Zikula is a free and open source web application framework that can be used to develop interactive and editable websites easily.

It is written in PHP and uses MySQL, MariaDB and SQL to store it’s data. It is a cross platform application and supports all popular operating systems like, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD and many more. You can easily create simple blog site to a complicated e-commerce application using Zikula.

Zikula is infinitely expandable to add the functionality you need.

Here, we will explain how to install Zikula on Ubuntu 16.04 server.

Requirements

• A server running Ubuntu 16.04.
• A normal user with sudo privileges setup on your server.

Update the System

Before installing any packages, it is recommended to update your system with the latest stable version. You can do this with the following command:

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Once your system is up to date, you can proceed to install Apache web server.

Install Apache Web Server

First, you will need to install Apache web server on your system. You can easily install it by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install apache2 -y

Once apache is installed, start the Apache web server and enable it to start on boot with the following command:

sudo systemctl start apache2
sudo systemctl enable apache2

Install PHP

You can install PHP and other required modules with the following command:

sudo apt-get install wget unzip php7.0 php7.0-mysql php7.0-gd php7.0-curl libapache2-mod-php7.0 php7.0-mcrypt php7.0-xml php7.0-mbstring php7.0-xmlrpc

Once all the packages are installed, you can proceed to install MariaDB server.

Install and Configure MariaDb Server

You will need to install MariaDB server to store data. You can install it with the following command:

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server -y

Start MariaDB and enable it to automatically start at boot time.

sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl enable mysql

By default, MariaDB is not secured, so you will need to secure it first. You can secure it by running the mysql_secure_installation script.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Answer all the questions as shown below:

Set root password? [Y/n] n
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

Once MariaDB is secured, log in to the MySQL shell and create a database for zikula:

mysql -u root -p

Enter your root password when prompted, then create a database for zikula. It is recommended to set secure password:

MariaDB [(none)]>CREATE DATABASE zikuladb;

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Next, create a username and password for zikula with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]>CREATE USER 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Next, grant privileges to the zikula database with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]>GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON zikuladb.* TO 'user'@'localhost';

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Next, you will need to run the FLUSH PRIVILEGES command so that the privileges table will be reloaded by MariaDB and we can use new credential:

MariaDB [(none)]>FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Next, exit from the MariaDB console with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]>\q

Once you are done, you can proceed to the next step.

Install Zikula

You can download the latest stable version of the zikula from their official website.

Once the download is completed extract the downloaded file with the following command:

unzip Zikula_Core-1.4.6.build119.zip

Next move the extracted directory to the apache web root directory:

sudo mv Zikula_Core-1.4.6.build119 /var/www/html/zikula

Next, you will need to change permissions of the zikula folder:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/zikula

Configure Apache Web Server for Zikula

You will need to create a virtual host file for zikula. You can do this by creating snipeit.conf file inside /etc/apache2/sites-available/ directory:

`sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/zikula.conf

Add the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot "/var/www/html/zikula/"
ServerName yourdomain.com
ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com
<Directory "/var/www/html/zikula/">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/zikula-error_log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/zikula-access_log common
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file when you are finished, then enable the site with the following command:

sudo a2ensite zikula.conf

Next, enable the rewrite module with the following command:

sudo a2enmod rewrite

Finaly, restart Apache web server so that the changes take place:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Once you are finished, you can proceed to access zikula web installation wizard.

Access Zikula

Before accessing the Zikula Web Interface, you will need to allow HTTP service through UFW firewall.

By default UFW is disabled on your system, so you need to enable it first. You can enable it with the following command:

sudo ufw enable

Once UFW firewall is enabled, you can allow HTTP service by running the following command:

sudo ufw allow http

You can now check the status of UFW firewall by running the following command:

sudo ufw status

Next, Open your web browser and type the URL http://yourdomain.com, you should see the following page:

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Here, click on Install Zikula button, you should see the following page:

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Here, provide database information like, database name, username and password then click on Next button, you should see the following page:

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Here, provide your administrator user account details and click on the Next button, you should see the following page:

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Here, click on Begin Installer button to start installation, once the installation is completed you should see the following page:

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Now, click on Finish button to complete the installation, you should see the Zikula administration panel as below:

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Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Zikula on Ubuntu 16.04 server. You can now easily create your own website using Zikula.
Feel free to comments me if you have any question.