How to Install Omeka on Ubuntu Server Latest?

Omeka is a free and open-source content management system specifically designed for creating and publishing digital collections. It is written in PHP and uses MySQL for database management. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing Omeka on Ubuntu server latest.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

• A running Ubuntu server (version 20.04 LTS or later) with sudo access.
• A web server, preferably Apache, installed and configured on the Ubuntu server.
• MySQL server installed and running on the Ubuntu server.
• PHP version 7.3 or later installed on the Ubuntu server.

Step 1 - Download Omeka

First, you need to download the latest version of Omeka from the official website. You can either download it manually or use the wget command to download it directly from the terminal. For instance, in the terminal, type:

$ wget https://omeka.org/wp-content/files/omeka-2.8.zip

Step 2 - Install the Required Dependencies

Omeka requires some PHP extensions to function properly. You can install them using the following command:

$ sudo apt install php-gd php-xml php-mysql php-mbstring

Step 3 - Extract Omeka

Next, you need to extract the downloaded Omeka zip file. You can extract it to your current directory using the following command:

$ unzip omeka-2.8.zip

Then, move the extracted folder to the Apache document root directory (/var/www/html/):

$ sudo mv omeka-2.8 /var/www/html/omeka/

Step 4 - Configure Omeka

Now, you need to create a database and user for Omeka in MySQL. First, log in to MySQL:

$ sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a new database and user with the following commands:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE omeka;
mysql> CREATE USER 'omekauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON omeka.* TO 'omekauser'@'localhost';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> exit;

Next, you need to copy the configuration file (db.ini) from the example file:

$ cp /var/www/html/omeka/application/config/database.ini /var/www/html/omeka/application/config/database.ini.bak

Then, open the database configuration file in a text editor:

$ sudo nano /var/www/html/omeka/application/config/database.ini

Update the database settings according to your MySQL database settings:

database.host = "localhost"
database.username = "omekauser"
database.password = "password"
database.dbname = "omeka"

Step 5 - Set File and Directory Permissions

The web server needs to have read and write permissions for the Omeka directories and files. You can set the required permissions with the following commands:

$ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/omeka/
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/omeka/

Step 6 - Configure Apache

Finally, you need to configure Apache to serve Omeka. Create a new virtual host file:

$ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/omeka.conf

Add the following configuration to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName your_domain_name_or_ip_address_here
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/omeka/
    <Directory /var/www/html/omeka/>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Replace the ServerName with your domain name or IP address. Then, save and close the file.

Enable the virtual host configuration and restart Apache:

$ sudo a2ensite omeka.conf
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2

That’s it! You have successfully installed and configured Omeka on Ubuntu server latest. Now, you should be able to access Omeka by navigating to http://your_domain_name_or_ip_address in your web browser.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install Omeka on Ubuntu server latest. We covered the steps required to install the required dependencies, extract the Omeka files, configure Omeka, set file and directory permissions, and configure Apache to serve Omeka. In case of any issues, you can always refer to the official Omeka documentation or seek help from the Omeka community.

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