Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7

JaredBusch

Starting from a standard install of CentOS 7 Minimal r1511.

Update CentOS

yum -y update

Install EPEL and firewalld

yum -y install epel-release firewalld

Start the firewall and enable it to start at boot

systemctl start firewalld
systemctl enable firewalld

While we are at it, allow port 4567 (default port for NodeBB) through the firewall

firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=4567/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Install a couple packages to make life easier

yum -y install nano wget

Install the packages required for NodeBB

yum -y groupinstall "Development Tools"
yum -y install git ImageMagick npm

Add the Mongo repo

cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/mongodb-org-3.2.repo <<EOF
[mongodb-org-3.2]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/redhat/\$releasever/mongodb-org/3.2/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-3.2.asc
EOF

Install Mongo

yum install -y mongodb-org policycoreutils-python

Tell SELinux to not stop mongo on its default port as well as NodeBB

semanage port -a -t mongod_port_t -p tcp 27017
semanage port -m -t http_port_t -p tcp 4567

Mongo will have a warning about this setting when launched and suggests you set it to 32000. So do so before we do anything else.

cat >> /etc/security/limits.d/20-nproc.conf <<EOF
mongod soft nproc 32000
EOF

Start and enable mongod to start on boot.

systemctl start mongod
systemctl enable mongod

Start Mongo

mongo

Create/Switch to the new database you want to use for NodeBB

use nodebb

Create a user for the database

db.createUser( { user: "nodebb", pwd: "somebiglongpassword", roles: [ "readWrite" ] } )

Exit mongo

exit

Edit the mongo config

nano /etc/init.d/mongod

Add --auth to the options line

OPTIONS=" --auth -f $CONFIGFILE"

Reload systemd and restart Mongo

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart mongod

Run the nvm install script for the current version noted at https://github.com/creationix/nvm/releases
As of the creation of this guide, that version is v0.32.1

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.32.1/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bash_profile

List the available versions to be installed, and install the most recent
As of the creation of this guide that is v7.2.0

nvm list-remote
nvm install v7.2.0

Change to the directory you want to have the nodebb folder in

cd /opt

Checkout nodebb from github.

git clone -b v1.x.x https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB nodebb

Change into the nodebb directory just created

cd nodebb

Install nodejs

npm install

Start NodeBB with the setup flag.

./nodebb setup

Fill in the fields appropriately for your instance. I already have a Nginx Proxy setup in front of this instance and a FQDN setup. So I populate the URL with that.

30/11 22:39 [56143] - info: NodeBB Setup Triggered via Command Line

Welcome to NodeBB!

This looks like a new installation, so you'll have to answer a few questions about your environment before we can proceed.
Press enter to accept the default setting (shown in brackets).
URL used to access this NodeBB (http://localhost:4567) https://community.yourdomain.com
Please enter a NodeBB secret (1234abcd-ef56-7890-a1b1-1234abcd2a1a) 
Which database to use (mongo) 

30/11 22:40 [56143] - info: Now configuring mongo database:
Host IP or address of your MongoDB instance (127.0.0.1) 
Host port of your MongoDB instance (27017) 
MongoDB username nodebb
Password of your MongoDB database somebiglongpassword
MongoDB database name (nodebb) 
Configuration Saved OK
30/11 22:40 [56143] - info: [database] Checking database indices.
30/11 22:40 [56143] - info: [database] Checking database indices done!
Populating database with default configs, if not already set...
Enabling default theme: nodebb-theme-persona
No categories found, populating instance with default categories

It then tells you to create the initial admin user account.

30/11 22:40 [56143] - warn: No administrators have been detected, running initial user setup

Administrator username someadminusername
Administrator email address [email protected]
Password 
Confirm Password 
Creating welcome post!
Enabling default plugins

Snipped a bunch of messages. Look for the complete message.

NodeBB Setup Completed. Run './nodebb start' to manually start your NodeBB server.

Start your instance

./nodebb start

Open a browser and navigate to your URL.

0_1480567435343_upload-9b51c62f-0147-47ea-9de9-363e3c71e2c2

JaredBusch

reserved for some post install config.

scottalanmiller

The bit about the admin user has changed somewhere around 1.4. Now it makes a random user for you rather than prompting you to make one.

JaredBusch

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

The bit about the admin user has changed somewhere around 1.4. Now it makes a random user for you rather than prompting you to make one.

