Deploying Zammad

Setup Details

hostname: infrabase1 Network: 10.1.65.0/24 IP Address : 10.1.65.11 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 Gateway: 10.1.65.1 DNS: 8.8.8.8 sudo user: kedar Container: webserver Network: 10.1.65.0/24 IP Address : 10.1.65.107 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 Gateway: 10.1.65.1 DNS: 8.8.8.8 sudo user: kedar Container: db1 Network: 10.1.65.0/24 IP Address : 10.1.65.108 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 Gateway: 10.1.65.1 DNS: 8.8.8.8 sudo user: kedar User PC Details PC type: Desktop OS: Ubuntu Desktop IP Address: 10.1.65.160

Before you proceed

The domain used here is networked.com. This is used only for demonstration and required dns entries for this domain have already been done to the host file to make the domain and any subdomains reachable on the network. This domain may be owned by someone else and we do not know who it is and we are not linked to them. Zammad configured for this domain in this howto is not reachable on public IP. If you try zammad.networked.com and find any material that may be suitable / unsuitable to you, we are not the owners of the same and we are not responsible for the content.

Introduction

• We shall be creating a Ticketing portal using zammad with FQDN as: https://zamad.networked.com
• We shall be hosting the site on port number: 443
• We shall be using a self signed SSL certificate
• Host entry to ensure this website is reachable is done in the user PC, in absence of a DNS
• Apache2 will be used as the webserver and PostgreSQL will be installed on the same host as webserver

Pre-requisites & Installation

• Since Zammad will be installed with Package Manager almost all pre-requisites are installed by default except the ones mentioned below
  • Redis
  • Elastic Search
  • Apache2 Webserver
• Installing Redis - Log into the webserver and run the below commands

ssh kedar@10.1.65.107
sudo apt-get install lsb-release curl gpg
curl -fsSL https://packages.redis.io/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/redis-archive-keyring.gpg
sudo chmod 644 /usr/share/keyrings/redis-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/redis-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.redis.io/deb $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/redis.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install redis
sudo systemctl enable redis-server
sudo systemctl start redis-server

• Installing Elastic Search - Log into the webserver and run the below commands

ssh kedar@10.1.65.107
sudo su
$ apt install apt-transport-https sudo wget curl gnupg
$ echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/elasticsearch.gpg] https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/7.x/apt stable main"| \
  tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elastic-7.x.list > /dev/null
$ curl -fsSL https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch | \
  gpg --dearmor | tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/elasticsearch.gpg> /dev/null
$ apt update
$ apt install elasticsearch
$ /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-plugin install ingest-attachment
$ systemctl start elasticsearch
$ systemctl enable elasticsearch

After this add two lines at the end to /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml

http.max_content_length: 400mb
indices.query.bool.max_clause_count: 2000

• Installing Apache2 Webserver

ssh kedar@10.1.65.107
$ sudo apt install apache2 openssl nano
$ sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_html proxy_http proxy_wstunnel headers ssl
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2
$ sudo systemctl status apache2

Install Zammad

• Install required tools

$ sudo apt install curl apt-transport-https gnupg

• Ensure all of the above is completed - installing Redis, Elastic Search and Apache Webserver
• Ensure the correct locale is setup

$ sudo apt install locales
$ sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
$ echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > sudo /etc/default/locale

• Add repository and install Zammad

$ curl -fsSL https://dl.packager.io/srv/zammad/zammad/key | \
   gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/pkgr-zammad.gpg> /dev/null
$ echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/pkgr-zammad.gpg] https://dl.packager.io/srv/deb/zammad/zammad/stable/ubuntu 24.04 main"| \
   sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zammad.list > /dev/null
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install zammad

• Check if Zammad is running

$ sudo systemctl status zammad

if it is not active / running
$ systemctl start zammad

Create self signed certificates

• Log into the webserver and run the below commands

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/wpress.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/wpress.crt

• You can use a commercial self signed certificate if you have one or can also use free Lets Encrypt certificate

Configure Apache

• We are setting up a wordpress website to work on port #35503. We have to configure apache to listen to port #35503

sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

• It will only be listening to 443 and 80. We will need to add the port on which we want apache2 to be listening to. The file ports.conf should look like below

Listen 80

<IfModule ssl_module>
        Listen 443
        Listen 35503
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_gnutls.c>
        Listen 443
        Listen 35503
</IfModule>

# vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet

• Save and exit the file

Connect Zammad with Elastic Search

Ensure zammad is installed and is running

# Set the Elasticsearch server address
$ zammad run rails r "Setting.set('es_url', 'https://localhost:9200')"

# Build the search index
$ zammad run rake zammad:searchindex:rebuild

# Optionally, you can specify a number of CPU cores which are used for
# rebuilding the searchindex, as in the following example with 8 cores:
$ zammad run rake zammad:searchindex:rebuild[8]

Deploy Wordpress

• Create a folder in /var/www/html directory

cd /var/www/html
sudo mkdir wpress

• Copy contents of the wordpress folder in wpress

cd /home/kedar/wordpress
sudo rsync -avz . /var/www/html/wpress/

• Change the owner of the folder to be www-data

cd /var/www/html
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data wpress/

• Create virtual host for the website

cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
sudo a2dissite default-ssl.conf
sudo nano wpress.conf

• Add the below configuration in the wpress.conf file

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
        <VirtualHost _default_:35503>
                ServerName      wpress.networked.net
                ServerAlias     wpress
                ServerAdmin     admin@networked.net
                DocumentRoot /var/www/html/wpress

                ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
                CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
                SSLEngine on
                SSLCertificateFile      /etc/ssl/certs/wpress.crt
                SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/wpress.key
		<FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
                                SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
                </FilesMatch>
                <Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin>
                                SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
                </Directory>
		</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

• Enable the site and Restart apache service

sudo a2ensite wpress.conf
sudo sysemctl restart apache2

• Using a browser navigate to https://wpress.networked.com:35503
  • Answer various questions based on some of the steps we have done above like db name, db user, db server etc.
  • Once the installation is complete, consider installing new themes and plugins mentioned below

Themes & Plugins

• Themes
  • Minamaze
  • Hestia
• Plugins
  • Secuirty
    • Admin Block country
    • Limit Login Attempts Reloaded
    • WP Security Audit Log
    • User Role Editor
    • Wordpress Access Control
    • WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click
  • Administration
    • Auto Hide Admin Bar
    • WP Super Cache
    • Slimstat Analytics
    • Wordpress Importer
    • WP Mail SMTP
    • Multisite User Management
  • Social
    • Buddypress (building your community)
    • Wordpress Social Login
    • Facebook Stream
    • WP TFeed
  • Content Management
    • Custom Sidebars
    • Disable Gutenberg
    • Shortcodes Ultimate
    • Elementor Builder
    • Testimonial Rotator

Conclusion

• We have a working wordpress website hosted on an apache web server and listening to port # 35503. If you want to host the website on port # 443, you only have to make a change in the virtualhost configuration and replace 35503 with 443.
• No change is required in /etc/apache2/ports.conf if you are hosting the site on standard 443 port
• In one of the howtos on this website which will be put up soon, we shall be showing how to use nginx as a reverse proxy in which nginx will be listening on port on 443 and will be communicating back to the wordpress website on port # 35503.