How to Install Ralph on Arch Linux

In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to install Ralph on Arch Linux, Ralph is an open-source Asset Management System that is designed to track assets from purchase to decommissioning stage.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the installation, ensure that you have the following:

• A running Arch Linux installation
• Access to the internet
• A root user or a user with sudo access

Step 1: Update System Packages

Before installing any package, ensure that the system packages are updated and upgraded.

sudo pacman -Syyu

Step 2: Install Required Packages

Since Ralph is written using Python, we need to install some Python specific packages like Python, Virtualenv, Pip, PostgreSQL, Nginx, Gunicorn, Supervisor, and some other dependencies.

sudo pacman -S python python-virtualenv python-pip postgresql nginx gunicorn supervisor

Step 3: Create a PostgreSQL Database

Create a new PostgreSQL database and user for Ralph application.

sudo su - postgres
psql
CREATE DATABASE ralphdb;
CREATE USER ralphuser WITH PASSWORD 'ralphpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE ralphdb TO ralphuser;
\q
exit

Step 4: Create a Python Virtual Environment

Create a Python virtual environment for Ralph and activate it.

virtualenv ralph-env
source ralph-env/bin/activate

Step 5: Install Ralph

Install Ralph using the following command.

pip install ralph

Step 6: Bootstrap Ralph

Bootstrap Ralph application using Ralph manage.

cd ralph
ralph config
ralph migrate --all
ralph createsuperuser

Step 7: Configure Gunicorn

Create a new Gunicorn configuration file for Ralph.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/gunicorn.service

Paste the following code into the file.

[Unit]
Description=gunicorn daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
User=<your_username>
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/ralph
ExecStart=/path/to/ralph-env/bin/gunicorn --access-logfile - --workers 3 --bind unix:/path/to/ralph.sock ralph.wsgi:application

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Replace <your_username> with your Linux username and /path/to/ralph with the full path to Ralph application directory.

Step 8: Configure Supervisor

Create a new Supervisor configuration file for Ralph.

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/ralph.conf

Paste the following code into the file.

[program:ralph]
command=/path/to/ralph-env/bin/gunicorn --access-logfile - --workers 3 --bind unix:/path/to/ralph.sock ralph.wsgi:application
directory=/path/to/ralph
user=<your_username>
autostart=true
autorestart=true
redirect_stderr=true

Replace <your_username> with your Linux username and /path/to/ralph with the full path to Ralph application directory.

Step 9: Configure Nginx

Create a new Nginx configuration file for Ralph.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/ralph.conf

Paste the following code into the file.

upstream ralph_app_server {
server unix:/path/to/ralph.sock fail_timeout=0;
}

server {
listen <your_server_ip_>:80;
server_name <your_server_domain_name>;

access_log /var/log/nginx/ralph.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/ralph.error.log info;

location /static/ {
alias /path/to/ralph/static/;
}

location / {
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
proxy_redirect off;
if (!-f $request_filename) {
proxy_pass http://ralph_app_server;
break;
}
}
}

Replace <your_server_ip_>, <your_server_domain_name>, and /path/to/ralph with your server IP, domain name, and the full path to Ralph application directory.

Step 10: Restart Services

Restart all the services to apply the changes made.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start supervisor
sudo systemctl enable supervisor
sudo systemctl start gunicorn
sudo systemctl enable gunicorn
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 11: Access Ralph

You can now access Ralph Web UI by opening a web browser and navigating to http://your_ip. You should be redirected to the Ralph login page where you can log in with the credentials created in Step 6.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Ralph on your Arch Linux system.