HumHub is a free and flexible, social networking engine that makes it easy for you to build and maintain your social networking websites for any purpose. Its lightweight, powerful and user-friendly backend will allow you to manage your users and security with ease. For more on HumHub social platform, please visit its home page To get started with installing HumHub, follow the steps below:

Install Apache2 HTTP

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. so install it since HumHub needs it. To install Apache2 HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below. After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots. To test the Apache2 setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see the Apache2 default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.

Install MariaDB Database Server

HumHub also needs a database server to store its content. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with HumHub. To install MariaDB run the commands below. After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service always to start up when the server boots. Run these on Ubuntu After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access. When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter Set root password? [Y/n]: Y New password: Enter password Re-enter new password: Repeat password Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Restart MariaDB server To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon into the MariaDB server Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories. Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2 Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2 Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules. After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2. Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is a great setting to apply in your environment. After making the change above, save the file and close it.

Create HumHub Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a HumHub database. Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above. Then create a database called humhub Create a database user called humhubuser with a new password Then grant the user full access to the humhub database. Finally, save your changes and exit. After installing PHP and related modules, you must restart Apache2 to reload PHP configurations. To restart Apache2, run the commands below To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in the Apache2 root directory by running the commands below Then type the content below and save the file. Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php You should see the PHP default test page.

Download HumHub Latest Release

To download and install HumHub, visit its download page here. Or use the commands below to download and install via the command line. At the time of this writing, the latest version is 1.3.20. Since you just ran the web server as root, you should make sure any newly created files are owned by the www-data user and group. To do that, run the commands below:

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for HumHub. This file will control how users access HumHub content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called humhub. conf Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location. Save the file and exit.

Enable the HumHub and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name or hostname. This is often localhost but can be a hostname or IP address. Your server admin or hosting company will have this information available. Continue with the installation wizard. Next, validate that all requirements are met and continue. Then type in the database name, username, and password and continue. Next, choose the type of community you want to build and continue. After that, create an admin account to manage the platform and complete the setup. After installing, log in and start building your social networking site. Conclusion: You have learned how to install HumHub on Ubuntu with an Apache2 HTTP server. If you find any errors above, please leave a comment below Thanks, You may also like the post below: