Installing the Sakai 20.0 binary release on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Posted by: Dustin - Posted on:

Last modified: 2020-05-12

The following is a guide on installing Sakai 20.0 (binary release) on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Please note that this is a living document that I will continue to update as I learn more.

NOTE 1: The guide does not take security into consideration and is not written for production systems. Use at your own risk. The intention is to be able to install and learn more about Sakai in a test environment or virtual machine using recent packages.
NOTE 2: The version numbers or available mirrors in some of the commands may have changed on the vendor website since the time of writing. I advise making modifications as you proceed.

A huge help for this adapted guide were the following official guides, in addition to the references at the end of the document:

Improvements I would like to make to this guide:

  • Figure out why Lessons module fails to load in course sites and project sites
    • Using mariadb-server and libmariadb-java instead of mysql-server and mysql-connector-java resolved this.
  • Figure out why Statistics (Activity) fails to show metrics
    • Using mariadb-server and libmariadb-java instead of mysql-server and mysql-connector-java resolved this.
  • Configure Tomcat as a service with minimum needed permissions and dedicated tomcat account
  • Research file system permissions for Tomcat directory
  • Set environment variables to persist after reboot
  • Attempt source build to verify other setup component accuracy
  • Determine why the time_zone in MySQL needs to be set after a reboot otherwise Sakai will not start
    • Using mariadb-server and libmariadb-java instead of mysql-server and mysql-connector-java resolved this.

Begin with a fresh installation of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS amd64.

Install curl, git, OpenJDK 8, MariaDB, and MariaDB Connector/J:

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install curl
sudo apt -y install git
sudo apt -y install openjdk-8-jdk
sudo apt -y install mariadb-server
sudo apt -y install libmariadb-java

Install Maven
This can be downloaded from:
https://maven.apache.org/download.cgi

cd /tmp
curl -O https://apache.claz.org/maven/maven-3/3.6.3/binaries/apache-maven-3.6.3-bin.tar.gz
cd /opt
sudo tar -xvzf /tmp/apache-maven-3.6.3-bin.tar.gz

Install Tomcat 9
This can be downloaded from:
https://tomcat.apache.org/download-90.cgi

cd /tmp
curl -O https://apache.osuosl.org/tomcat/tomcat-9/v9.0.34/bin/apache-tomcat-9.0.34.tar.gz
cd /opt
sudo tar xzvf /tmp/apache-tomcat-9.0.34.tar.gz
sudo ln -nsf apache-tomcat-9.0.34 tomcat

Secure MariaDB:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Create MariaDB database, create database user, and configure privileges:

sudo mysql
create database sakaidatabase default character set utf8;
create user 'sakaiuser'@'localhost' identified by 'sakaipassword';
grant all  privileges on sakaidatabase.* TO 'sakaiuser'@'localhost';
flush privileges;
quit

Set environment variables:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64
export MAVEN_HOME=/opt/apache-maven-3.6.3
export CATALINA_HOME=/opt/tomcat
export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin:$MAVEN_HOME/bin:$CATALINA_HOME/bin
export MAVEN_OPTS='-Xms512m -Xmx1024m -Djava.util.Arrays.useLegacyMergeSort=true'

Copy MariaDB Connector/J to Tomcat installation directory:

sudo cp /usr/share/java/mariadb-java-client.jar /$CATALINA_HOME/lib

Create Sakai folder to house sakai.properties in /opt/tomcat:

cd /opt/tomcat
sudo mkdir sakai
cd sakai
sudo nano sakai.properties

Add the following minimum demonstration settings to sakai.properties (note the addition of a MariaDB database driver):

## MySQL settings
# Replace by whatever username you assigned in the database setup
username@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=sakaiuser
# Replace by whatever password you assigned to the sakaiuser in the database setup
password@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=sakaipassword

# use your sakaidatabase name in the URI that starts url@javax.sql.BaseDataSource= , below.

vendor@org.sakaiproject.db.api.SqlService=mysql
#driverClassName@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
driverClassName@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver
hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5InnoDBDialect
url@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=jdbc:mysql://127.0.0.1:3306/sakaidatabase?useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=UTF-8
validationQuery@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=select 1 from DUAL
defaultTransactionIsolationString@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=TRANSACTION_READ_COMMITTED

Modify CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml to improve startup speed:

sudo nano $CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml

Within the <context> label add the following:

<JarScanner>
    <!-- This is to speedup startup so that tomcat doesn't scan as much -->
    <JarScanFilter defaultPluggabilityScan="false" />
</JarScanner>

Modify CATALINA_HOME/conf/server.xml for international character support (Sakai is internationalized and has 20 languages available):

sudo nano $CATALINA_HOME/conf/server.xml

Add URIEncoding to the <Connector> element:

port="8080" URIEncoding="UTF-8" ...

