Tutorial for Installing Collabora Online Development Edition on Debian Latest

Collabora Online Development Edition is a free and open-source online office suite that enables users to create, edit, and collaborate on various office documents, including text, spreadsheets, and presentations. In this tutorial, we will explain how to install Collabora Online Development Edition on Debian latest.

Before proceeding with the installation, ensure that your system meets the following requisites:

• A server with 64-bit Debian 10 or 11 installed
• At least 4GB of RAM
• A fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that resolves to your server's public IP address
• A valid SSL/TLS certificate for your domain

Now let's begin with the installation process:

Step 1 - Install Docker

Collabora Online package is available as a Docker image, so we need to install Docker on our system first. To install Docker, run the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker.io

After installing Docker, start and enable it to start automatically on system startup by running the following command:

sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Step 2 - Install Collabora Online

Next, we will download and run the Collabora Online Docker image using the "docker run" command. Run the following command to download and run the Collabora Online Docker image:

docker run -t -d -p 127.0.0.1:9980:9980 -e 'domain=<your-domain>' --restart always --cap-add MKNOD collabora/code

Replace <your-domain> in the command with your fully qualified domain name.

This command will download the Collabora Online Docker image and start a new container with the Collabora Online Development Edition running on it. The "-p" option maps the container port 9980 to the localhost port 127.0.0.1:9980. The "-e" option sets the domain name for the Collabora Online. The "--restart always" option ensures that the container will restart automatically on system restart.

Step 3 - Configure Apache Reverse Proxy

We need to configure an Apache reverse proxy to access the Collabora Online through our domain name. To do this, install the Apache web server by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install apache2

Next, enable the Apache proxy and SSL modules by running the following commands:

sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_http
sudo a2enmod ssl

After enabling the modules, create a new Apache virtual host file for Collabora Online with the following command:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/collabora.conf

Paste the following code into the file, replacing <your-domain> with your domain name:

<VirtualHost *:443>
 
  ServerName <your-domain>
 
  # SSL configuration, you may want to take the easy route instead and use Lets Encrypt!

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile   /path/to/signed_certificate
  SSLCertificateChainFile /path/to/intermediate_certificate
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/private/key

  # Encoded slashes need to be allowed
  AllowEncodedSlashes On

  # keep the host
  ProxyPreserveHost On
 
  # static html, js, images, etc. served from loolwsd
  # loleaflet is the client part of Collabora Online
  ProxyPass           /loleaflet https://localhost:9980/loleaflet retry=0
  ProxyPassReverse    /loleaflet https://localhost:9980/loleaflet

  # WOPI discovery URL
  ProxyPass           /hosting/discovery https://localhost:9980/hosting/discovery retry=0
  ProxyPassReverse    /hosting/discovery https://localhost:9980/hosting/discovery
 
  # Capabilities
  ProxyPass           /hosting/capabilities https://localhost:9980/hosting/capabilities retry=0
  ProxyPassReverse    /hosting/capabilities https://localhost:9980/hosting/capabilities
 
  # Websocket
  ProxyPassMatch "/lool/(.*)/ws$" wss://localhost:9980/lool/$1/ws nocanon
 
  # Storage access
  ProxyPass           /hosting/storage https://localhost:9980/hosting/storage retry=0
  ProxyPassReverse    /hosting/storage https://localhost:9980/hosting/storage
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file by pressing "Ctrl+X" followed by "Y" and then "Enter".

Now, enable the virtual host by running the following command:

sudo a2ensite collabora.conf

Finally, restart the Apache service to apply the changes by running the following command:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 4 - Access Collabora Online

You can now access the Collabora Online by visiting the following URL in your web browser:

https://<your-domain>/loleaflet/dist/admin/admin.html

Replace with your domain name.

You should see the Collabora Online login screen. Login with your admin credentials to access the Collabora Online admin dashboard.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Collabora Online Development Edition on Debian latest. You can now create or modify the office documents from your web browser.

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