How to Install Countly Community Edition on Arch Linux

Countly is an open-source analytics and push notifications platform. It provides real-time, granular data and insights about your mobile and web apps. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install Countly Community Edition on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

• A server running Arch Linux
• Root or sudo access to the server
• A web server (Nginx, Apache, or Caddy) installed and configured

Step 1: Install Node.js

Countly requires Node.js to run. To install Node.js, run the following command:

sudo pacman -S nodejs npm

Step 2: Install MongoDB

Countly uses MongoDB as its database. To install MongoDB, run the following command:

sudo pacman -S mongodb

Then start the MongoDB service:

sudo systemctl start mongodb

Step 3: Configure MongoDB

By default, MongoDB listens on localhost only. To allow remote connections, you need to modify the MongoDB configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/mongodb.conf

Locate the bind_ip line and change it to:

bind_ip = 0.0.0.0

Save and close the file, then restart the MongoDB service:

sudo systemctl restart mongodb

Step 4: Install Countly

You can download Countly Community Edition from the official website: https://count.ly/download

After the download, extract the Countly archive to the directory you want to run it from, and navigate to that directory.

tar xvfz countly-community-edition.tar.gz
cd countly/

Then you can install countly using npm.

npm install -g grunt-cli
npm install

Step 5: Configure Countly

Before starting Countly, you need to configure it. Create a configuration file named config.js in the Countly directory:

cp conf.example.js config.js
nano config.js

Update the MongoDB configuration:

/* MongoDB config*/
mongo: {
    host     : "localhost",
    port     : 27017,
    db       : "countly",
    username : "",
    password : "",
    max_pool_size: 500
},

Specify the URL and port Countly should listen on:

/* Server configuration */
server: {
    // specify host IP address or zero for all available IPs
    hostname   : "0.0.0.0",
    //specify port number for your web server
    ip_address : "127.0.0.1",
    //specify port number for your web server
    port       : 6000,
    use_intercom : true,
    secure_cookie: true,
    max_sockets: 1024,
    //default dashboard login
    default_user : "",
    default_password:"",
    //uncomment to disable dashboard login
    //disable_authentication: true,
    // set timezone to apply on reports
    timezone   : "Africa/Tunis",
},

You can also configure SMTP settings for email notifications under configs/email.js.

Save and close the file.

Step 6: Start Countly

You can start Countly using the following command:

npm start

Countly should now be running and accessible via the web server you have installed in the prerequisites.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Countly Community Edition on Arch Linux. You can now use Countly to track analytics and send push notifications for your mobile and web apps.

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