Create an executable setenv.sh file in the CATALINA_HOME/bin directory:

sudo nano $CATALINA_HOME/bin/setenv.sh

Add the following JAVA_OPTS to the setenv.sh file:

export JAVA_OPTS='-server -Xms512m -Xmx1024m -XX:PermSize=128m -XX:NewSize=192m -XX:MaxNewSize=384m -Djava.awt.headless=true -Dhttp.agent=Sakai -Dorg.apache.jasper.compiler.Parser.STRICT_QUOTE_ESCAPING=false -Dsun.lang.ClassLoader.allowArraySyntax=true -Djava.util.Arrays.useLegacyMergeSort=true -Dsakai.demo=true'

Download and extract Sakai 20.0 binary to CATALINA_HOME:

cd /tmp
curl -O http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/20.0/artifacts/sakai-bin-20.0.tar.gz
cd $CATALINA_HOME
sudo tar xzvf /tmp/sakai-bin-20.0.tar.gz

Set permissions for Tomcat sub-directories:

cd /opt/tomcat
sudo chmod -R 755 bin conf webapps work components lib logs temp

Poke a hole in the Ubuntu firewall to allow TCP to port 8080:

sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp

Modify nano tomcat-users.xml with user information:

sudo nano /opt/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml

For instance, add the following between <tomcat-users> and </tomcat-users> in tomcat-users.xml:

<user username="admin" password="password" roles="manager-gui,admin-gui"/>

Starting and stopping Tomcat while in /opt/tomcat/bin:

sudo sh startup.sh
sudo sh shutdown.sh

Accessing Sakai:

http://localhost:8080/portal
Admin default account:
Username: admin
Password: admin

Congratulations! This should be enough to get one started with a test environment, but more configuration options are to come.

Helpful references used to create this document:

Learn How to Install Maven on Ubuntu 18.04 – Easy Step-by-Step Tutorial
Maven – Download Apache Maven
Life Alternative: Configuring and Securing Apache Tomcat Server
Access permission /opt/ in Ubuntu
How To Install Apache Tomcat 9 on Ubuntu 18.04
linux – systemctl stops Tomcat service immediately after start
FGA: The systemd house of horror: Wrapping Apache Tomcat in many pointless extra layers
Can’t start tomcat after installing it on Ubuntu 16.04: “Job for tomcat.service failed because the control process exited with error code.” – Ask Ubuntu
centos – Tomcat startup.sh file works but starting tomcat.service does not
ubuntu – Permissions for tomcat 8 service file not working
linux – How to set Tomcat permissions on Ubuntu 18.04? – Server Fault
Linux – How to assign execute permission to a .sh file – Mkyong.com
An example configuration for Tomcat as systemd service. #tomcat #systemd #systemd.service
2 ways to permanently set $PATH variable in ubuntu – Hack Programming
java – How to set JAVA_HOME in Linux for all users
Correct permissions for Tomcat installation on CentOS
How To Install Apache Tomcat 8 on Ubuntu 16.04
Chown Command in Linux (File Ownership)
Change MySQL Server authentication plugin for root user
How To Install MySQL on Ubuntu 20.04 | DigitalOcean
Linux Copy File Command [ cp Command Examples ]
About MariaDB Connector/J
Unable to install `libmysql-java` on Pop!_OS 19.10 : pop_os
Sakai 19 Database Support – Documentation – Confluence
software installation – Install MySQL 5.7 on Ubuntu 20.04
sakaiproject/sakai
Sakai 20.0 release
Sakai 20 Release Notes – Documentation – Confluence
Sakai LMS | Apereo
How to Install Tomcat 9 on CentOS 7
Install Apache Maven on Linux
java – MySQL JDBC Driver 5.1.33 – Time Zone Issue
Trouble getting Tomcat going and Sakai – Google Groups
How to change directory permissions in Linux
Maven – Installing Apache Maven
How to install Apache Tomcat in Ubuntu
How to install Tomcat 9.0.10 in Ubuntu 18.04 | CG | English
tomcat8 – Can’t access Tomcat 8 Manager App – Stack Overflow
Install Oracle’s Java Development Kit on Ubuntu
Install Tomcat 8 on Ubuntu
How to deploy a Java web application on Tomcat
centos7 – Not able to access Tomcat webserver from another machine in the LAN
What is Tomcat default administrator password ? – Mkyong.com
directory – How can I give full permission to folder and subfolder
linux – best practice for access permission to users for apache tomcat
How to Install Tomcat 9 on Ubuntu 18.04 {Simple Guide}
MySQL :: Download Connector/J
Connect Java to a MySQL database
Installing Oracle JRE or JDK 8 on Debian or Ubuntu Systems | Installing the JDK
Differences Between Oracle JDK and OpenJDK | Baeldung
apache2 – Unable to start Apache Tomcat 8.5.4 on Ubuntu 16.04 – Ask Ubuntu
OpenJDK: Download and install
Sakai 19 System Requirements – Documentation – Confluence
How to Create and Select MySQL Databases
MySQL CREATE DATABASE – Creating a New Database in MySQL
How to Create MySQL Users Accounts and Grant Privileges
How To Install MySQL on Ubuntu 20.04 [Quickstart]
Uninstall MySQL in Ubuntu [Updated 2019]
Allow/Deny Specific Users to Login via SSH on Ubuntu 18.04 – kifarunix.com
How to Enable SSH on Ubuntu 18.04
How to Set JAVA_HOME Path in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
How To Reset Your MySQL or MariaDB Root Password on Ubuntu 18.04
Install Tomcat on Ubuntu – Simple Step-by-Step Guide
2 Easy ways to set Environment variables in Linux
How To Install MySQL on Ubuntu 18.04
How to Install MySQL 5.7 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
linux – Where is the MySQL JDBC jar file in Ubuntu?
sakaiproject/sakai
Sakai 20 Install Guide (Binary) – Documentation – Confluence
How do I extract with tar to a different directory? – Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
java – How to set JAVA_HOME or CATALINA_HOME if I have more than 1 version used for Projects?
How to set Catalina_home in Ubuntu – Quora
How to install VirtualBox Guest Additions for Ubuntu 16.04
Sakai 19 Install Guide (Binary) – Documentation – Confluence