How to install and configure Invoice Ninja on CentOS 7

Linux has a limited number of invoice application that are user-friendly and a good GUI. Invoice Ninja is a popular, open source application for invoicing, tracking time, expenses and accepting payments from customers. It supports 45 integrated payment gateways to send invoices to customers within seconds. It also sets invoice payment due dates, alerts when invoices are paid and easier tax settings. This article will explain the installation and configuration procedure of Invoice Ninja on CentOS 7.

Pre-Requisite

LEMP SETUP
Nginx
MySQL database
PHP 7 or above
OPEN SSL CERTIFICATE

NGINX Configuration procedure

To start with the configuration procedure, Create a conf.d file using vim editor and put the configuration contents inside it. Save and exit from the file.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~]# vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/ninja.conf
server {
listen           443 default 
   server_name 192.168.7.231 
   ssl on 
   ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/ssl/ininja.crt 
   ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/ininja.key 
   ssl_session_timeout 5m 
   ssl_ciphers               ' AES128+EECDH:AES128+EDH:!aNULL'  
   ssl_protocols              TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2 
   ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on 
   root /var/www/ninja/public 
   index index.html index.htm index.php 
   charset utf-8 
   location / {
       try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string 
   }
location = /favicon.ico { access_log off  log_not_found off  }
   location = /robots.txt  { access_log off  log_not_found off  }
   access_log  /var/log/nginx/ininja.access.log 
   error_log   /var/log/nginx/ininja.error.log 
   sendfile off 

location ~ .php$ {
       fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+.php)(/.+)$ 
       fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php71-fpm-ninja.sock 
       fastcgi_index index.php 
       include fastcgi_params 
       fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name 
       fastcgi_intercept_errors off 
       fastcgi_buffer_size 16k 
       fastcgi_buffers 4 16k 
}
   location ~ /.ht {
       deny all 
   }
}

server {
   listen      80 
   server_name 192.168.7.231 
   add_header Strict-Transport-Security max-age=2592000 
   rewrite ^ https://$server_name$request_uri? permanent 
}

The configuration file is completed. Next, install the composer, it is used for the easy installation of web dependencies of Invoice Ninja.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~]# curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
All settings correct for using Composer
Downloading...
Composer (version 1.4.2) successfully installed to: /root/composer.phar
Use it: php composer.phar
[root@linuxhelp1 ~]# mv composer.phar /usr/bin/composer

The composer is installed in the system. Download the self-hosted version of Invoice Ninja from their official website to configure it.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~] wget https://download.invoiceninja.com/ninja-v3.0.5.zip
--2017-07-17 17:44:12--  https://download.invoiceninja.com/ninja-v3.0.5.zip
Resolving download.invoiceninja.com (download.invoiceninja.com)... 104.18.36.134, 104.18.37.134, 2400:cb00:2048:1::6812:2586, ...
Connecting to download.invoiceninja.com (download.invoiceninja.com)|104.18.36.134|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 101046640 (96M) [application/zip]
Saving to: ninja-v3.0.5.zip
100%[=====================================> ] 10,10,46,640  545KB/s   in 3m 39s 
2017-07-17 17:47:53 (450 KB/s) - ninja-v3.0.5.zip saved [101046640/101046640]

Next, create a directory that can be used as the webroot of our Invoice Ninja.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~]# mkdir -p /var/www

Now extract the zip file you previously downloaded to our new directory by running the unzip command.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~] unzip -d /var/www ninja-v3.0.5.zip
nflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/test-suffix-single.phpt  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/filter-class.phpt  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/filter-dataprovider-by-regexp.phpt  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/help2.phpt  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/default-isolation.phpt  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/report-useless-tests-isolation.phpt  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/failure.phpt   
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpunit/tests/TextUI/filter-method-case-insensitive.phpt  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/vendor/phpunit/phpu

.
.
.
inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/data/Demo/demo.response.json  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/TestCase.php  
  creating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/UnitTester.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/AcceptanceTester.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/FunctionalTester.php  
  creating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/Helper/
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/Helper/Acceptance.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/Helper/Functional.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_support/Helper/Unit.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/unit.suite.yml  
  creating: /var/www/ninja/tests/functional/
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/functional/_bootstrap.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/functional/SettingsCest.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/acceptance.suite.yml  
  creating: /var/www/ninja/tests/unit/
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/unit/_bootstrap.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/unit/PaymentGatewayPayPalTest.php  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_bootstrap.php.default  
  creating: /var/www/ninja/tests/_data/
extracting: /var/www/ninja/tests/_data/dump.sql  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/composer.lock  
 inflating: /var/www/ninja/composer.json

