Faveo Helpdesk Installation on Debian 9 with Apache on PHP 7.1

Introduction

This document will list steps on how to install Faveo Helpdesk on a new Debian 9 Server.

We will install following dependencies in order to make Faveo Helpdesk work:

• Apache
• PHP 7.1
• PHP Extensions: listed in server requirement
• MySQL
• Composer
• Cron Job

Read the detailed list of server requirement

We are using vi editor throughout to open and edit file, you can use nano editor also

Configure IP Tables

Please note that you have to make changes in the iptables configurations. This allows to open ports that are necessary in Faveo installation.

This is an optional step, If you are able to access your server remotely on Public IP. This step will not be required.Mainly on local network server this step is required. If you are purchasing/renting server in a data centre this step might not be required.

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 22 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 80 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --sport 443 -m conntrack --ctstate ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

PS:

• You have to reset the firewall and iptables to your specifications
• This step might vary for different data centres or cloud service providers, Please check with your hosting company on opening port number and correct settings

Create a user for Faveo and Add Repos

useradd -r www-data

usermod -G www-data www-data

apt-get install -y software-properties-common 
  
apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates

wget -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg

echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ jessie main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php.list

apt-get update

Install Apache and PHP with Extensions

In this step we install following

• PHP
• Required PHP Extension
• Git
• MariaDb
• Curl
• OpenSSL
• Apache

apt-get install -y curl git apache2

apt-get install  openssl  php7.1-xml php7.1-mbstring php7.1-zip php7.1-mysql  php7.1-opcache php7.1-json php7.1-curl php7.1-ldap php7.1-cgi php7.1-imap php7.1-cli php7.1-fpm php7.1-common php7.1-bcmath php7.1-mcrypt libapache2-mod-php7.1 

Enable Modrewrite in Apache

a2enmod rewrite

service apache2 restart

Configure a Database for Faveo in MySQL

apt-get install -y mysql-server

service mysql start

mysql_secure_installation

mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE faveo;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON faveo.* TO 'faveouser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'faveouserpass';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

quit

Setting Up ionCube

wget http://downloads3.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.tar.gz

tar xvfz ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.tar.gz

Use the below command to find PHP extension Directory

php -i | grep extension_dir 

Copy ioncube loader to Directory.

cp ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.1.so /usr/lib/php/20160303 

Add below line to /etc/php/7.1/cli/php.ini and /etc/php/7.1/apache2/php.ini file

zend_extension = "/usr/lib/php/20160303/ioncube_loader_lin_7.1.so"

Save and exit. (If you are using vim editor press ESC then :wq)

Copy Faveo Help Desk from Github

Create a folder for Faveo and clone Faveo Help Desk Community latest release from Github to it

mkdir -p /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk

git clone https://github.com/ladybirdweb/Faveo-Helpdesk-Pro.git /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk

Give correct file permission to Faveo files

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/faveo/

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk/

chmod -R 755 /var/www/

chmod -R 755 /var/www/faveo/

chmod -R 755 /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk/

chmod -R 755 /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk/storage/

chmod -R 755 /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk/bootstrap/

Copy Faveo Help-Desk via SSH

Incase you want to upload the Faveo files from your local system to your server and not use Github, then follow this step

Login to directory

Scp filename.zip username@ip:/location/to/

Install Composer

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php

mv composer.phar /usr/bin/composer

chmod +x /usr/bin/composer

Create a Virtual Host Configuration

vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/faveo.conf

Copy the contents below to above file

<VirtualHost *:80> 

ServerName localhost

ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk/public

<Directory /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk>

AllowOverride All

</Directory>

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Enable your configuration

a2ensite faveo.conf

a2dissite 000-default.conf

service apache2 restart

service mysql restart

Setup Cron Job

We are using default localhost URL where Faveo is installed, you can change the URL based on your system setting and IP address

crontab -u www-data -e

* * * * * /usr/bin/php7.1 /var/www/faveo/faveo-helpdesk/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Start Installation

Now you can install Faveo via GUI Wizard or CLI.

You can access Faveo url in the browser

PS:

• You have to reset the firewall and iptables to your specifications
• You need to follow steps yourself to harden the security of your server, server security is not covered in this article
• Redis is recommended for messaging que and improving system performance
• Always use SSL/HTTPS URL for Faveo

Redis Installation

Redis is an open source (BSD licensed), in-memory data structure store, used as a database, cache and message broker.

This is an optional step and will improve the system performance and is highly recommended.