Openfire is a free and open source XMPP server which is being widely deployed in enterprises and organizations to deliver real time collaborations.
In this article, I will guide you through installing Openfire on a Ubuntu 16.04 LTS x64 server instance.
203.0.113.1
.apt
.openfire
, example.com
and openfire.example.com
, respectively.As a Java applet, Openfire requires Java Runtime Environment 1.7 or later. Install OpenJDK 8 Java Runtime Environment openjdk-8-jre
as follows:
sudo apt install openjdk-8-jre -y
Having OpenJDK 8 JRE installed, use the command below to confirm the result:
java -version
The output will resemble the following:
openjdk version "1.8.0_151"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_151-8u151-b12-0ubuntu0.16.04.2-b12)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.151-b12, mixed mode)
Finally, you need to setup the JAVA_HOME
environment variable:
echo "JAVA_HOME=$(readlink -f /usr/bin/java | sed "s:bin/java::")" | sudo tee -a /etc/profile
source /etc/profile
On the official Openfire download page, find the direct download URL pointing to the latest stable release of the Openfire Debian package.
Next, download and rename the Openfire 4.2.2 Debian package:
cd
wget -O openfire_4.2.2_all.deb https://www.igniterealtime.org/downloadServlet?filename=openfire/openfire_4.2.2_all.deb
Install Openfire:
sudo apt install ~/openfire_4.2.2_all.deb -y
Openfire will be installed in the /var/lib/openfire
directory.
Finally, start the Openfire service and make it automatically start on boot:
sudo systemctl start openfire.service
sudo systemctl enable openfire.service
Openfire can work with an embedded database or an external database. In order to achieve better performance, you can setup an external database as described in this step. If the embedded database is OK with you, skip this step.
Install the latest stable release of MariaDB:
curl -sS https://downloads.mariadb.com/MariaDB/mariadb_repo_setup | sudo bash
sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client -y
Note: During the installation process, you will be prompted to input a new password for the MariaDB root user several times. Since we will setup this password later, just skip these prompts for now.
Start the MariaDB service and make it automatically start on boot:
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
Secure the installation of MariaDB:
sudo /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions as follows:
your-MariaDB-root-password
your-MariaDB-root-password
Create a dedicated database for Openfire using the MySQL shell:
mysql -u root -p
In the MySQL shell, use the following commands to create a database, openfire
, a database user, openfireuser
, and its password, yourpassword
:
CREATE DATABASE openfire;
CREATE USER 'openfireuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON openfire.* TO 'openfireuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;
Before you can setup the Openfire XMPP server on its web interface, you need to open the port 9090
by modifying firewall rules:
sudo ufw allow 9090
sudo ufw enable
Next, point your browser to http://203.0.113.1:9090
to start the setup process.
On the "Welcome to Setup
" page, choose your language and then click the "Continue
" button.
On the "Server Settings
" page, input the XMPP domain name example.com
and the server host name (FQDN) openfire.example.com
, leaving other fields untouched, and then click the "Continue
" button.
On the "Database Settings
" page, choose the "Standard Database Connection
" option and then click the "Continue
" button.
On the "Database Settings - Standard Connection
" page, input settings as follows, leaving other options untouched, and then click the "Continue
" button.
MySQL
com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/openfire?rewriteBatchedStatements=true
openfireuser
yourpassword
On the "Profile Settings
" page, choose the "Default
" option, and then click the "Continue
" button.
On the "Administrator Account
" page, input the admin email address admin@example.com
and a new password twice, and then click the "Continue
" button. If you click the "Skip This Step
" button, you will have to use the default password admin
.
On the "Setup Complete!
" page, click the "Login to the admin console
" button to finish the setup and jump to the "Openfire Administration Console
" login page. You should use the username admin
and the new password you setup earlier to log in. Additional settings can be fine-tuned on this page.
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