Description

XOOPS is a Content Management System and a Web Portal program that allows administrators to easily create dynamic websites with great content and many outstanding features.

First steps with the Bitnami XOOPS Stack

Welcome to your new Bitnami application! This guide includes some basic information you will need to get started with your application.

How to import a Bitnami Virtual Machine?

Check the following instructions to import a Bitnami Virtual Machine:

Importing a Bitnami Virtual Machine in VirtualBox

• Select the "File -> Import Appliance" menu option and select the .ova file downloaded from the Bitnami website. Then click "Continue".
• Once it is imported, click the "Start" button in the VirtualBox toolbar.

For a detailed walkthrough, check our Virtualbox tutorial.

Importing a Bitnami Virtual Machine in a VMware product

• Select the "File -> Import" menu option and select the .ova file downloaded from the Bitnami website. Then click "Continue".
• Once the import is complete, click "Finish" to start the virtual machine.

For a detailed walkthrough, check our VMware tutorial, which uses VMware Fusion as an example. To learn how to use our virtual machines with other VMware products, refer to the VMware Workstation documentation or the VMware vSphere documentation.

What credentials do I need?

You need two sets of credentials:

• The application credentials, consisting of a username and password. These credentials allow you to log in to your new Bitnami application.

• The server credentials, consisting of an SSH username and password. These credentials allow you to log in to your Virtual Machines server using an SSH client and execute commands on the server using the command line.

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

Username: user

What is the administrator password?

Password: The administrator password to log in to your application is randomly generated during the first boot. Check the FAQ to learn how to retrieve it.

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

SSH username: bitnami

What is my server IP address?

The IP address is displayed on screen at the end of the boot process, but you can check it at any time by running the following command:

  $ sudo ifconfig

How do I get my SSH key or password?

You can obtain the SSH password from the virtual machine console when it starts up. Click here for more information.

How to access your application?

Once you have imported your Bitnami Virtual Machine, the IP address for your application is displayed on the virtual machine's login screen. Access the application via your browser by entering this IP address.

Check these instructions about how to remotely access the Bitnami application.

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.

Remember that if you need to open some ports you can follow the instructions given in the FAQ to learn how to open the server ports for remote access.

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 "Main Menu -> User Profile -> Change Password" menu item from the left navigation menu.

• Enter the old password, then the new password twice.

• Click "Submit" to save your changes.

How to change the interface language?

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

• Download the required language pack to your server.
• Extract the language pack to the /opt/bitnami/apps/xoops/htdocs/ directory. The new language files should now appear under the install, language and modules directories.
• Log in to the application as an administrator.
• Select the "User Menu -> Administration Menu" item from the left navigation bar.
• Select the "Preferences -> System Options -> General Settings" menu item in the top navigation bar. *The new language should appear in the "Default language" selection field. Modify the field value to reflect the language you wish to use.

• Click "Go" to save your changes.

How to configure outbound email settings?

To configure outbound email, follow these steps:

• Log in to the application as an administrator.
• Select the "User Menu -> Administration Menu" item from the left navigation bar.
• Click the "Preferences -> System Options -> Email Setup" menu in the top navigation bar.

• Enter details for the SMTP server to be used for outbound email. For example, to configure a Gmail account, you could use the settings below. Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Gmail account username and password respectively.
  • FROM address - USERNAME@gmail.com
  • FROM name - your name
  • Email delivery method - SMTPAuth
  • SMTP host(s) - ssl://smtp.gmail.com:465
  • SMTP username - USERNAME@gmail.com
  • SMTP password - PASSWORD

• Click "Go" to save your changes.

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

Troubleshooting Gmail SMTP issues

If you are using Gmail as the outbound email server and you are not able to send email correctly, Google may be blocking sign-in attempts from your apps or devices. Depending on whether or not you use Google Apps, the steps to correct this will differ.

For Google Apps users

If you are a Google Apps user, you will need your administrator to allow users to change the policy for less secure apps. If you are a Google Apps administrator, follow these steps:

• Browse to the Google Apps administration panel.

• Click on "Security" and then "Basic settings".

• Look for the section "Less secure apps" and then click on "Go to settings for less secure apps".

• Select "Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps".

For other Google users

If you do not use Google Apps, follow the steps in the following sections, depending on whether 2-step verification has been enabled on the account or not.

If 2-step verification has not been enabled on the account, follow these steps:

• Browse to the "Less secure apps" page and log in using the account you are having problems with. This option is typically required by many popular email clients, such as Outlook and Thunderbird, and should not be considered unsafe.

• Select the "Turn on" option.

  

If 2-step verification has been enabled on the account, you have to generate an app password. Follow these steps:

• Browse to the "App passwords" page.

• Click "Select app" and choose the app you're using.

