How to Install Talkyard on Ubuntu Server Latest

Talkyard is an open-source platform for online communities with features like discussions, messaging, and additional tools. It's easy-to-use, self-hosted, and customizable to meet your unique needs. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Talkyard on Ubuntu server latest.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation, ensure that you have these prerequisites:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or above
A non-root user with sudo access
A valid domain name
Nginx installed and configured
MongoDB installed and running

Step 1: Install Node.js

Talkyard is a Node.js application, so start by installing Node.js on your Ubuntu system. To install Node.js, follow these steps:

Update your Ubuntu system's package database:
```
sudo apt update
```
Install Node.js:
```
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
```
After the installation completes, verify that Node.js is installed:
```
node -v
```
The output should display the Node.js version installed on your system.

Step 2: Install Talkyard

You can get Talkyard from its official website or GitHub. In this tutorial, we will use the GitHub repository.

Clone the Talkyard repo using Git:

git clone https://github.com/debiki/talkyard.git

Go to the cloned directory:
```
cd talkyard
```
Install Talkyard dependencies:
```
BIN_DIR=~/opt/talkyard ./scripts/install-all.sh
```
This command will install Talkyard's dependencies and create a ~/opt/talkyard directory to store the Talkyard scripts.

Step 3: Configure Talkyard

Talkyard is now installed, but before you can use it, you need to configure it. Follow these steps to configure Talkyard:

Create a talkyard.conf file:

cd ~/opt/talkyard/conf
cp application.conf.sample talkyard.conf

Edit the talkyard.conf file:
```
sudo nano talkyard.conf
```
Update the database and mail settings according to your environment.

Update the Talkyard configurations:

cd ~/opt/talkyard
./scripts/configure-talkyard.sh

Step 4: Start Talkyard

Start Talkyard on your Ubuntu system by running the following command:

cd ~/opt/talkyard
./scripts/start-server.sh

This command will start the Talkyard server and display the server logs in the terminal.

Step 5: Install an SSL Certificate

To secure your Talkyard installation, install an SSL certificate. You can use Let's Encrypt to install a free SSL certificate. Follow these steps:

Install Certbot:
```
sudo apt install certbot
```
Obtain an SSL certificate using Certbot:
```
sudo certbot certonly --webroot --webroot-path /var/www/html -d example.com
```
Replace example.com with your domain name.

Update the Nginx configuration:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Update the Nginx configuration file to include the SSL certificate:

server {
     listen 80;
     server_name example.com;

     location ~ /.well-known/acme-challenge/ {
         allow all;
         root /var/www/html;
     }

     location / {
         return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
     }
 }

server {
     listen 443 ssl;
     server_name example.com;

     ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
     ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;

     location / {
         proxy_pass http://localhost:9000;
         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;
     }
 }

Replace example.com with your domain name.

Restart Nginx to apply the changes:
```
sudo systemctl restart nginx
```

Conclusion

Your Talkyard installation is now complete, and you can access it at your domain name using HTTPS. If you have any issues, check the server logs or refer to the Talkyard documentation.