This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure ChurchCRM platform on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with Nginx HTTP servers.
Our previous tutorial showed you how to install ChurchCRM on Ubuntu with Apache2 (LAMP ). You can find that tutorial here.
For the uninitiated, ChurchCRM is an open source CRM software built for churches that can serve as a strong alternative to the popular CRM systems in use today.
If you own a church and you want a CRM platform, then ChurchCRM might just be what you want. It comes with an intuitive dashboard the provides quick view your members, Sunday school activities, financial modules and more.
This free CRM is built on the LAMP / LEMP stack, and offers features that will help you run your business and collaborate with your customers, employees and church members…
For more about ChurchCRM, please check its homepage.
To get started with installing ChurchCRM, follow the steps below:
Install Nginx HTTP Server
ChurchCRM requires a web server and Nginx HTTP server is the most popular open source web server available today.
To install Nginx server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx
After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop nginx.service sudo systemctl start nginx.service sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
Now that Nginx is installed. to test whether the web server is working, open your browser and browse to the URL below.
If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.
Install MariaDB Database Server
ChurchCRM also requires a database server to store its content. If you’re looking for a truly open source database server, then MariaDB is a great place to start.
To install MariaDB run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mysql.service sudo systemctl start mysql.service sudo systemctl enable mysql.service
Run these on Ubuntu 18.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
Next, run the commands below to secure the database server with a root password if you were not prompted to do so during the installation.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Now that MariaDB is installed, to test whether the database server was successfully installed, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
type the root password when prompted.
If you see a similar screen as shown above, then the server was successfully installed.
Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules
ChurchCRM is a PHP based platform. PHP 7.2-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To run PHP 7.2-FPM on Ubuntu 14.04, you may need to run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2-FPM and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-imap php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.1, run the commands below to open PHP default configuration file for Nginx.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
The lines below is a good settings for most PHP based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Everytime you make changes to PHP configuration file, you should also restart Nginx web server. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Create ChurchCRM Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for ChurchCRM to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank ChurchCRM database.
To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called churchcrm
CREATE DATABASE churchcrm;
Create a database user called churchcrmuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'churchcrmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON churchcrm.* TO 'churchcrmuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download ChurchCRM Latest Release
ChurchCRM community edition can be downloaded from its download page here.
On Ubuntu terminal, run the commands below to download, then extract to its root directory.
cd /tmp wget unzip ChurchCRM-3.5.5.zip sudo mv churchcrm /var/www/churchcrm
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for ChurchCRM root directory and give Nginx control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/churchcrm/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/churchcrm/
Configure Nginx
Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for ChurchCRM. This file will control how users access ChurchCRM content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called churchcrm
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/churchcrm
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
root /var/www/churchcrm;
index index.php;
access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;
client_max_body_size 100M;
autoindex off;
location / {
try_files $uri /index.php$is_args$args;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Enable the ChurchCRM
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/churchcrm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see ChurchCRM setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
Then follow the on-screen instruction. Validate that all requirements are met and continue
During the setup, you’ll be prompted to enter a Root Path
For tutorial, we’re going to be accessing the portal from our main domain ( ). Leave blank.
Next, type in the database name, username and password, then complete the setup
After that, you should be able to login with the credentials below:
Username: Admin
Password: changeme
Conclusion:
You have successfully learned how to install ChurchCRM platform on Ubuntu. You may need to configure additional settings, but the steps above give you a basic starting point.
If you find errors with the steps above, please comment below:
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