Introduction
Mediawiki is a free and open source software package written in PHP, developed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Mediawiki runs on many websites such as Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Wikimedia Commons. Mediawiki also known as a wiki engine is software that allows users to create and edit pages via a web browser.
In this tutorial, we will learn how to install and configure Mediawiki on Ubuntu-16.04 server.
Requirements
- A server runing Ubuntu-16.04.
- A non-root user with sudo privileges setup on your server.
Getting Started
Before starting, update your system with the following command:
sudo apt-get update -ysudo apt-get upgrade -y
Once system is up-to-date, you will need to install LAMP stack on your server.
You can install it with the following command:
sudo apt-get install apache2 mariadb-server php7.0-mysql php-xml php7.0-curl php7.0-json php7.0-cgi php7.0 libapache2-mod-php7.0 imagemagick php7.0-intl php7.0-gd php7.0-mbstring
Output:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-utils fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu-core ghostscript gsfonts hicolor-icon-theme imagemagick-6.q16
imagemagick-common libaio1 libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap libcairo2 libcgi-fast-perl libcgi-pm-perl libcroco3
libcupsfilters1 libcupsimage2 libdatrie1 libdbd-mysql-perl libdbi-perl libdjvulibre-text libdjvulibre21 libencode-locale-perl libfcgi-perl
libfftw3-double3 libfontconfig1 libgd3 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common libgraphite2-3 libgs9 libgs9-common libharfbuzz0b
libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-template-perl libhttp-date-perl libhttp-message-perl libijs-0.35 libilmbase12 libio-html-perl
libjbig0 libjbig2dec0 libjpeg-turbo8 libjpeg8 liblcms2-2 liblqr-1-0 liblua5.1-0 liblwp-mediatypes-perl libmagickcore-6.q16-2
libmagickcore-6.q16-2-extra libmagickwand-6.q16-2 libnetpbm10 libopenexr22 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpaper-utils
libpaper1 libpixman-1-0 librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common libterm-readkey-perl libthai-data libthai0 libtiff5 libtimedate-perl liburi-perl libvpx3
libwmf0.2-7 libxcb-render0 libxcb-shm0 libxpm4 libxrender1 libxslt1.1 mariadb-client-10.0 mariadb-client-core-10.0 mariadb-common
mariadb-server-10.0 mariadb-server-core-10.0 netpbm php-common php7.0-cli php7.0-common php7.0-opcache php7.0-readline php7.0-xml poppler-data
ssl-cert
Suggested packages:
apache2-doc apache2-suexec-pristine | apache2-suexec-custom ghostscript-x hpijs imagemagick-doc autotrace cups-bsd | lpr | lprng enscript ffmpeg
gimp gnuplot grads graphviz hp2xx html2ps libwmf-bin mplayer povray radiance sane-utils texlive-base-bin transfig ufraw-batch xdg-utils php-pear
libclone-perl libmldbm-perl libnet-daemon-perl libsql-statement-perl libfftw3-bin libfftw3-dev libgd-tools fonts-droid texlive-lang-cjk
libdata-dump-perl libipc-sharedcache-perl liblcms2-utils inkscape librsvg2-bin libwww-perl libwmf0.2-7-gtk mariadb-test tinyca poppler-utils
fonts-japanese-mincho | fonts-ipafont-mincho fonts-japanese-gothic | fonts-ipafont-gothic fonts-arphic-ukai fonts-arphic-uming fonts-nanum
openssl-blacklist
The following NEW packages will be installed:
apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-utils fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu-core ghostscript gsfonts hicolor-icon-theme imagemagick
imagemagick-6.q16 imagemagick-common libaio1 libapache2-mod-php7.0 libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap libcairo2
libcgi-fast-perl libcgi-pm-perl libcroco3 libcupsfilters1 libcupsimage2 libdatrie1 libdbd-mysql-perl libdbi-perl libdjvulibre-text libdjvulibre21
libencode-locale-perl libfcgi-perl libfftw3-double3 libfontconfig1 libgd3 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common libgraphite2-3 libgs9
libgs9-common libharfbuzz0b libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-template-perl libhttp-date-perl libhttp-message-perl libijs-0.35
libilmbase12 libio-html-perl libjbig0 libjbig2dec0 libjpeg-turbo8 libjpeg8 liblcms2-2 liblqr-1-0 liblua5.1-0 liblwp-mediatypes-perl
libmagickcore-6.q16-2 libmagickcore-6.q16-2-extra libmagickwand-6.q16-2 libnetpbm10 libopenexr22 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0
libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpaper-utils libpaper1 libpixman-1-0 librsvg2-2 librsvg2-common libterm-readkey-perl libthai-data libthai0 libtiff5
libtimedate-perl liburi-perl libvpx3 libwmf0.2-7 libxcb-render0 libxcb-shm0 libxpm4 libxrender1 libxslt1.1 mariadb-client-10.0
mariadb-client-core-10.0 mariadb-common mariadb-server mariadb-server-10.0 mariadb-server-core-10.0 netpbm php-common php-xml php7.0 php7.0-cgi
php7.0-cli php7.0-common php7.0-curl php7.0-gd php7.0-intl php7.0-json php7.0-mbstring php7.0-mysql php7.0-opcache php7.0-readline php7.0-xml
poppler-data ssl-cert
0 upgraded, 107 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 27.2 MB/43.6 MB of archives.
