Exactly how To Set Up an Assistance Workdesk System with OTRS on Ubuntu 18.04

Introduction

OTRS, additionally known as Open resource Ticket Request System, is an assistance workdesk as well as IT service administration system. It supplies a single point of get in touch with for individuals, consumers, IT workers, IT services, and any outside companies. The program is written in Perl, sustains a range of databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.), and also can incorporate with LDAP directories.

In this tutorial, you will certainly install OTRS Neighborhood Edition on an Ubuntu 18.04 server and set up a basic assistance workdesk system, which will allow you to receive and process demands from your consumers using both the internet interface and also e-mail.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, you will certainly need the following:

  • An Ubuntu 18.04 server set up by following our Initial Web Server Setup Guide for Ubuntu 18.04, including a non-root customer with sudo benefits and a firewall program set up with ufw.

  • Apache and MySQL mounted on your Ubuntu web server. Adhere to action 1 as well as 2 of this overview to configure these.

  • A fully signed up domain name. This tutorial will certainly utilize example.com throughout. You can buy a domain on Namecheap, obtain one absolutely free on Freenom, or make use of the domain name registrar of your selection.

  • Both of the following DNS documents set up for your web server. You can follow this introduction to DigitalOcean DNS for information on how to include them.Read more HelpDeskZ Download At website Articles

    • An A document with example.com pointing to your server’ s public IP
    • address. An A record with www.example.com indicating your server’ s public IP
  • address. A TLS/SSL certification installed on your Ubuntu 18.04 server for your domain. You can adhere to the Let’ s Secure on Ubuntu 18.04 guide to acquire a totally free TLS/SSL certificate.

  • Postfix mail transfer agent set up by following our guide Just how To Mount and Set Up Postfix on Ubuntu 18.04.

  • ( Optional) A devoted Gmail account with IMAP accessibility allowed, 2-step verification, and also an Application password created with the Various other (Custom-made name) alternative. When you produce the Application password, create it down to ensure that you can utilize it symphonious 5. You will utilize Gmail to set up inbound mail ticket production in OTRS, with Gmail as your IMAPS mail box. This is simply one approach of setting up inbound mail for OTRS; if you would like to discover other alternatives, check out the OTRS paperwork.

Warning: Do not use any of your own energetic Gmail accounts to set up incoming mail for OTRS. When imap.gmail.com forwards emails to OTRS, all e-mails in the Gmail account are removed. Because of this, it is a better option to produce a brand-new Gmail account to utilize specifically for OTRS.

Action 1 —– Mounting the OTRS Package and Perl Modules

In this action, you will mount OTRS as well as a collection of Perl components that will increase the system’ s capability

. OTRS is offered in Ubuntu’ s plan manager, but the main documents recommends setting up OTRS from source.

To do this, initial log into your Ubuntu web server as your non-root individual:

  • ssh sammy@Ubuntu_Server_IP!.?.! Duplicate After that download and install the source archive with the wget command. For this tutorial, you will download and install variation 6.0.19; you can locate the most up to date offered variation on the OTRS download and install web page. wget http://ftp.otrs.org/pub/otrs/otrs-6.0.19.tar.gz Replicate Next off , unpack the pressed
    • documents with tar: tar xzf otrs-6.0.19. tar.gz

    Duplicate

    Move the materials of the archive into the/ opt/otrs

  • directory: sudo mv otrs-6.0.19/ opt/otrs Copy

    Since OTRS is written in Perl, it utilizes a number of Perl modules. Inspect

    • for missing out on components by utilizing the CheckModules.pl script

      included with OTRS: sudo/ opt/otrs/bin/ otrs.CheckModules.pl Duplicate You ll see outcome such as this, providing which modules you currently have actually downloaded and install and which you are missing:

      • Some modules are just required for optional performance,

        such

        as interaction with various other data sources or handling mail with certain character sets; others are required for the program to function

        . Although the recommended commands to download these components utilize apt-get, this tutorial will certainly install the missing out on modules with the apt command, which is the recommended finest practice for Ubuntu 18.04.

