Install and Configure CoreERP

This document details the instructions required to install, configure and run the release version of coreERP on a Ubuntu Server 14.04. The dependencies required to be installed on the server are listed in Server Setup Guide. To install coreERP, complete all the steps and tests mentioned in Server Setup Guide and then return to this document. For developer edition of coreERP, please refer to Developer’s Guide and setup the development environment.

Installation and setup of coreERP is a simple process, provided all steps mentioned as part of this guide are followed thoroughly without skipping any. coreERP is maintained on github. If your intention is to only install and run the application, a very basic understanding of git would suffice. The required commands are covered as part of installation process. If you plan to develop or make modifications to the source, a thorough understanding of git is expected. Please refer to the git documentation to learn more.

The entire installation process is explained in simple steps along with the commands. Execute the commands on the linux bash shell after you have setup the server. All commands and configuration options have been tried and tested on Ubuntu Server 14.04LTS.

Before we start the installation process, please create a github account on http://github.com.

Getting the Source from github

The release version of coreERP is published on github as vishwayon/coreERP. It may request for authentication information. Please provide the github registered user information. The Latest release would be tagged and appears on top of the list. Copy the hyperlink for download Source code (tar.gz) (usually a right click and ‘copy link address’).

We start by downloading the release version on the server. This is preferably created in /opt

$ cd /opt
$ sudo curl -u <github-username> -L -o coreERP-release.tar.gz "<paste link to download>"
$ sudo tar zxvf coreERP-release.tar.gz
$ sudo mv coreERP-<ver.no> coreERP

Alternatively, you may clone the git repo (use the master branch for stable release version)

$ sudo git clone https://github.com/vishwayon/coreERP.git

You should have access to this repo on github. It would prompt you for username and password. Provide the github account details that you created at the time of registering on github.

The following would be the typical folder structure

coreERP
  |-- CoreWebApp/web    #application shell that needs to be published in apache
  |-- CoreWebBase               #core name-space with all the source
  |-- CoreReportServer  #report server that needs to be published in tomcat
  |-- docs                      #Contains all the user and developer guides

Publishing in apache

CoreERP has seperate Application shell and modules. To relate the two, we create symbolic links to the application and links to apache.

Create a symbolic link in apache and publish only the web folder

$ cd /var/www/html
$ sudo ln -s /opt/coreERP/CoreWebApp/web/ core-erp
Note:This folder is now published as an application in apache

Create a symbolic link between CoreWebApp and CoreWebBase/core

$ cd /opt/coreERP/CoreWebApp
$ sudo ln -s ../CoreWebBase/cwf/ cwf
$ sudo ln -s ../CoreWebBase/core/ core

:Note:
    The source core is now available to the web application. If required, you can proceed to create multiple linked folders
    in CoreWebApp to publish more modules.

We need to provide write access to some of the folders in CoreWebApp. This is where the runtime rendering files are cached.

$ sudo chmod 777 runtime
$ cd web
$ sudo chmod 777 assets
$ sudo rm reportcache
$ sudo ln -s /opt/tomcat/webapps/reportcache reportcache

Create a symbolic link to core from tomcat also

$ cd /opt/tomcat/webapps
$ sudo ln -s /opt/coreERP/CoreWebBase/core/ core
$ sudo ln -s /opt/coreERP/CoreWebBase/cwf/ cwf
Note:Create links for other modules, similar to the ones created in CoreWebApp.

Creating symbolic links and publishing the application has the advantage of storing all code in one location. When we update the source, it would automatically reflect everywhere.

Publishing Report Server on Tomcat

coreERP uses the pentaho reporting engine to render all reports. The tomcat installation that was downloaded and installed in coreERP - Server Setup Guide contains the required libraries of pentaho.

  • Download the CoreJSReportServer.war file on your local node (not on the server).

  • Using a browser, open the following link to your server. Ensure that port 8080 is open on the firewall of the server.

    http://<server-ip>:8080 # This should display the tomcat welcome screen.

    • click on Manager App. It would be a button on the top right hand side of the tomcat welcome screen
    • It would prompt you for authentication. Use the following
      • user name: coreadmin
      • password: core3cret
    • It will list all the applications deployed on the server. Scroll to the Deploy section -> WAR file to deploy
    • Click on Choose File and select the CoreReportServer.war file that you previously downloaded.
    • Click on Deploy. It would automatically upload the file and publish it as an application on the server.
Tests:

You can then click on the published application /CoreJSReportServer and see if it displays the following

Congratulations! Report server is deployed and working on Tomcat!

Note

If you want to harden the report server, you can disable bindings in tomcat and restrict the listening ports to localhost only. This would ensure that tomcat is no longer available to the outside world. This is a recommended setting as coreERP requires tomcat to listen only on localhost. Else, you can disable port 8080 on the firewall. You may also change the authentication information in tomcat. Please refer to the tomcat documentation for further details.

Editing the config file

Connection to the database and other configuration settings are managed in a config file. coreERP has sampleconfig.php file located in CoreWebBase\cwf. this file cannot be used directly. We need to create a copy of this file in the config folder of CoreWebApp where the coreERP source is published. This file returns a php array and you can edit it using any text editor.

Creating a copy of sampleconfig.php

$ cd /opt/coreERP/CoreWebApp/config
$ sudo cp /opt/coreERP/CoreWebBase/cwf/sampleconfig.php cwfconfig.php

Warning

coreERP would read this file only if it is in the config folder of the coreERP source.

Preview of the file

    return [
    'dbInfo' => [
        'dbServer' => '127.0.0.1',
        'dbMain' => 'main',
        'suName' => 'coreadmin',
        'suPass' => 'password'
    ],
    'pgInfo' => [
        'pgUser' => 'postgres',
        'pgPass' => 'password'
    ],
    'rootModules' => [
        'core' => 'app\core\CoreModule'
    ],
    'dbBackup' => [
        'compress' => 'singleFile',
        'path' => '/path/to/dbbackup/'
    ],
    'mailer' => [
        'host' => 'smtp.mydomain.com',
        'username' => 'sender@mydomain.com',
        'password' => 'pasword',
        'port' => '587'
    ],
    'restrictIP' => true,
    'exceptionMail' => [
        'to' => 'support@mydomain.com',
        'from' => 'noreply@mydomain.com'
    ],
    'dm' => [
        'path' => '/opt/filestore/'
    ],
];

Edit the file as follows (or you may use your favourite editor to edit this file):

$ sudo nano cwfconfig.php
  • Set the value for suPass. coreERP installation would use the suName and suPass to create a new login/role in postgreSQL
  • Set the value for pgPass. This is the password you had set while configuring postgres user according to Server Setup Guide
  • Set tge mailer config and the exception mail config.
  • Save (ctrl+o), Enter, exit (ctrl+x).

Setting up the Database

Creating the initial database is a console process. All the required database scripts are included as part of the source. Each module in the source contains its corresponding script file. The database objects are created based on these script files.

Let us now call the shell command to create and initialise the main database.

$ cd /opt/coreERP/CoreWebApp
$ php yii installer/install/start

If the config file has been copied and everything is correct, it should start creating the user and the database.

The output on the shell should give messages of successfully completed steps. If there are any errors encountered during execution, please read the errors and fix the issues. Most of the common errors include postgres database already exists or postgres user already exists. You can either drop the objects from postgres or modify the config file to provide new names.

Verify successful installation

If everything went off successfully, you should be able to open coreERP via the following link on your node:

http://<remote-ip>/core-erp

It should load and display the login screen. Login using the suName and suPass that you have mentioned in your config file. You can now proceed to the next topic on Getting Started or refer to Component Setup for installing other optional components.