Installing LimeSurvey on Ubuntu Server

LimeSurvey is a powerful open-source survey tool that allows you to create and conduct surveys online. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing LimeSurvey on Ubuntu Server.

Prerequisites

Before you begin installing LimeSurvey, you need to make sure that you have the following prerequisites:

• A fresh Ubuntu Server installation.
• Root access or a user account with sudo privileges.
• LAMP stack installed on the server.
• A domain or subdomain name pointed to your server's IP address.

Step 1: Downloading and extracting LimeSurvey

1. Open the terminal on your Ubuntu Server.

2. Change the working directory to /var/www/html/ directory if it exists by typing the following command:

   cd /var/www/html/
   

   If it does not exist, create it by typing:

   sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/
   

3. Download the latest stable version of LimeSurvey from its official website using the following command:

   sudo wget https://download.limesurvey.org/latest-stable-release/limesurvey Latest.zip
   

   This command will download the .zip file to your current directory.

4. Extract the contents of the .zip file using the following command:

   sudo unzip limesurvey Latest.zip -d /var/www/html/
   

   This command will extract the files to /var/www/html directory.

Step 2: Configuring Apache for LimeSurvey

1. Create a new Apache configuration file for LimeSurvey by typing the following command:

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

2. Paste the following lines into the configuration file:

   <VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/limesurvey
    ServerName survey.example.com
   
    <Directory /var/www/html/limesurvey>
       Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
       AllowOverride All
       Order allow,deny
       allow from all
    </Directory>
   
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/limesurvey_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/limesurvey_access.log combined
   </VirtualHost>
   

   Make sure to replace admin@example.com with a valid email address and survey.example.com with your domain or subdomain name.

3. Save and close the file by pressing CTRL + X, then Y, then ENTER.

4. Enable the new configuration file by typing the following command:

   sudo a2ensite limesurvey.conf
   

5. Restart Apache for the changes to take effect:

   sudo service apache2 restart
   

Step 3: Setting permissions

1. Change the ownership of the LimeSurvey directories and files to Apache user and group by typing the following command:

   sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/limesurvey/
   

2. Grant write permissions to Apache user and group by typing:

   sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/limesurvey/tmp /var/www/html/limesurvey/upload /var/www/html/limesurvey/application/config /var/www/html/limesurvey/application/views
   

Step 4: Completing the installation

1. Open your web browser and navigate to your LimeSurvey installation by typing your domain or subdomain name in the address bar.

2. Follow the installation wizard to complete the setup.

3. Once you have completed the installation, log in to LimeSurvey using the administrator credentials that you created during the installation process.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed LimeSurvey on your Ubuntu Server. You can now start creating and conducting surveys online.

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