• Click "Select device" and choose the device you're using.

• Click the "Generate" button.

• Enter the app password on your device.

• Click the "Done" button.

Here are other options you may try:

• Browse to the web version of Gmail and sign in to your account. Once you're signed in, try to enable access for the application again.

• Browse to the "Unlock Captcha" function page and sign in with your Gmail username and password.

• Disable IMAP from the Gmail web server interface and enable it again.

  

How to install a plugin on XOOPS?

To install a plugin, follow these steps:

• Find the plugin you wish to install in the XOOPS Module Repository or the XOOPS Modules News page.
• Download the plugin to your server and extract it to the /opt/bitnami/apps/xoops/htdocs/modules directory.
• Log in to the application as an administrator.
• Select the "User Menu -> Administration Menu" item from the left navigation bar.
• Click the "Modules" button in the resulting control panel.

• If the new plugin is recognized by XOOPS, it will appear in the "Install module" button on the right. Click the button to see the list of modules available for installation.

• Click the "Install" icon.
• On the next page, click "Install" to install and activate the new module.

The module will be installed and you will see a success screen indicating the final status.

How to create a full backup of XOOPS?

Backup

The Bitnami XOOPS Stack 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.

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.

To upgrade the application only without modifying any other stack components, follow these instructions.

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?

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 to the top of the /opt/bitnami/apps/xoops/conf/httpd-prefix.conf file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]

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 access phpMyAdmin?

For security reasons, phpMyAdmin is accessible only when using 127.0.0.1 as the hostname. To access it from a remote system, you must create an SSH tunnel that routes requests to the Web server from 127.0.0.1. This implies that you must be able to connect to your server over SSH in order to access these applications remotely.

Accessing phpMyAdmin on Windows

Watch the following video to learn how to easily access phpMyAdmin on Windows through an SSH tunnel:

In order to access phpMyAdmin via SSH tunnel you need an SSH client. In the instructions below we have selected PuTTY, a free SSH client for Windows and UNIX platforms. The first step is having PuTTY configured. Please, check how to configure it in the section how to connect to the server through SSH using an SSH client on Windows.

Once you have your SSH client correctly configured and you tested that you can successfully access to your instance via SSH, you need to create an SSH tunnel in order to access phpMyAdmin. For doing so, follow these steps:

• In the "Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels" section, add a new forwarded port by introducing the following values:

  • Source port: 8888
  • Destination: localhost:80

  This will create a secure tunnel by forwarding a port (the "destination port") on the remote server to a port (the "source port") on the local host (127.0.0.1 or localhost).

• Click the "Add" button to add the secure tunnel configuration to the session. (You'll see the added port in the list of "Forwarded ports").

  

• In the "Session" section, save your changes by clicking the "Save" button.
• Click the "Open" button to open an SSH session to the server. The SSH session will now include a secure SSH tunnel between the two specified ports.
• Access the phpMyAdmin console through the secure SSH tunnel you created, by browsing to http://127.0.0.1:8888/phpmyadmin.

• Log in to phpMyAdmin by using the following credentials:

  • Username: root
  • Password: application password. (Refer to our FAQ to learn how to find your application credentials).

Here is an example of what you should see:

If you are unable to access phpMyAdmin, verify that the SSH tunnel was created by checking the PuTTY event log (accessible via the "Event Log" menu):

Accessing phpMyAdmin on Linux and Mac OS X

To access the application using your Web browser, create an SSH tunnel, as described below.

• Open a new terminal window on your local system (for example, using "Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal" in Mac OS X or the Dash in Ubuntu).

• Run the following command, remembering to replace SERVER-IP with the public IP address or hostname of your server. Enter your SSH password when prompted.

     $ ssh -N -L 8888:127.0.0.1:80 bitnami@SERVER-IP
  

• Access the phpMyAdmin console through the secure SSH tunnel you created, by browsing to http://127.0.0.1:8888/phpmyadmin.

• Log in to phpMyAdmin by using the following credentials:

  • Username: root
  • Password: application password. (Refer to our FAQ to learn how to find your application credentials).

Here is an example of what you should see:

How to modify PHP settings?

The PHP configuration file allows you to configure the modules enabled, the email settings or the size of the upload files. It is located at /opt/bitnami/php/etc/php.ini.

For example, to modify the default upload limit for PHP, update the PHP configuration file following these instructions.

After modifying the PHP configuration file, restart both Apache and PHP-FPM for the changes to take effect:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache
$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart php-fpm

How to modify the allowed limit for uploaded files?

Modify the following options in the /opt/bitnami/php/etc/php.ini file to increase the allowed size for uploads:

; Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept.
post_max_size = 16M

; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
upload_max_filesize = 16M

Restart PHP-FPM and Apache for the changes to take effect.

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache
$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart php-fpm