        Feel free to experience these components manually, or use the adhering to command:$ sudo proper install libapache2-mod-perl2 libdbd-mysql-perl libtimedate-perl libnet-dns-perl libnet-ldap-perl \ libio-socket-ssl-perl libpdf-api2-perl libsoap-lite-perl libtext-csv-xs-perl \ libjson-xs-perl libapache-dbi-perl libxml-libxml-perl libxml-libxslt-perl libyaml-perl \ libarchive-zip-perl libcrypt-eksblowfish-perl libencode-hanextra-perl libmail-imapclient-perl \ libtemplate-perl libdatetime-perl Whenever you re done mounting these modules, rerun the script to make sure that all the needed modules have actually
        been installed: sudo/ opt/otrs/bin/ otrs.CheckModules.pl Duplicate Your outcome will certainly currently show all the installed modules: Outcome … o Text:: CSV_XS … … …… ok

        ( v1.34) o Time:: HiRes … … …… ok (v1.9741) o XML:: LibXML … … …… ok (v2.0128) o XML:: LibXSLT … … …… ok (v1.95) o XML:

        • : Parser … … …… ok

        ( v2.44) o YAML:: XS … … … … … ok (v0.69) Since you have

        OTRS and also its

        reliances mounted on your server, you can set up OTRS to use Apache as well as MySQL. Step 2– Setting Up OTRS, Apache, as well as MySQL web server In this step, you will certainly create a system individual for OTRS, and then set up Apache as well as MySQL web server to deal with OTRS. Produce a customer named otrs to run OTRS functions with the useradd command: sudo useradd

        – d/ opt/otrs -c ‘ OTRS individual ‘ otrs Copy- d establishes the customer s house directory as/ opt/otrs, as well as -c sets

        the ‘ OTRS user ‘ remark to define the customer. Next, include otrs to the

        webserver team: sudo usermod- G www-data otrs Copy OTRS comes with a default config file/ opt/otrs/Kernel/ Config.pm.dist. Trigger this by copying it without the. dist filename expansion: sudo cp/ opt/otrs/Kernel/ Config.pm.dist/ opt/otrs/Kernel/ Config.pm Duplicate Now, browse

      to the/ opt/otrs directory site: cd/ opt/otrs Duplicate From here, run the otrs.SetPermissions.pl script. It will find the 'correct customer and also group setups and also set the data and also directory consents for OTRS. sudo bin/otrs. SetPermissions.pl Duplicate This

    • will generate the list below result:

    Outcome Setting consents on/ opt/otrs The proper authorizations are currently set. Next, turn on the apache2 configuration documents and also see to it is filled nevertheless other setups. To

  • do this, make a symbolic link with the zzz _ prefix: sudo ln- s/ opt/otrs/scripts/ apache2-httpd. include.conf/ etc/apache2/sites-enabled/ zzz_otrs. conf Duplicate OTRS needs
  • a few Apache components

to be

energetic for optimum procedure. You can activate them via the tool a2enmod. Although some of these have currently been allowed, it is a good suggestion to examine them all: sudo a2enmod

  • perl sudo a2enmod headers sudo a2enmod deflate sudo a2enmod filter Copy These modules allow Apache to work with Perl,

    control HTTP

    headers, press web server outcome, as well as configure output material filters.

    Reactivate your internet server to use new setups: sudo systemctl restart apache2 Copy Prior to you most likely to the next action and also run the internet installer, alter several of the MySQL configuration setups.

  • Open the MySQL arrangement file in your favored full-screen editor. This tutorial makes use of nano: sudo nano/ etc/mysql/mysql.

    conf.d/ mysqld.cnf Duplicate Look for the complying with options under the [mysqld] section. For max_allowed_packet as well as query_cache_size, alter the worths to 64M and 32M specifically, as highlighted in the complying with code block:/ etc/mysql/mysql. conf.d/

  • mysqld.cnf … max_allowed_packet= 64M thread_stack= 192K thread_cache_size= 8 # This replaces

the start-up

script and checks MyISAM tables if required # the first time they are touched myisam-recover-options= BACKUP #max _ connections= 100 #table _ open_cache =64 #thread _ concurrency= 10 # # * Question Cache Setup # query_cache_limit= 1M

  • query_cache_size= 32M … Copy This adjusts the

    maximum allowed packet dimension and the inquiry cache dimension so that MySQL can interface with OTRS. Then add the adhering to highlighted additional alternatives under the [mysqld] section, at the end of the data:/ etc/mysql/mysql. conf.d

