Installation guide
Installation guide for OpenOlat 15.3 and greater
This guide walks you through installing OpenOlat Version 15.3.x or newer on a local GNU/Linux or similar system using Tomcat 9, Java 11 and PostgreSQL 12. If you already have an up and running installation, see our Update Guide
If you really want to install OpenOlat using MySQL as database, have a look at the Special topics -> MySQL DB section and try mixing it with the informations found in here. Please keep in mind that this is not recommended.
Create a user for OpenOlat
The username is openolat in this guide with home directory in /home/openolat/. From here onwards do everything as the user openolat (unless pointed out differently). To create the user, you can simply use the command
useradd -m -s /bin/bash openolat
Download software
We recommend using the following software packages:
- Java-WM: AdoptOpenJDK 11 LTS
https://adoptopenjdk.net/ - Application server: Tomcat 9
https://tomcat.apache.org/ - OpenOlat application code: as pre-compiled .war files
https://www.openolat.com/releases/
Create a directory downloads and keep the downloaded files there:
openolat~$ cd && mkdir downloads && cd downloads
openolat~$ ls -l downloads
-rw-rw-r-- 1 openolat openolat 11437266 Dez 8 14:44 apache-tomcat-9.0.40.tar.gz
-rw-rw-r-- 1 openolat openolat 194723798 Dez 8 14:44 OpenJDK11U-jdk_x64_linux_hotspot_11.0.9.1_1.tar.gz
-rw-rw-r-- 1 openolat openolat 146225737 Dez 8 14:44 openolat_1535.war
You do not need to use the exact versions from this manual, this is just an example. We recommend that you use the newest version within the given major version: Java 11, Tomcat 9. As for OpenOlat, take the newest release please. If not, make sure to use a version 15.3.x or newer. Note that you do not need a JDK to run OpenOlat, a JRE will work as well.
Prepare home directory
Link code
In the home directory:
openolat~$ cd
openolat~$ tar xvf downloads/apache-tomcat-9.0.40.tar.gz
openolat~$ ln -s apache-tomcat-9.0.40 tomcat
openolat~$ tar xvf downloads/OpenJDK11U-jdk_x64_linux_hotspot_11.0.9.1_1.tar.gz
openolat~$ ln -s jdk-11.0.9.1+1 jre
openolat~$ unzip -d openolat-15.3.5 downloads/openolat_1535.war
openolat~$ ln -s openolat-15.3.5 webapp
Note that this setup allows you to switch between different versions of JRE and tomcat by adjusting the symlinks jre and tomcat. An update works the same way, just stop OpenOlat, remove the symlink to webapp, unzip a new version and make a new symbolic webapp link.
Create tomcat dirs
Set up tomcat in home directory
openolat~$ mkdir bin conf lib run logs
web.xml and catalina.sh
Link the following files:
openolat~$ cd ~/conf
openolat~$ ln -s ../tomcat/conf/web.xml web.xml
openolat~$ cd ~/bin
openolat~$ ln -s ../tomcat/bin/catalina.sh catalina.sh
Create additional, handy links:
openolat~$ cd
openolat~$ ln -s tomcat/bin/startup.sh start
openolat~$ ln -s tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh stop
setenv.sh
Create the file ~/bin/setenv.sh containing
CATALINA_HOME=~/tomcat
CATALINA_BASE=~
JRE_HOME=~/jre
CATALINA_PID=~/run/openolat.pid
CATALINA_TMPDIR=/tmp/openolat
mkdir -p $CATALINA_TMPDIR
CATALINA_OPTS=" \
-Xmx1024m -Xms512m -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=512m \
-Duser.name=openolat \
-Duser.timezone=Europe/Zurich \
-Dspring.profiles.active=myprofile \
-Djava.awt.headless=true \
-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true \
-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError \
-XX:HeapDumpPath=. \
"
The scripts of tomcat will parse this file at startup.
server.xml
Create the file ~/conf/server.xml
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<Server port="8085" shutdown="SHUTDOWN">
<Service name="Catalina">
<Connector port="8088" protocol="HTTP/1.1" />
<Engine name="Catalina" defaultHost="localhost">
<Host name="localhost" appBase="webapps" />
</Engine>
</Service>
</Server>
Make sure the chosen ports (8085 and 8088 in this example) are available.
Set the environment variables CATALINA_HOME and JRE_HOME, for example by appending the following to your ~/.bashrc
export CATALINA_BASE=~
export CATALINA_HOME=~/tomcat
export JRE_HOME=~/jre
and activate them by issuing
openolat~$ . .bashrc
Test tomcat
openolat~$ ./start
... should output something like this:
Using CATALINA_BASE: /home/openolat
Using CATALINA_HOME: /home/openolat/tomcat
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /tmp/openolat
Using JRE_HOME: /home/openolat/jre
Using CLASSPATH: /home/openolat/tomcat/bin/bootstrap.jar:/home/openolat/ tomcat/bin/tomcat-juli.jar
Using CATALINA_OPTS: -Xmx1024m -Xms512m -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=512m -Duser.name=openolat -Duser.timezone=Europe/Zurich -Dspring.profiles.active=myprofile -Djava.awt.headless=true -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -XX:HeapDumpPath=.
