How to install Vanilla Forums on Linux mint 18.03

Vanilla Forums are open-source, standards-compliant, customizable discussion forums. It is specially made to help small communities, totally customizable social tools, and great user experience. In this tutorial, we will cover the installation of Vanilla Forums on Linux mint-18.03.

Prerequisites

Install LAMP (Apache, MariaDB, php7.2) In MariaDB (create database and user and give privileges to that user)

Php installation with required following modules

add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php 
apt-get update 
apt-get install php7.2 php7.2-mysql php7.2-curl php7.2-json php7.2-cgi libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-mcrypt php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-mbstring php7.2  php7.2-common  php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-soap  php7.2-xml php7.2-intl  php7.2-cli  php7.2-ldap php7.2-zip php7.2-readline php7.2-imap php7.2-tidy php7.2-recode php7.2-sq php7.2-intl

Download a Vanilla Forums package by using wget command.

linuxhelp ~ # wget https://open.vanillaforums.com/get/vanilla-core-2.6.1.zip
--2018-09-08 02:02:20--  https://open.vanillaforums.com/get/vanilla-core-2.6.1.zip
Resolving open.vanillaforums.com (open.vanillaforums.com)... 104.18.181.20, 104.18.184.20, 104.18.183.20, ...
Connecting to open.vanillaforums.com (open.vanillaforums.com)|104.18.181.20|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [application/zip]
Saving to: ‘vanilla-core-2.6.1.zip’

vanilla-core-2.6.1.zip                [                                                <=>        ]   9.77M  1.08MB/s    in 10s     

2018-09-08 02:02:31 (985 KB/s) - ‘vanilla-core-2.6.1.zip’ saved [10242613]

After Downloading extract the downloaded package

linuxhelp ~ # unzip vanilla-core-2.6.1.zip -d vanilla
Archive:  vanilla-core-2.6.1.zip
  inflating: vanilla/.htaccess.dist  
  inflating: vanilla/LICENSE.md      
  inflating: vanilla/README.md       
   creating: vanilla/applications/
   creating: vanilla/applications/conversations/
  inflating: vanilla/applications/conversations/addon.json  
.
.
.
inflating: vanilla/vendor/vanilla/nbbc/tests/CompatibilityTest.php  
  inflating: vanilla/vendor/vanilla/nbbc/tests/ConformanceTest.php  
  inflating: vanilla/vendor/vanilla/nbbc/tests/UtilityMethodTest.php  
   creating: vanilla/vendor/vanilla/nbbc/tools/
  inflating: vanilla/vendor/vanilla/nbbc/tools/Makefile  
  inflating: vanilla/vendor/vanilla/nbbc/tools/collect_smileys.php  
  inflating: vanilla/vendor/vanilla/nbbc/tools/merge.pl

Change ownership and permission of the as Vanilla Forums follows

linuxhelp ~ # chown -R www-data:www-data vanilla
linuxhelp ~ # chmod -R 775 vanilla

Move the extracted file into the HTML directory

linuxhelp ~ # mv vanilla /var/www/html/

Create a new virtual host configuration for accessing the Vanilla Forums

linuxhelp ~ # cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/linuxhelp sites-available 
# vim vanilla.conf
 <VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.linuxhelp1.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/vanilla/
<Directory /var/www/html/vanilla/>
AllowOverride All
Allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Enable site access

linuxhelp sites-available # a2ensite vanilla.conf 
Enabling site vanilla.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  service apache2 reload

Entry to the host file.

linuxhelp sites-available #vim /etc/hosts
<Give your ip>   <Give your domain name>

Restart the apache service to make the changes effect

linuxhelp sites-available # systemctl restart apache2

Now you can proceed the further installation and configuration from the browser by navigating to the following URL: (http://<ipaddress or domain name ) !

Configure the Database setup as follows

Configure the Admin user setup as follow

After the Successful login, you will see the Admin dashboard of vanilla forums as shown below

With this, the method to install vanilla forums on Linux mint 18.03 comes to an end.

Tag : Linux Mint

FAQ

Does Vanilla support SSL (HTTPS)?

Yes, to setup SSL, you must contact support and provide us with an SSL certificate.

Can my existing forum be migrated to Vanilla?

Yes, we can migrate almost every legacy or home grown forum to Vanilla. We can usually import all data including passwords, uploaded media, private conversations, permissions. etc.

How do I setup a custom domain or subdomain?

Instead of having your community url look like this: joescommunity.vanillaforums.com, it can be setup to look like this: * joescommunity.com; or * community.joeswebsite.com.

What makes Vanilla better than other community platforms?

Vanilla has been chosen by many of the world’s leading companies because:

Easy to use software that is quick to implement and quick to deliver value
Best in class functionality
A seamless integration to your website. Integration includes branding, single-sign-on and connections to backend and CRM systems.

What is Vanilla Forums?

Vanilla is cloud based software (SaaS) that lets you create a customer community forum.

How to install Vanilla Forums on Linux mint 18.03