Installation Of UVdesk with Nginx on Ubuntu 16.04

INTRODUCTION

UVdesk is a fully functional open-source web-based ticketing system built on famous technologies such as Symfony/PHP and backbone.javascript framework.

It’s a pack of incredible features for handling customer queries by using various tools & tactics that saves time and agent workload.

FEATURES OF UVDESK OPEN SOURCE HELPDESK

Drafting out the feature list of UVdesk Open Source helpdesk:

• Translation Support (Multilingual)
• Unlimited Agents, Group, Team, Customers, Tickets etc
• Agent Privileges
• No limit on the number of Mailbox/Email integration
• Saved Replies for common queries
• Filter based on ticket status, Id, agent, customer, etc
• Block Spam
• Standard automated workflows
• Notes for agents
• Custom branding
• Change logo & favicon
• Broadcasting message
• Ticket Forwarding
• Prepared Response
• Email Notification
• Effective search
• User-Friendly Web Installer
• Add multiple attachments
• Powerful Knowledgebase/Faq (article, category & folder)
• Ticket types, Multiple Tags
• Email Templates

UVdesk Installation PrePrerequisites

Hardware Requirement

• Processor: 1.60GHz or higher
• RAM: 3GB or higher 

Software Requirement

• Ubuntu 16.04
• PHP 7.2 or higher
• Composer: 1.6.5 or higher
• IMAP extension
• MailParse extension
• Server: Nginx 
• Database: MySQL

1). Install Nginx and MySQL

In this step, we will install Nginx and MySQL server from the Ubuntu repository.

Install Nginx

The very first we need to make sure that our repository information is up to date and then install Nginx

Step 1: Update Ubuntu repository:

sudo apt-get update

Step 2: Then, install Nginx

sudo apt-get install nginx

Step 3: Now start Nginx with the following command:

systemctl start nginx 

systemctl enable nginx

Now the installation of the Nginx web server has been completed, check the Nginx service using the following command.

systemctl status nginx

Now make sure all the services are running by checking the server port of the services:

netstat -plntu

Install MySQL

Step 1: Install MySQL using the apt command below:

sudo apt install mysql-server mysql-client

Step 2: Now, start the MySQL service and enable it

systemctl start mysql 

systemctl enable mysql

Step 3: Now check the MySQL service using the following command:

systemctl status mysql

During installation, you will be asked for the MySQL root password, make sure enter a secure MySQL password.

Now, the installation and configuration of MySQL database have been completed.

2). PHP and PHP-FPM Installation

In this step, we will install PHP 7.2 or 7.3 and all of those extensions and then configure PHP to run with Nginx web server.

Step 1: First run below command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Update:

sudo apt-get update

Install PHP-FPM 7

Step 1: Run below command

sudo apt-get install -y php7.2-cli php7.2-mysql php7.2-cgi php7.2-fpm php7.2-gd php7.2-imap php7.2-xml php7.2-mbstring php7.2-intl php-apcu

Step 2: Now, go to the PHP 7 directory and edit the php.ini file.

cd /etc/php/7.2/ 

vim fpm/php.ini

Step 3: Uncomment the cgi.fix_pathinfo line and change it’s value to 0.

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Save the file and exit vim.

Step 4: Now restart php7.2-fpm and add it to start at the boot time:

systemctl restart php7.2-fpm 

systemctl enable php7.2-fpm

Step 5: After that, Go to the Nginx virtual host directory and edit the default virtual host file with vim to work with Nginx web server.

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/ 

vim default

Step 6: Uncomment the PHP 7 configuration line below:

location ~ \.php$ {
                include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        #
        #       # With php7.0-cgi alone:
        #       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        #       # With php7.0-fpm:
                fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock;
        }

Save and exit, then restart the webserver.

systemctl restart nginx

3). Install PHP Imap & Mailparse

UVdesk requires some PHP extension(Imap & Mailparse) for the installation. 

Mailparse Extension

Step 1: Run the below command:

For php7.2 - apt-get install php7.2-mailparse

Or

For php7.3 - apt-get install php7.3-mailparse

Or

pecl install mailparse

If all is done, go to the php 7.2 or7.3 directory and edit the php.ini file.

Now, add “extension=mailparse.so” in the php.ini file of the PHP version you are using.

When you are finished editing your php.ini, you will need to restart your web server.

Step 2: Run the following command:

systemctl restart nginx

IMAP EXTENSION

Step 1: Run the below command:

For php7.2 - apt-get install php7.2-imap

Or

For php7.3 - apt-get install php7.3-imap

Check PHP version and Nginx by creating info.php file:

cd /var/www/html/
echo '<?php phpinfo(); ?>' > info.php

Open your web server URL in a Browser and visit the server IP address pointing to info.php

http://localhost/info.php

You will get information about your PHP configuration.

4). Create Database for UVdesk

Now, we will create a new database and MySQL user for UVdesk. Login to the MySQL with your MySQL root password.

Click on new button then enter the database name to create a new database as shown below:

5). Download and Configure UVdesk

Step 1: Use the composer to set up your project by running the following command from your terminal:

$ composer create-project uvdesk/community-skeleton helpdesk-project

Or

Download the zip archive by using  below command:

$ wget "https://cdn.uvdesk.com/uvdesk/downloads/opensource/uvdesk-community-current-stable.zip" -P /var/www/

Step 2: Extract the file:

$ unzip -q /var/www/uvdesk-community-current-stable.zip -d /var/www/

6). Install UVdesk Using Web Installer Wizard

Step 1: Browse your installed helpdesk project and point it to the public folder

For example – http://domain/installed_folder/public/

Step 2: Click on let’s begin button to set up the project

Step 3: Evaluating System Requirement

Make sure you have installed all required extension, if not this will show an error in red mark.

Common Error: “Unable to locate path on the server”

Solution:

Step 4: Click on proceed to configure database

Fill the database details such as server name, port name, user name, password and database name.

Note: Make sure your database password does not contain some special character(such as #$%@)

Step 5: Create a super admin account

Type admin name, email, and password for the super admin account.

Step 6: Website Configuration

Enter member and customer panel prefix here.

Step 7: Install Now

Click ‘Install Now‘ and wait a sec for the migration. Once it will be done you will get the Admin and Knowledgebase panel link.

7). Testing

UVdesk Open Source Helpdesk Customer/KnowledgeBase panel – http://domain/installed_folder/public/en/

Sign In as Customer – http://domain/installed_folder/public/customer/login

Sign In as Admin – http://domain/installed_folder/public/member/login

Support

Hope you find this user-guide helpful! Please let me know in the comment section below or you may reach out us at support@uvdesk.com