    • / mysqld.cnf … # ssl-cert=/ etc/mysql/server-cert.

      pem. # ssl-key =/ etc/mysql/server-ikey. pem. innodb_log_file_size= 256M. collation-server= utf8_unicode_ci. init-connect = ‘ COLLECTION NAMES utf8 ‘. character-set-server= utf8 Duplicate This sets the database logfile size, determines the personality set as well as collation

      , and also creates an init_connect string to establish the

      character set upon beginning the MySQL server.
      Save and also close mysqld.cnf by pushing CTRL+ X, adhered to by Y and after that GET IN. After that, reboot your MySQL
      server to use the brand-new specifications:
      sudo systemctl reactivate mysql.service Duplicate Since you have actually created the otrs customer as well as configured
      Apache and also MySQL to collaborate with OTRS
      , you are ready to utilize the web installer. Step 3-- Making Use Of the Web Installer In this step, you will configure OTRS

      s database settings in a web browser and begin the OTRS daemon process on the command line. Open up https://example.com/otrs/installer.pl in your favored web browser, changing example.com with your domain name. You will locate a welcome display with the message Invite to OTRS 6 and also details concerning the OTRS

      workplaces. Click Next. The next screen will have the
      license for OTRS, which is the GNU Public License common to open up source programs. Approve by clicking Accept permit as well as continue'after analysis.
      On the following screen, you will certainly be triggered

      to choose

      a database kind. The defaults( MySQL and Develop a brand-new data source for OTRS) are great for your setup, so click Next to continue. On the next display, go into the MySQL qualifications

      that you established during the MySQL server installment. Usage favor the User area, after that get in the password you produced. Leave the default host worth. Click Check database settings to make certain it

      • functions. The installer will certainly generate qualifications

      for the brand-new

      database. There is no requirement to keep in mind this produced password. Click Beside proceed. The data source will certainly be produced and also you will see the effective result: Click Following. Next off —, give the complying with necessary

      system setups: System FQDN: A completely qualified domain name. Replace example.com with your very own domain name. AdminEmail: The e-mail address of your system administrator. Emails about mistakes with OTRS will go below. Company: Your company s name. Leave all other choices at their default values: Click Next. Currently you will come down on the Mail Configuration web page. In order to be able to send as well as obtain emails, you need to set up a mail account. This tutorial will certainly care for this later symphonious 5, so click Avoid this step. The OTRS installation is now complete; you will certainly see a Finished web page with a web link to the admin panel after Start page, and also the qualifications

      of the OTRS super customer afterwards. Ensure you make a note of the produced password for the root@localhost user as well as the LINK for the Begin web page. The only thing left after an effective setup is to start the OTRS daemon as well as trigger its cronjob. Bring up the terminal you are making use of to access your Ubuntu 18.04 web server. The OTRS daemon is responsible for handling any type of asynchronous as well as recurring tasks in OTRS.

      Start it with the otrs individual: sudo su- otrs -c"/ opt/otrs/bin/ otrs.Daemon.pl begin" Duplicate You will see the following outcome: Output Handle the OTRS daemon process. Daemon began There are

      two default cron files in the/ opt/otrs/var/ cron/ directory site. Move right into this directory. cd/ opt/otrs/var/ cron

      Duplicate These cron documents are

      made use of to make certain that the OTRS daemon is running. Activate them

      • by copying them without the. dist filename extension. sudo cp aaa_base. dist aaa_base sudo cp otrs_daemon.
      • dist otrs_daemon Copy To set up these cron tasks, make use of the manuscript Cron.sh with the otrs customer: sudo su- otrs- c"/ opt/otrs/bin/ Cron.sh start" Copy You have currently’installed OTRS

      with the internet installer and also set up its connection

      to the MySQL

      data source. You also started the OTRS daemon on your server. Next, you will log in to the administrator web interface and also protected OTRS. Verdict In this tutorial, you set up OTRS as well as produced examination aid desk tickets. Currently you can accept and

      refine requests from your users utilizing both the web user interface as well as email. You can find out more concerning OTRS by reviewing the OTRS Admin Guidebook. If you want to find out more concerning exactly how to use MySQL, see our An Intro to Queries in MySQL post, or explore DigitalOcean s Handled Data sources product.