After this operation, 250 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libapr1 amd64 1.5.2-3 [86.0 kB]
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libaprutil1 amd64 1.5.4-1build1 [77.1 kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 amd64 1.5.4-1build1 [10.6 kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libaprutil1-ldap amd64 1.5.4-1build1 [8,720 B]
Get:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 liblua5.1-0 amd64 5.1.5-8ubuntu1 [102 kB]
Get:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 apache2-bin amd64 2.4.18-2ubuntu3.1 [923 kB]
Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 apache2-utils amd64 2.4.18-2ubuntu3.1 [81.3 kB]
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 apache2-data all 2.4.18-2ubuntu3.1 [162 kB]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 apache2 amd64 2.4.18-2ubuntu3.1 [86.7 kB]
Get:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 fonts-dejavu-core all 2.35-1 [1,039 kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 fontconfig-config all 2.11.94-0ubuntu1.1 [49.9 kB]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 libfontconfig1 amd64 2.11.94-0ubuntu1.1 [131 kB]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 fontconfig amd64 2.11.94-0ubuntu1.1 [178 kB]
Get:14 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 imagemagick-common all 8:6.8.9.9-7ubuntu5.1 [42.1 kB]
Get:15 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libfftw3-double3 amd64 3.3.4-2ubuntu1 [718 kB]
Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libjpeg-turbo8 amd64 1.4.2-0ubuntu3 [111 kB]
Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 liblcms2-2 amd64 2.6-3ubuntu2 [137 kB]
Get:18 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 liblqr-1-0 amd64 0.4.2-2 [23.6 kB]
Get:19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 libjbig0 amd64 2.1-3.1 [26.6 kB]
.
.
.
Once installation is complete, you will need to enable Apache rewrite module.
You can do this by running the following command:
sudo a2enmod rewrite
Now, restart the Apache service for the changes to take effect:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Installing Mediawiki
Before starting, you will need to download the latest version of Mediawiki from https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download.
You can download Mediawiki using wget command as follows:
cd /opt/sudo wget https://releases.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.27/mediawiki-1.27.1.tar.gzsudo tar -xvzf mediawiki-1.27.1.tar.gz
Next, move mediawiki-1.27.1 to Apache document root directory:
sudo mv /opt/mediawiki-1.27.1 /var/www/html/mediawiki
Change the ownership of mediawiki directory to www-data:
sudo www-data:www-data -R /var/www/html/mediawiki
Configuring the Database
Default Mariadb installation is not secure, so you will need to secure it first. You can secure it using mysql_secure_installation script:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Answer all the questions as follows:
NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MariaDB, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.
Enter current password for root (enter for none):
OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MariaDB
root user without the proper authorisation.
You already have a root password set, so you can safely answer 'n'.
Change the root password? [Y/n] n
... skipping.
By default, a MariaDB installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MariaDB without having to have a user account created for
them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'. This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
By default, MariaDB comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
- Dropping test database...
... Success!
- Removing privileges on test database...
... Success!
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Cleaning up...
All done! If you've completed all of the above steps, your MariaDB
installation should now be secure.
Thanks for using MariaDB!
Next, you will need to login MariaDB console and create a Database for the Mediawiki.
You can do this by running the following command:
mysql -u root -p
Enter the password for root user, you should see the following output:
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 106
Server version: 10.0.27-MariaDB-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 Ubuntu 16.04
Copyright (c) 2000, 2016, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others.
Type 'help;' or 'h' for help. Type 'c' to clear the current input statement.
MariaDB [(none)]>
Once you are logged in to MariaDB console, create a database and user with the following command:
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE mediawikidb;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.06 sec)
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wikidb.* TO 'user'@'localhost';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)
MariaDB [(none)]> exit
Configure Apache for Mediawiki
Once database is configured, you will need to configure Apache for Mediawiki.
So, you will need to create new virtual host file for Mediawiki:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/mediawiki.conf
Add the following lines:
ServerAdmin admin@yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/mediawiki/
ServerName 192.168.15.189
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/mediawiki-error_log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/mediawiki-access_log common
Save and close the file when you are finished.
Next, you will need to enable mediawiki site and disable 000-default site.
You can do this by running the following command:
sudo a2ensite mediawikisudo a2dissite 000-default
Next, reload apache service with the following command:
systemctl restart apache2
Accessing Mediawiki
Once everything is setup properly, it’s time to access Mediawiki.
Open your favourite web browser and type the URL http://your-server-ip, and hit Enter button, you should see the following page:
HP_NO_IMG/data/uploads/users/7ecb43a5-b365-4ebf-93d5-f3b632f29f33/546322523.png” alt=”” />
Next, click on the set up the wiki hyperlink and follow the instructions on the screen and fill up the necessary information as required.
Select your language and the Wiki language. On the next page, click continue , then enter the following information:
Database Host: localhost
Database name: mediawikidb
Database username: user
Database password: password
Next, click on the Continue, and select:
Storage engine: InnoDB
Database character set: UTF-8
Next, click on Continue and enter the name of Wiki which will appear in the title bar of the web browser and other places, create an administrator account and install the Wiki.
The configuration process will prompt you to download a LocalSettings.php, so download it and save it to /var/www/html/mediawiki directory.
Also, if you want to improve the speed and performance of your MediaWiki installation, add the following lines at the end of the LocalSettings.php file :
sudo /var/www/html/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php
Add the following lines:
# Speed improvements
$wgUseGzip = true;
$wgUseFileCache = true;
# Performance settings
$wgDisableCounters = true;
$wgMiserMode = true;
Once you are finished, open your web browser and type the URL http://your-server-ip to see your new wiki:
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Conclusion
Congratulations! You have successfully installed MediaWiki on your Ubuntu-16.04 server. You can now easily create your own wiki page using Mediawiki.
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