Snipe-IT Installation

Snipe-IT was made for IT asset management, to enable IT departments to track who has which laptop, when it was purchased, which software licenses and accessories are available, and so on.

This application, which comes with many features, can also report every detail in the general structure of the company, allowing easy inventory management. We will explain how to install on Ubuntu;

The main dependencies for the application to work are as follows;

Step 1: Install Apache2 HTTP
Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server
Step 3: Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
Step 4: Create Snipe-IT Database
Step 5: Download Snipe-IT Latest Release
Step 6: Configure Apache2
Step 7: Enable the Snipe-IT and Rewrite Module

We tried to explain step by step below in accordance with the steps mentioned above;
First of all, we need an http server where the application will be opened, many different options can be found, we used apache in this example;

Step 1: Install Apache2 HTTP

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
sudo systemctl start apache2.service
sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

To find out if Apache2 HTTP server is installed, simply open your web browser and type in the server’s IP or hostname.

When you see the page similar to the one below, then Apache2 is installed and working

http://hostip

Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server

Snipe-IT also needs a database server to store its content. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with Snipe-IT.

To install MariaDB run the commands below.

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
New password: Enter password
Re-enter new password: Repeat password
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Restart MariaDB server

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB server

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

Step 3: Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. in order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.
Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip php7.2-sqlite

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Apache2.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini

Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below are great settings to apply in your environments.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, save the file and close out.

To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in Apache2 root directory by running the commands below

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Then type the content below and save the file.

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php

http://localhost/phpinfo.php

You should see PHP default test page.

Step 4: Create Snipe-IT Database

Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First create a Snipe-IT database.

Run the commands below to logon to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called snipeit

CREATE DATABASE snipeit;

Create a database user called snipeituser with new password

CREATE USER ‘snipeituser’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘new_password_here’;

Then grant the user full access to the snipeit database.

GRANT ALL ON snipeit.* TO ‘snipeituser’@’localhost’ WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download Snipe-IT Latest Release

To get Snipe-IT latest release you may want to use Github repository. Install Composer, Curl and other dependencies to get started.

sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php — — install-dir=/usr/local/bin — filename=composer

After installing curl and Composer above, change into the Apache2 root directory and download Snipe-IT packages from Github.

cd /var/www/
sudo git clone https://github.com/snipe/snipe-it snipeit
sudo cp /var/www/snipeit/.env.example /var/www/snipeit/.env

Next, edit the .env file create above and make the highlighted changes to suit your environment.

sudo nano /var/www/snipeit/.env

Make the highlighted changes.

# — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 
# REQUIRED: BASIC APP SETTINGS
# — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_KEY=ChangeMe
APP_URL=example.com
APP_TIMEZONE=’UTC’
APP_LOCALE=en
MAX_RESULTS=500
# — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 
# REQUIRED: DATABASE SETTINGS
# — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_DATABASE=snipeit
DB_USERNAME=snipeituser
DB_PASSWORD=type_password_here
DB_PREFIX=null
DB_DUMP_PATH=’/usr/bin’
DB_CHARSET=utf8mb4
DB_COLLATION=utf8mb4_unicode_ci
# — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 
# OPTIONAL: SSL DATABASE SETTINGS

Save the file and exit.

Next, go back to Snipe-IT root directory and update all packages via Composer.

cd /var/www/snipeit
sudo composer install — no-dev — prefer-source

From Snipe-IT directory, run the commands below:

sudo php artisan key:generate

It should prompt and show you an application key.

**************************************
* Application In Production! *
**************************************
Do you really wish to run this command? (yes/no) [no]:
> yes
Application key [base64:6KnX/HGkNNcUGw2uucxBKT8+OwQ58yBp7vfa7sfwpDg=] set successfully.

Since you just ran the web server as root, you should make sure any newly created files are owned by the www-data user and group.

To do that, run the commands below:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/snipeit/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/snipeit/

Step 6: Configure Apache2

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for Snipe-IT. This file will control how users access Snipe-IT content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called snipeit.conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/snipeit.conf

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/snipeit/public
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/snipeit/public/>
Options +FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the Snipe-IT and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite snipeit.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name or hostname. This is often localhost but can be a host name or IP address. Your server admin or hosting company will have this information available.

http://example.com/

Continue with the installation wizard and validate that all requirements are met and continue.

Next, create a system admin account to manage the platform.

After installing, login and start begin managing your IT assets.