zammad_installer

This little script aims to simplify and to automate as much as possible the whole Zammad installation process as described here:

• https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/install/centos.html
• https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/install/ubuntu.html
• https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/install/debian.html
• https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/install/suse.html

Of course, there are a few Ansible playbooks that you may use as well. They did not work for me. I started as an old-school UNIX-SysAdmin and, even though I use all those Infrastructure as Code Tools [shameless self-promotion: I'm also a GCP Architect :-)], I still feel that a shell script is a good way to go.

Please download the right version for your operating system:

• CentOS 8/RockyLinux/AlmaLinux : zammad_installer.sh
• Ubuntu : zammad_installer_ubuntu.sh
• Debian 10 : zammad_installer_debian.sh
• OpenSUSE 42 : zammad_installer_suse.sh

These scripts have been proven to flawlessly work under CentOS 8/RockyLinux/AlmaLinux, Ubuntu 18.x/20.x/22.x (version is automatically detected) and OpenSUSE 42.

before you run this...

There are at least 2 things that you may need to adjust in a Production Enviroment, namely:

1. the DNS entries, currently set to Google's public DNS

dns1=8.8.8.8    # or use your own DNS
dns2=8.8.4.4

2. the path to your SSL certificates if you have your own - otherwise, the script will generate them for you.

ssl_crt=/etc/nginx/ssl/${zammad_fqdn}.crt
ssl_key=/etc/nginx/ssl/${zammad_fqdn}.key
ssl_csr=/etc/nginx/ssl/${zammad_fqdn}.csr

In that case, it could be a good idea to either comment or delete this part of the script (taken from the CentOS version; other distributions will have an "echo -e" instead of "action"):

action "== Generating self-signed SSL certs..."
# generate key and csr 
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -nodes \
    -keyout $ssl_key -out $ssl_csr \
    -subj "/C=CH/ST=Denial/L=Zug/O=Dis/CN=server"

# generate elf signed passwordless certificate 
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -days 365 -nodes -x509 \
    -subj "/C=CH/ST=Denial/L=Zug/O=Dis/CN=server" \
    -keyout $ssl_key -out $ssl_crt

...or just let the script run as it comes out-of-the-box and simply adjust the path to your own certificates on your zammad_ssl.conf file once the install process is completed, which is what I do.

The Zammad installer will not check for any proxy settings and will continue assuming that your system can access the web. It is a common mistake to forget this previous step if needed within your organization.

btw

Please make sure that your hostname is a FQDN and is added to your DNS or /etc/hosts file. nginx will be configured for you using that FQDN. Run:

echo $HOSTNAME

to get the your system's FQDN. If you do not know what I am talking about, just run the script and hope for the best :-)

usage

First off, you must be root to run this installer.

Using this installer is pretty straight-forward:

1. clone this repo
2. cd zammad_installer
3. chmod +x ./zammad_installer.sh (or the one that matches your Linux distribution)
4. ./zammad_installer.sh (or the one that matches your Linux distribution)

And, please, be very patient... it will take some time to install everything for you.

How much will depend on your server specifications and your network speed...

what if I need to modify something once the installation is finished?

Good question. To which I have to say:

WARNING - do NOT run this installer again - this script is not idempotent and could wreck your existing Zammad installation!

Instead, you will need to directly edit the files where the changes are needed.

A typical case would be /etc/nginx/conf.d/zammad_ssl.conf because, say, you want to access your Zammad server using other CNAME. In that case, just append the new CNAME in the server_name variable (line numbers may differ):

 15 server {
 16   listen 80;
 17 
 18   server_name zammad.domain.tld otheralias.domain.tld;

and here:

 35 server {
 36   listen 443 ssl http2;
 37 
 38   server_name zammad.domain.tld otheralias.domain.tld;
 39 

In this case, do not forget to restart nginx: systemctl restart nginx

oops! something went wrong... what now?

Sometimes things can go South... in that case, you will find a log file in the same directory where the Zammad installer was executed, and which contains a verbatim transcription of everthing that was displayed on your console.

Please take a look at it and search for errors so you know that needs to be fixed.

Additionally, it is worth paying a visit to the Zammad forums: https://community.zammad.org/ if you still have problems. The Zammad Community is very helpfull.

disclaimer

This script is provided on an "AS IS" basis to the Zammad Community. The author is not to be held responsible for any damage that it use or misuse may cause.