OpenProject is a free, open-source web based project management software. In this guide, you will learn how to install it on Red Hat Linux 8.
Table of Contents:
- What is OpenProject?
- OpenProject Features
- Environment Specification
- Update Red Hat Linux Software Packages
- Install EPEL Repository on RHEL 8
- Install OpenProject Official Repository in RHEL 8
- Installing OpenProject on RHEL 8
- Generate SSL Certificate for your Linux Server
- Configuration of OpenProject Management Software
- Configure Linux Firewall
- Conclusion
What is OpenProject? :
OpenProject is a web-based project management system for location-independent team collaboration. This free open-source application is released under the GNU General Public License Version 3 (GPLv3) and is available as a community edition, Enterprise on-premises edition and Enterprise Cloud edition. Development is mostly done by a company called OpenProject GmbH.
Complete details of OpenProject Pricing is available on there official website.
In addition to numerous smaller OpenProject installations, there are some very large installations in global organizations with more than 2,500 projects.
OpenProject Features:
Some of the core features of OpenProject Management Software are:
- Bug tracking
- Document management
- Forum
- Project news
- Project timelines
- Issue tracking or issue management
- Project management and milestones
- Time tracking
- Wiki
Environment Specification:
We are using a minimal RHEL 8 virtual machine with following specifications.
- CPU - 3.4 Ghz (2 cores)
- Memory - 4 GB
- Storage - 40 GB
- Operating System - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.3
- Hostname – openproject-01.centlinux.com
- IP Address - 192.168.116.239 /24
Update Red Hat Linux Software Packages:
Connect with openproject-01.centlinux.com as root user by using a ssh client.
Build cache for installed repositories.
# dnf makecache
Execute dnf command to update software packages on your Red Hat Linux server.
# dnf update -y
The above command has also installed a new version of Linux Kernel.
Therefore, you should reboot your RHEL server with new Linux Kernel before installing OpenProject.
# systemctl reboot
Install EPEL Repository on RHEL 8:
OpenProject software needs some software packages that are not available in Red Hat subscription repositories.
Therefore, you have to install third party EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) yum repository on your Linux server.
Execute following dnf command to download and install EPEL repository.
# dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm -y
Install OpenProject Official Repository in RHEL 8:
OpenProject software is available to install via it's official yum repository.
Therefore, you have to install the official yum repository as follows.
# wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/openproject.repo https://dl.packager.io/srv/opf/openproject/stable/11/installer/el/8.repo
Build cache for newly installed yum repositories.
# dnf makecache
Installing OpenProject on RHEL 8:
You can now easily install OpenProject management software by using dnf command.
# dnf install -y openproject
Generate SSL Certificate for your Linux Server:
If you wish to configure SSL for your OpenProject application, then you have to provide paths to SSL certificate and Private Key.
Therefore, generate Private Key and SSL certificate for your Red Hat Linux server as follows.
# mkdir /etc/ssl/private # openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 1095 -newkey rsa:2048 -out /etc/ssl/certs/example.com.crt -keyout /etc/ssl/private/example.com.key
Configuration of OpenProject Management Software:
Execute the following command at Linux bash prompt to start OpenProject configurations.
# openproject configure
OpenProject is available in two editions.
OpenProject is the default editions, whereas OpenProject BIM is specifically designed for Construction industry.
Select Default edition of OpenProject and push 'Ok'.
The setup is now asking to auto-install and configure PostgreSQL database for OpenProject software.
Select the 'Install' option and press 'Ok' button.
Now, OpenProject setup is asking to install Apache Web Server on your Red Hat Linux server.
Allow installation of Apache, by selecting 'Install' option and push 'Ok' button.
Set the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) of your Red Hat Linux server.
Make sure the FQDN is resolvable by means of a DNS Server or Local DNS resolver.
Press 'Ok' to move forward.
You may provide a server path prefix here.
If you does then the OpenProject software is installed in that sub-directory within the root directory of your server domain.
If you left the field blank, then it will install OpenProject software in root directory of your server domain.
Enter '/openproject' as server path prefix and push 'Ok' button.
You can configure SSL for your Apache Web Server from this screen.
Enable SSL by selecting 'yes' option and push 'Ok' button.
Provide the path to your SSL certificate and press 'Ok'.
Provide the path to your Private Key and press 'Ok'.
If you are using a signed SSL certificate then you have to provide path to CA bundle file.
Otherwise leave it blank.
Press 'Ok' to continue.
Enter a custom API Key or press 'Ok' button to use the auto-generated API key.
Setup is now asking to install Apache Subversion on your Red Hat Linux operating system.
Select the option to install Subversion and push 'Ok' button.
Enter a Path to create SVN repositories therein or use the default path.
Push 'Ok' button to move forward.
Press 'Ok' and use the auto-generated Apache Wrapper Key.
You may choose to install Git Repository Support on your Red Hat Linux server.
Select the 'Install Git Repository Support' option and push 'Ok' button.
Provide a path to host Git repositories Or use the default path.
Press 'Ok' to continue setup.
Press 'Ok' button to continue with the default path for Git HTTP Backend CGI directory.
Choose an option to send emails from OpenProject application.
You can choose SMTP option, if you are using a Mail Server for your domain.
Select 'Sendmail' option and push 'Ok' to continue.
Provide an Admin email address and press 'Ok' button.
Choose 'Install new memcached server' option and press 'Ok' button.
PostgreSQL 9.4 is obsolete and now it causes the dnf command to fail while cache pgdg94 repository.
Therefore, you need to disable the pgdg94 repository if OpenProject setup raises an error and exit.
# dnf config-manager --set-disable 'pgdg94'
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Continue the configuration process by executing following command.
# openproject configure
Configure Linux Firewall:
To allow access to your OpenProject application, you have to allow Apache services in Linux firewall.
# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service={http,https} success # firewall-cmd --reload success
Open URL https://openproject-01.centlinux.com/openproject/login in a web browser.
Login by using OpenProject default username/password i.e. admin/admin.
The OpenProject application will ask you to immediately change your password for better security.
Choose your preferred language for OpenProject application.
You will reach at the Welcome Page. Here you will found two demo projects.
Click on 'Scrum Project'.
You will reach at the Overview page of the Scrum Project.
Conclusion:
In this guide, you have successfully installed OpenProject Management Software on RHEL 8. To build your knowledge in this area, you may buy OpenProject: A Concise and Practical Guide by Gerard Blokdyk It will help you in understanding the Software and its usage.
