How To Install XWiki on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install XWiki on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, XWiki is a free and open-source enterprise wiki platform that allows users to create, manage, and share knowledge. It is written in Java and can be easily extended and customized with a range of plugins and extensions. XWiki provides a simple and user-friendly web interface that helps you create and manage your content from any device and browser.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the XWiki open-source wiki platform on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• An active internet connection. You’ll need an internet connection to download the necessary packages and dependencies for XWiki.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install XWiki on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish

Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Installing Java.

If Java is not installed on your system, you can install it by running the following command:

sudo apt install default-jdk gnupg2

Verify the Java version with the following command:

java --version

For additional resources on installing Java, read the post below:

• How to install Java on Ubuntu Linux √

Step 3. Installing XWiki on Ubuntu 22.04.

By default, XWiki is not available on Ubuntu 22.04 base repository. Now run the following command below to add the latest XWiki repository to your Ubuntu system:

wget "https://maven.xwiki.org/stable/xwiki-stable.list" -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xwiki-stable.list

Next, add the GPG key with the following command:

wget https://maven.xwiki.org/xwiki-keyring.gpg -O /usr/share/keyrings/xwiki-keyring.gpg

After the repository is updated, you can install the latest version of XWiki using the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install xwiki-tomcat9-common xwiki-tomcat9-mariadb

During the installation, you will be asked to configure a database for XWiki as shown below:

Select Yes and hit Enter. You will need to set a password for the XWiki database as shown below:

Step 4. Configure Nginx for XWiki.

First, install the Nginx web server with the following command below:

sudo apt install nginx

Next, we create a new Nginx virtual host configuration:

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/xwiki.conf

Add the following lines:

server {
listen 80;

server_name xwiki.your-domain.com;

access_log /var/log/nginx/xwiki-access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/xwiki-error.log;

location / {
proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header   Host      $host;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header   Connection 'upgrade';
proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:8080;
}

}

Save and close the file then activate the Nginx virtual host with the following command:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/xwiki.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Before using XWiki you need to modify something in the Nginx configuration file:

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Add the following line below http {:

server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;

Save and close the file then restart the Nginx service to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

For additional resources on installing and managing Nginx, read the post below:

• How to install Nginx on Ubuntu Linux √

Step 5. Configure Firewall.

Now we set up an Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) with Nginx to allow public access on default web ports for HTTP and HTTPS:

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw enable

Step 6. Accessing XWiki Web Interface.

Once successfully installed, open your web browser and access the XWiki Web UI using the URL http://xwiki.your-domain.com/xwiki. You will be redirected to the following page:

Congratulations! You have successfully installed XWiki. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the XWiki open-source enterprise wiki platform on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official XWiki website.