Mars Server is a free, open-source software for hosting your own personal cloud. It allows you to access and share your files, calendar, contacts, and other data from anywhere using any device. In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the process of installing Mars Server on MXLinux Latest.
Before starting, make sure you have the following:
Follow the steps below to install Mars Server on MXLinux Latest:
Open the terminal and run the following command to install the required packages:
sudo apt-get install nginx git curl php7.4-cli php7.4-fpm php7.4-mbstring php7.4-curl php7.4-xml php7.4-zip php7.4-gd php7.4-bcmath php7.4-ldap
This command will install Nginx web server, Git version control system, and PHP 7.4 with required extensions.
Navigate to the directory where you want to install Mars Server. Clone the Mars Server repository from GitHub using Git:
git clone https://github.com/borjapazr/mars-server.git
This command will download the Mars Server files to your current directory.
Next, navigate to the newly created folder for Mars Server by running:
cd mars-server
Now, you need to install the dependencies by running:
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
This command will install the required dependencies for Mars Server.
Create a new Nginx server block for Mars Server by running:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mars.conf
Paste the following configuration into the file:
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com; # Change this to your domain name or IP address
root /path/to/mars-server/public;
index index.php;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
}
location ~ /\. {
deny all;
return 404;
}
}
Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl + X, followed by Y and Enter.
Next, create a symbolic link to enable the server block:
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mars.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Restart Nginx to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart nginx
Copy the example configuration file to a new file named .env:
cp .env.example .env
Next, open the .env file in your favorite text editor:
nano .env
Update the following settings:
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_KEY=SomeRandomString
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=mars
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=yourpasswordhere
MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=youremail@gmail.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=yourpasswordhere
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=youremail@gmail.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME=Mars Server
Save and close the file.
Create a new database and user for Mars Server:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Enter your root password when prompted. Then, create a new database and user:
CREATE DATABASE mars CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'mars'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpasswordhere';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mars.* TO 'mars'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;
Replace yourpasswordhere with a strong password of your choice.
Finally, run the following command to migrate the database:
php artisan migrate
To start the Mars Server, run the following command:
php artisan serve
You should see the following output:
Laravel development server started: http://127.0.0.1:8000
This means your Mars Server is running on port 8000. You can now access it by going to http://127.0.0.1:8000 in your web browser.
If you want to run Mars Server as a system service, you can create a new file called mars.service in the /etc/systemd/system/ directory:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/mars.service
Paste the following configuration into the file:
[Unit]
Description=Mars Server
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/mars-server
ExecStart=/usr/bin/php artisan serve
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Replace /path/to/mars-server with the actual path to your Mars Server installation directory.
Save and close the file.
Then, reload systemd to pick up the changes:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Finally, start the Mars Server service:
sudo systemctl start mars
You can now access your Mars Server by going to http://127.0.0.1 or your domain name or IP address in your web browser.
In this tutorial, you learned how to install Mars Server on MXLinux Latest. You also learned how to set up Nginx web server, configure Mars Server, and run it as a system service. Now, you can start using Mars Server to host your own personal cloud and access your data from anywhere.
If you want to self-host in an easy, hands free way, need an external IP address, or simply want your data in your own hands, give IPv6.rs a try!
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