as soon as possible. Follow the steps below:

Log in to the application as an administrator.
Select the "My Settings" menu item.
Enter the the new password once into the "Set New Password" field.
Click "Save" to save your changes.

How to change the interface language?

The Bitnami ERPNext Stack uses the English language pack by default. However, translations also exist for other languages. To change the interface language, follow these steps:

Log in to the application as an administrator.
Click the "Setup" button in the main menu.
Select the "Settings -> System Settings" menu item.
Select a new language using the "Language" field.
Click the "Save" button to save your changes.

How to access the administration panel?

Access the administration panel by browsing to http://SERVER-IP/login.

How to configure outbound email settings?

To configure outbound email, follow these steps:

Edit the /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/erpnext/site_config.json file. Add or update the SMTP configuration in the file. Here is an example of how to configure a Gmail account. Replace the DB_PASSWORD placeholder with the correct database password and the USERNAME and PASSWORD placeholders with your Gmail account username and password respectively.

Your file should look like this:

{
    "db_name": "bitnami_erpnext",
    "db_password": "DB_PASSWORD",
    "mail_server": "smtp.gmail.com",
    "mail_login": "USERNAME@gmail.com",
    "mail_password": "PASSWORD",
    "use_ssl": 1,
    "mail_port": 587,
    "auto_email_id": "USERNAME@gmail.com"
}

NOTE: Remember to use double quotes around the values and a comma after every line except the last one. All the parameters should be enclosed between curly braces as shown above.

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 ERPNext?

To perform a manual backup of ERPNext, follow these steps:

At the server console, execute the following commands:

   $ cd /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench
   $ sudo bench backup-all-sites

A new backup will be created.

Log in to the ERPNext administration dashboard.
Navigate to the "Setup -> Data -> Download Backups" page. You should see the newly-created backup. Click the backup link to download the backup file to your desktop.

How to upgrade ERPNext?

It is strongly recommended to create a backup before starting the update process. If you have important data, create and restore a backup to ensure that everything works properly.

You can upgrade the application itself without modifying any other component included in the stack by executing the following commands as bitnami user or the user who installed the application:

    $ cd /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench
    $ bench --site erpnext migrate

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 find the MySQL database credentials?

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

How to connect to the MySQL database?

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

$ mysql -u root -p

You will be prompted to enter the root user password. This is the same as the application password.

How to debug errors in your database?

The main log file is created at /opt/bitnami/mysql/data/mysqld.log on the MySQL database server host.

How to change the MySQL root password?

You can modify the MySQL password using the following command at the shell prompt. Replace the NEW_PASSWORD placeholder with the actual password you wish to set.

$ /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -p -u root password NEW_PASSWORD

How to reset the MySQL root password?

If you don't remember your MySQL root password, you can follow the steps below to reset it to a new value:

Create a file in /home/bitnami/mysql-init with the content shown below (replace NEW_PASSWORD with the password you wish to use):
```
 UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE User='root';
 FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
```
If your stack ships MySQL v5.7.x, use the following content instead of that shown above:
```
 UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('NEW_PASSWORD') WHERE User='root';
 FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
```
TIP: Check the MySQL version with the command /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqladmin --version or /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqld --version.

Stop the MySQL server:

 $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop mysql

Start MySQL with the following command:

 $ sudo /opt/bitnami/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --pid-file=/opt/bitnami/mysql/data/mysqld.pid --datadir=/opt/bitnami/mysql/data --init-file=/home/bitnami/mysql-init 2> /dev/null &

Restart the MySQL server:

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

Remove the script:
```
 $ rm /home/bitnami/mysql-init
```

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

ERPNext users log in using their email address. To change a user's email address, follow the steps below:

Log in to the application as the user whose email address you wish to change.
Select the "My Settings" menu item.
Click the "User" text field.
Enter a new email address for your user.

To check that the email address has been updated, log in to the application as the new user.

How to enable multitenant support?

With Bitnami ERPNext you can host several ERPNext sites at the same time. This section describes the steps required to add a second site.

Your first site is automatically set as default site. You can change it with the command:

    $ bench use sitename

NOTE: All bench commands should be executed as the bitnami user (or the user who installed the application) at '/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench'.

There are two ways of setting up multitenant: Port based and DNS based multitenancy.

Port based multitenancy

To configure Bitnami ERPNext to automatically select the site based on the port, follow the steps below. With this configuration you will be able to access your different ERPNext sites using different ports.

