How to install UVDesk on nixOS Latest

UVDesk is a helpdesk ticketing system that allows businesses to manage customer inquiries and support tickets in one centralized platform. It is open-source software that is highly scalable and customizable.

Here’s how to install UVDesk on nixOS Latest.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you’ll need the following:

• A running nixOS Latest server
• Access to the command line terminal
• A web browser to access the UVDesk web interface
• Minimum 2GB RAM, 1 CPU core, and 40GB Disk Space

Step 1: Install PHP and Apache web server

UVDesk is built with PHP, and it requires an Apache web server to work. You can install both PHP and Apache with the following command:

nix-env -iA nixos.apacheHttpd nixos.php

Step 2: Install MariaDB database server

UVDesk needs a MySQL server to store its data. You can install a Mariadb database with the following command:

nix-env -iA nixos.mariadb

Step 3: Install Composer

Composer is a package manager for PHP that is used to install dependencies for UVDesk. You can install it with the following command:

nix-env -iA nixos.composer

Step 4: Clone UVDesk

Now, you need to clone UVDesk from the Github repository. We’ll be cloning it in the /var/www/ directory.

cd /var/www/
git clone https://github.com/uvdesk/community-skeleton.git

Step 5: Install dependencies

Now the next step will be to navigate into the cloned UVDesk directory and install its dependencies through composer.

cd community-skeleton/
composer install

Step 6: Configure Apache

Now that the UVDesk dependencies are installed, it's time to configure the Apache web server. Create a new virtual host file for UVDesk

nano /etc/nixos/virtualhosts/named-used.nix

And add the following content (Do update the IP address and domain name as per your server configuration.)

{
  hostName = "example.com";
  webserverConfig = {
    listenIp = "0.0.0.0";
    listenPort = 80;
  };

  aliases = [
    {
        name = "www";
        target = hostName;
    }
  ];

  sslCert = null;
  sslKey = null;

  # UVDesk application configuration
  appConfig = {
    applicationEnv = "prod";
    documentRoot = "/var/www/community-skeleton/public";
  };
}

A proper virtual host configuration file for UVDesk is added to the server configuration.

Step 7: Database Setup

Create a new database and user for the UVDesk application.

mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE uvdesk;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON uvdesk.* TO 'uvdeskuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit

Step 8: Create an Environment File

Create .env file from .env.dist, and update it with database configuration:

cd /var/www/community-skeleton
cp .env.dist .env
nano .env

Update the database configuration as follows:

UVDESK_DATABASE_NAME=uvdesk
UVDESK_DATABASE_HOST=localhost
UVDESK_DATABASE_USER=uvdeskuser
UVDESK_DATABASE_PASSWORD=password

Step 9: Launch the installation process for UVDesk

Navigate back to the /var/www/community-skeleton/ directory and launch the installation process for UVDesk through this command:

php bin/console uvdesk:configure-helpdesk

This will launch the UVDesk installation script, which will guide you through the installation and configuration process.

Step 10: Verify the installation

After the installation process is complete, you can now access the UVDesk web interface in your browser.

http://your-ip-or-domain/

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed UVDesk on your nixOS Latest server. You can now use UVDesk to manage your customer inquiries and support tickets in one centralized platform.