osTicket is an open-source and one of the most widely used ticketing systems by small and medium-sized businesses. It is a simple and easy-to-use web-based customer support portal that helps you to manage and track all tickets. osTicket allows you to define ticket routing rules to send tickets to the correct person. You can customize and add your logo, images, and videos to tickets. osTicket supports many database types, such as MySQL and PostgreSQL, and can be integrated with LDAP/Active directory for central authentication.
This post will explain how to install osTicket with Apache on Ubuntu 22.04.
Prerequisites
- A server running Ubuntu 22.04.
- A valid domain name is pointed to your server IP.
- A root password is configured on the server.
Install Apache, MariaDB, and PHP
First, you will need to install the Apache web server, MariaDB, PHP, and other PHP extensions to your server. You can install all the packages using the following command.
apt install apache2 mariadb-server php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql php-cgi php-fpm php-cli php-curl php-gd php-imap php-mbstring php-pear php-intl php-apcu php-common php-bcmath -y
Once all the packages are installed, start and enable the Apache and MariaDB service using the following command.
systemctl start apache2
systemctl enable apache2
systemctl start mariadb
systemctl enable mariadb
Create a Database for osTicket
First, secure the MariaDB installation with the following command.
mysql_secure_installation
Answer all the questions to set a MariaDB root password and secure the installation:
Enter current password for root (enter for none): OK, successfully used password, moving on... Set root password? [Y/n] Y New password: Re-enter new password: Password updated successfully! 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
Next, log in to the MariaDB shell with the following command.
mysql -u root -p
Once logged in, create a database and user for osTicket with the following command.
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE osticket;
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'osticket'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'securepassword';
Next, grant all the privileges to the osTicket database with the following command.
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON osticket.* TO [email protected] IDENTIFIED BY "securepassword";
Next, flush the privileges and exit from the MariaDB shell with the following command.
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;
Once you are done, you can proceed to the next step.
Download osTicket
First, download the latest version of osTicket with the following command.
wget https://github.com/osTicket/osTicket/releases/download/v1.17.2/osTicket-v1.17.2.zip
Once the osTicket is downloaded, create a directory of osTicket and extract the downloaded file inside that directory.
mkdir /var/www/html/osticket
unzip osTicket-v1.17.2.zip -d /var/www/html/osticket
Next, change the ownership and permission of the osTicket directory with the following command:
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/osticket
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/osticket
Now, rename the osTicket sample configuration file using the command given below:
mv /var/www/html/osticket/upload/include/ost-sampleconfig.php /var/www/html/osticket/upload/include/ost-config.php
Once you are finished, you can proceed to the next step.
Create Apache Virtual Host
Next, you will need to create an Apache virtual host configuration file for osTicket. You can create it with the following command.
nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/osticket.conf
Add the following lines:
ServerName osticket.example.com
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/osticket/upload
Require all granted
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/osticket.error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/osticket.access.log combined
Save and close the file when you are done. Then, activate the osTicket virtual host and enable the Apache rewrite module with the following command:
a2ensite osticket.conf
a2enmod rewrite
Next, restart the Apache service to apply the configuration changes:
systemctl restart apache2
You can check the Apache status with the following command.
systemctl status apache2
You should get the following output.
? apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2022-12-21 07:20:15 UTC; 3s ago
Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
Process: 62019 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 62023 (apache2)
Tasks: 6 (limit: 2238)
Memory: 15.4M
CPU: 42ms
CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
??62023 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??62024 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??62025 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??62026 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??62027 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??62028 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
Dec 21 07:20:15 ubuntu2204 systemd[1]: apache2.service: Deactivated successfully.
Dec 21 07:20:15 ubuntu2204 systemd[1]: Stopped The Apache HTTP Server.
Dec 21 07:20:15 ubuntu2204 systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
Launch osTicket Installation Wizard
You can now launch the osTicket installation wizard using the URL http://osticket.example.com. You should see the following page.
Click on the Continue. You should see the basic installation page.
Define your helpdesk URL, name, email, database name, username, password, then click on the Install Now button to start the installation. Once the osTicket is installed, you should see the following page.
To access the osTicket control panel, type the URL http://osticket.example.com/scp in your web browser. You should see the osTicket login page.
Provide your admin username, password and click on the Login button. You should see the osTicket dashboard on the following screen.
You can also access the osTicket default page using the URL http://osticket.example.com.
Secure osTicket with Let’s Encrypt SSL
To secure your website with the Let’s Encrypt SSL, you will need to install the certbot package on your server.
First, install the Snap package manager with the following command:
apt install snapd
Next, update the Snap package to the latest version:
snap install core
snap refresh core
Next, install the certbot package using the following command:
snap install --classic certbot
Next, create a symbolic link for Certbot binary to the system location:
ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot
Next, run the following command to download and install Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates:
certbot --apache -d osticket.example.com
You will be asked to provide your email address and accept the term of service:
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices) (Enter 'c' to cancel): [email protected] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please read the Terms of Service at https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.3-September-21-2022.pdf. You must agree in order to register with the ACME server. Do you agree? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Y)es/(N)o: Y - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Would you be willing, once your first certificate is successfully issued, to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about our work encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Y)es/(N)o: Y
Type Y and press the Enter key to download and install the SSL certificates for your domain:
Account registered. Requesting a certificate for osticket.example.com Successfully received certificate. Certificate is saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/osticket.example.com/fullchain.pem Key is saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/osticket.example.com/privkey.pem This certificate expires on 2023-03-22. These files will be updated when the certificate renews. Certbot has set up a scheduled task to automatically renew this certificate in the background. Deploying certificate Successfully deployed certificate for osticket.example.com to /etc/apache2/sites-enable/osticket.conf Congratulations! You have successfully enabled HTTPS on https://osticket.example.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by: * Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt: https://letsencrypt.org/donate * Donating to EFF: https://eff.org/donate-le - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Conclusion
In this post, we showed you how to install osTicket with Apache on Ubuntu 22.04 server. You can now deploy osTicket in your organization to scale and streamline your customer service and drastically improve your customer experience.