I wrote this against 1.4.0, so either 1.4.1 or 1.4.2 (current).

scottalanmiller

@JaredBusch said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

The bit about the admin user has changed somewhere around 1.4. Now it makes a random user for you rather than prompting you to make one.

I wrote this against 1.4.0, so either 1.4.1 or 1.4.2 (current).

I didn't do a raw install of 1.4.1 so no guess there. Just did a 1.4.2 and saw it.

JaredBusch

@scottalanmiller what would be the best method to launch nodebb on reboot?

I can think of a couple things to do, but what is "best practice" for something like this.

scottalanmiller

@JaredBusch said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

@scottalanmiller what would be the best method to launch nodebb on reboot?

I can think of a couple things to do, but what is "best practice" for something like this.

I'm using the crontab, it's flexible and easy. Since there is no existing boot scripts for NodeBB and it happens after Nginx fires up.

Best practice would really be to write a start up script and add it to the systemctl system. But really, that just seems like overkill to me. Because the system (in my case) is dedicated to NodeBB and all NodeBB instances are listed in a single location, it's incredibly obvious and easy to manage.

JaredBusch

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

I'm using the crontab, it's flexible and easy. Since there is no existing boot scripts for NodeBB and it happens after Nginx fires up.

what just something like this?
@reboot cd /opt/nodebb && ./nodebb start

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

Best practice would really be to write a start up script and add it to the systemctl system. But really, that just seems like overkill to me. Because the system (in my case) is dedicated to NodeBB and all NodeBB instances are listed in a single location, it's incredibly obvious and easy to manage.

I guess someone should document this process one of these days..

scottalanmiller

@JaredBusch said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

I'm using the crontab, it's flexible and easy. Since there is no existing boot scripts for NodeBB and it happens after Nginx fires up.

what just something like this?
@reboot cd /opt/nodebb && ./nodebb start

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

Best practice would really be to write a start up script and add it to the systemctl system. But really, that just seems like overkill to me. Because the system (in my case) is dedicated to NodeBB and all NodeBB instances are listed in a single location, it's incredibly obvious and easy to manage.

I guess someone should document this process one of these days..

Yes, but on my system the folder is not /opt/nodebb but is /opt/sitename so that it is very clear what is starting and what the order is.

JaredBusch

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

@JaredBusch said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

I'm using the crontab, it's flexible and easy. Since there is no existing boot scripts for NodeBB and it happens after Nginx fires up.

what just something like this?
@reboot cd /opt/nodebb && ./nodebb start

@scottalanmiller said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

Best practice would really be to write a start up script and add it to the systemctl system. But really, that just seems like overkill to me. Because the system (in my case) is dedicated to NodeBB and all NodeBB instances are listed in a single location, it's incredibly obvious and easy to manage.

I guess someone should document this process one of these days..

Yes, but on my system the folder is not /opt/nodebb but is /opt/sitename so that it is very clear what is starting and what the order is.

I was following the example listed in this thread. I used /opt/nodebb for the instructions

JaredBusch

Note, it apparently detects the previous install and updates with git anyway.

[root@daermabb ~]# curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.0/install.sh | bash
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100 11329  100 11329    0     0  21219      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 21255
=> nvm is already installed in /root/.nvm, trying to update using git
=> => Compressing and cleaning up git repository
Counting objects: 6072, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (6034/6034), done.
Writing objects: 100% (6072/6072), done.
Total 6072 (delta 4010), reused 1867 (delta 0)

JaredBusch

This guide does it this way

 git clone git://github.com/creationix/nvm.git ~/.nvm
 printf "\n\n# NVM\nif [ -s ~/.nvm/nvm.sh ]; then\n\tNVM_DIR=~/.nvm\n\tsource ~/.nvm/nvm.sh\nfi" >> ~/.bashrc
 NVM_DIR=~/.nvm
 source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh

JaredBusch

Guess I should update this one of these days

JaredBusch

@jaredbusch said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

Guess I should update this one of these days

Wow.. I need to write an updated guide...

scottalanmiller

It's a bit different, now.

black3dynamite

@jaredbusch said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

@jaredbusch said in Installing NodeBB with Mongo on CentOS 7:

Guess I should update this one of these days

Wow.. I need to write an updated guide...

Just remember mongodb and nodejs can be installed natively on Fedora.
https://developer.fedoraproject.org/tech/database/mongodb/about.html
https://developer.fedoraproject.org/tech/languages/nodejs/nodejs.html