You need to navigate to the Invoice Ninja webroot and install the dependencies using composer.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~] cd /var/www/ninja

Now you have to configure the Invoice Ninja to use our MariaDB named invoiceninja database. To do that, run the following command.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~]cp -v .env.example .env

Go to the database configuration and edit the following lines with your database details.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~] vim config/database.php
' mysql'  =>  [
           ' driver'     =>  ' mysql' ,
           ' host'       =>  env(' DB_HOST' , ' localhost' ),
           ' database'   =>  env(' DB_DATABASE' , ' invoiceninja' ),
           ' username'   =>  env(' DB_USERNAME' , ' ninja' ),
           ' password'   =>  env(' DB_PASSWORD' , ' 123' ),
           ' charset'    =>  ' utf8' ,
           ' collation'  =>  ' utf8_unicode_ci' ,
           ' prefix'     =>  ' ' ,
           ' strict'     =>  env(' DB_STRICT' , false),
],

Next, create the database tables for Invoice Ninja. To do that, run the following php artisan commands one by one and answer [yes] to the prompts. A PHP artisan key is generated successfully.

[root@linuxhelp1 ninja] php artisan migrate
**************************************
*     Application In Production!     *
**************************************
 Do you really wish to run this command? (yes/no) [no]:
 >  yes

[root@linuxhelp1 ninja] php artisan db:seed
**************************************
*     Application In Production!     *
**************************************
Do you really wish to run this command? (yes/no) [no]:
 >  yes
Running DatabaseSeeder

[root@linuxhelp1 ninja ]  php artisan key:generate
Application key [base64:S2bz9aXJcQFaPMs7LQqMWRm47I+F1x3GwP8MUaJfAC4=] set successfully.

You need to create a user account that will be associated with the installed Invoice Ninja. Run the following command to add the user.

[root@linuxhelp1 ninja ] useradd ninja

Configure the php-fpm module to run as the user ninja. To do that, create a new file named ninja.conf. Add the following lines in the configuration file. Save and exit from the file.

[root@linuxhelp1 ~] vim /etc/opt/remi/php71/php-fpm.d/ninja.conf
[ninja]
user = ninja
group = ninja
listen = /var/run/php71-fpm-ninja.sock
listen.owner = ninja
listen.group = ninja
listen.mode = 0666
pm = ondemand
pm.max_children = 5
pm.process_idle_timeout = 10s 
pm.max_requests = 200
chdir = /
~

Change the directory permission to the user you’ ve created earlier by executing the following command.

[root@linuxhelp1 ninja] chown -R ninja:ninja /var/www/ninja

And finally, start the php-fpm and Nginx by running the following commands.

[root@linuxhelp1 ninja ]systemctl start php71-php-fpm
[root@linuxhelp1 ninja]systemctl start nginx

Now switch over to the browser and enter your machine IP. Finish the Invoice Ninja setup via the web GUI. You should get something similar to the following page.

Provide your database details and test your connection.

Provide a user name and followed by Email ID and Password credentials.

After entering the user details, you will see a page where you should be able to provide the Email Id and Password and login to your account.

The setup is complete. Now you can use Invoice Ninja for various functionalities.

The installation and configuration procedure of Invoice Ninja is complete. Invoice Ninja can easily convert quotations to invoices and also does automatic billing of products.

Tag : CentOS Invoice Ninja

FAQ

What are the main differences between the free, Pro and Enterprise versions?

The free version allows you to invoice up to 100 clients, while Pro and Enterprise give you unlimited clients

Why should I upgrade to Ninja Pro?

Ninja Pro is the total package. Although we’ve made the free version quite robust, the Pro version allows for more creativity, personalization, and setting preferences which can further individualize your company and bring your invoicing game to the highest level.

Whether Is the Invoice Ninja app really free?

The mobile apps for Apple iOS and Android mirror the web-app, and they’re available for all accounts: Free, Pro and Enterprise.

Why I need to change clients in multiple currencies. How does it work?

Invoice Ninja works with over 50 currencies. You can set your default currency on the Settings > Localization page.

How can I customize my invoicing URL?

If you are a Pro/Enterprise user, you can. Go to Advanced Settings > Email Settings

How to install and configure Invoice Ninja on CentOS 7