Using CATALINA_PID: /home/openolat/run/openolat.pid
Existing PID file found during start.
Removing/clearing stale PID file.
Tomcat started.
Check whether these values make sense, then stop tomcat again
openolat~$ ./stop
Set up postgresql
This setupguide should work with all PostgreSQL Versions from 9.1 on. Our recommendation is to use the most recent, stable version. This manual has been tested with version 12.5.
User and DB
Do the following as root user:
root~# su - postgres
and then as user postgres (you may need the postgresql db password, but usually not):
postgres~$ psql
Now while logged in to postgresql, we create the user and the database:
postgres=# create user oodbu with password 'oodbpasswd';
postgres=# create database oodb with owner oodbu;
Test DB access
Test the account as openolat user:
openolat~$ psql oodb -U oodbu -h localhost
You should get the postgresql client prompt after providing your password.
Create DB schema
Now create the openolat database schema, as user openolat:
oodb=> \i /home/openolat/webapp/WEB-INF/classes/database/postgresql/setupDatabase.sql
Optionally
Create a file named ~/.pgpass containing
#hostname:port:database:username:password
localhost:5432:oodb:oodbu:oodbpasswd
This way you can access the database by typing psql -h localhost and will connect to the right db without pw
OpenOlat configuration
Create the file ~/lib/olat.local.properties
db.source=jndi
db.jndi=java:comp/env/jdbc/openolatDS
db.vendor=postgresql
installation.dir=/home/openolat
log.dir=/home/openolat/logs
server.contextpath=/openolat
server.domainname=localhost
server.port=8088
server.port.ssl=0
smtp.host=disabled
tomcat.id=1
userdata.dir=/home/openolat/olatdata
Application context descriptor
Create the directory ~/conf/Catalina/localhost/ for the OpenOlat Application context descriptor:
openolat~$ mkdir -p ~/conf/Catalina/localhost/
and create the file ~/conf/Catalina/localhost/ROOT.xml containing:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Context path="" docBase="/home/openolat/webapp" debug="0" reloadable="false" allowLinking="true">
<Resource name="jdbc/openolatDS" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
maxTotal="16" maxIdle="4" maxWaitMillis="60000"
username="oodbu" password="oodbpasswd"
driverClassName="org.postgresql.Driver"
validationQuery="SELECT 1"
validationQueryTimeout="-1"
testOnBorrow="true"
testOnReturn="false"
url="jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/oodb"/>
</Context>
Make sure the values of username, password and the localhost:5432/oodb part in the url value are the ones of your postgresql account for openolat.
Configure log4j2
Create the file ~/lib/log4j2.xml containing
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Configuration status="WARN">
<Appenders>
<RollingFile name="RollingFile" fileName="/home/openolat/logs/olat.log"
filePattern="/home/openolat/logs/olat.log.%d{yyyy-MM-dd}">
<PatternLayout
pattern="%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %marker %c{1} ^%%^ I%X{ref}-J%sn ^%%^ %logger{36} ^%%^ %X{identityKey} ^%%^ %X{ip} ^%%^ %X{referer} ^%%^ %X{userAgent} ^%%^ %msg%ex{full,separator( )}%n" />
<Policies>
<TimeBasedTriggeringPolicy interval="1" />
</Policies>
</RollingFile>
</Appenders>
<Loggers>
<Logger name="org.apache.commons.httpclient" additivity="false" level="warn">
<AppenderRef ref="RollingFile" />
</Logger>
<Logger name="org.apache.pdfbox" additivity="false" level="fatal">
<AppenderRef ref="RollingFile" />
</Logger>
<Logger name="org.apache.fontbox" additivity="false" level="fatal">
<AppenderRef ref="RollingFile" />
</Logger>
<Logger name="org.hibernate.engine.internal.StatisticalLoggingSessionEventListener" additivity="false" level="fatal">
<AppenderRef ref="RollingFile" />
</Logger>
<!-- Change the level to debug to see the SQL statements generated by Hibernate -->
<Logger name="org.hibernate.SQL" additivity="false" level="fatal">
<AppenderRef ref="RollingFile" />
</Logger>
<Logger name="org.hibernate.type.descriptor.sql.BasicBinder" additivity="false" level="fatal">
<AppenderRef ref="RollingFile" />
</Logger>
<Root level="info">
<AppenderRef ref="RollingFile" />
</Root>
</Loggers>
</Configuration>
Done
Start OpenOlat
./start
The file ~/log/catalina.out should say
INFO: Server startup in [19696] milliseconds
near the end (your numbers will vary).
The next file to check would be ~/logs/olat.log. It should say:
Velocity cache filled with 1517 templates in (ms): 5847
but again, your numbers will vary.
Try OpenOlat
Point your browser to:
http://localhost:8088
username: administrator
password: openolat
Happy testing!
Help
If you have problems or questions please use the public mailing list or ask for commercial support
Professional hosting
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