How to Install RackTables on Clear Linux

RackTables is a popular open-source web application for datacenter and server room asset management. If you have just recently installed Clear Linux, and you want to install and use RackTables on your system, this tutorial will show you how.

Prerequisites

Make sure that your system meets the following requirements.

Running Clear Linux latest version
User account with sudo privileges
Internet connection

Step 1: Update System

To avoid conflicts and to ensure that you have the latest package versions, update your system using the following command:

sudo swupd update

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

RackTables requires some dependencies to be installed on your Clear Linux system. Use the following command to install them:

sudo swupd bundle-add lamp-php73 mariadb

Step 3: Download and extract RackTables

You can download RackTables directly from the official website at racktables.org. Once you have downloaded the .tar.gz file, extract it by running the following command:

tar xvfz RackTables-*.tar.gz

This will create a new directory with the extracted RackTables files.

Step 4: Install RackTables

Move the extracted RackTables files to your web server root directory using the following command:

sudo mv RackTables-* /var/www/html/racktables

If you want to install RackTables in a subdirectory, adjust the command accordingly.

Next, create a new empty database for RackTables to use:

sudo mysql -u root -p -e "CREATE DATABASE racktables;"

Then, create a new database user and grant it permissions to the new database:

sudo mysql -u root -p -e "CREATE USER 'rackuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';"
sudo mysql -u root -p -e "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON racktables.* TO 'rackuser'@'localhost';"

Make sure to replace password with a strong password of your choice.

You are now ready to install RackTables. Open your web browser, and navigate to http://localhost/racktables/installer/. Follow the instructions, and enter the database information you just created when prompted.

Step 5: Test RackTables

Once the installation is complete, open your web browser, and navigate to http://localhost/racktables/. You should now see the RackTables login page.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed and setup RackTables on Clear Linux. You can now use RackTables to manage your datacenter and server assets.