Create a new site by executing the commands below:

 $ cd /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench
 $ bench new-site <site_name>

Comment out the line that includes the prefix configuration file in the /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-prefix.conf file:
```
 # Include "/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-prefix.conf"
```
Include the virtual host configuration file for ERPNext in the /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-vhosts.conf file:
```
 Include "/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-vhosts.conf"
```

Move the following lines from the beggining of /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf to /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-vhosts.conf:

 <IfDefine !IS_ERPNEXT_LOADED>
     Define IS_ERPNEXT_LOADED
     WSGIDaemonProcess wsgi-erpnext user=daemon group=daemon processes=2 threads=15 home=/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites python-path=/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages:/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/apps/erpnext:/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/env/lib/python2.7/site-packages:/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/apps/frappe python-eggs=/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/.tmp display-name=%{GROUP}
 </IfDefine>

 WSGIProcessGroup wsgi-erpnext
 WSGIApplicationGroup %{GLOBAL}

Copy the file /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf to /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf
Modify /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf replacing sites/erpnext by sites/NEW_SITE_NAME

Edit the file /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-vhosts.conf, duplicate the two existing code blocks and configure them as shown below. Please, be aware of the Listen PORT lines. PORT is a placeholder, remember to replace it with the corresponding value.

 <VirtualHost *:80>
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

 <VirtualHost *:443>
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"
     SSLEngine on
     SSLCertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.crt"
     SSLCertificateKeyFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.key"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

 Listen 8080
 <VirtualHost *:8080>
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

 Listen 8443
 <VirtualHost *:8443>
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"
     SSLEngine on
     SSLCertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.crt"
     SSLCertificateKeyFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.key"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

Restart the Apache server:

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

After this process, your first site should be reachable at http://SERVER_IP:80 or https://SERVER_IP:443 for SSL. To access your second site, enter http://SERVER_IP:8080 or https://SERVER_IP:8443 for SSL in your preferred browser. SERVER_IP is a placeholder, remember to replace it with the corresponding value. The credentials for the first site are the same credentials from the original ERPNext installation. The credentials for the second site are Administrator as username and the password you specified when creating the new site using bench.

DNS based multitenancy

To configure Bitnami ERPNext to automatically select the site based on the hostname you use to access it, follow the steps below. With this configuration you will be able to access your different ERPNext sites using different hostnames.

NOTE: Take into account that this configuration requires that you use different domains for each site. They can be public domains or local domains routed using the hosts file. Accessing the application using an IP address (127.0.0.1 or your server's one) will lead to the Bitnami ERPNext Stack welcome page.

Create a new site and enable DNS multitenant by executing the commands below. NEW_SITE_NAME is a placeholders. Remember to replace it with you preferred site name.
```
 $ cd /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench
 $ bench config dns_multitenant on
 $ bench new-site NEW_SITE_NAME
```
Comment out the line that includes the prefix configuration file in the /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-prefix.conf file:
```
 # Include "/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-prefix.conf"
```
Include the virtual host configuration file for ERPNext in the /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-vhosts.conf file:
```
 Include "/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-vhosts.conf"
```

Move the following lines from the beggining of /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf to /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-vhosts.conf:

 <IfDefine !IS_ERPNEXT_LOADED>
     Define IS_ERPNEXT_LOADED
     WSGIDaemonProcess wsgi-erpnext user=daemon group=daemon processes=2 threads=15 home=/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites python-path=/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages:/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/apps/erpnext:/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/env/lib/python2.7/site-packages:/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/apps/frappe python-eggs=/opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/htdocs/.tmp display-name=%{GROUP}
 </IfDefine>

 WSGIProcessGroup wsgi-erpnext
 WSGIApplicationGroup %{GLOBAL}

Copy the file /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf to /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf
Modify /opt/bitnami/apps/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf replacing sites/erpnext by sites/NEW_SITE_NAME

Edit the file /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami-apps-vhosts.conf, duplicate the two existing code blocks and configure them as shown below. firsthostname.com and secondhostname.com are placeholders. Remember to replace them with you preferred host.

 <VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerName firsthostname.com
     ServerAlias www.firsthostname.com
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

 <VirtualHost *:443>
     ServerName firsthostname.com
     ServerAlias www.firsthostname.com
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"
     SSLEngine on
     SSLCertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.crt"
     SSLCertificateKeyFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.key"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

 <VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerName secondhostname.com
     ServerAlias www.secondhostname.com
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

 <VirtualHost *:443>
     ServerName secondhostname.com
     ServerAlias www.secondhostname.com
     DocumentRoot "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/htdocs/frappe-bench/sites/"
     SSLEngine on
     SSLCertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.crt"
     SSLCertificateKeyFile "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/certs/server.key"

     Include "/opt/bitnami/erpnext/conf/httpd-app2.conf"
 </VirtualHost>

Restart the Apache server:

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

Now, you should be able to access your first site using firsthostname.com. To access your second site enter secondhostname.com in your preferred browser. The credentials for the first site are the same credentials from the original ERPNext installation. The credentials for the second site are Administrator as username and the password you specified when creating the new site using bench.