How to Install Canvas LMS on Ubuntu 18.04

Getting Canvas LMS Pre-installed

If you want to skip the installation of Canvas LMS and purchase a pre-installed VPS Canvas already installed, or alternatively, have a secure instance of Canvas LMS hosted on your own domain, please contact me by email (joseph@ripplesoftware) or via contact page for more details.

The full instructions for installing Canvas LMS on your own Ubuntu 18.04 server are below.

Installing Canvas LMS on Ubuntu 18.04

8GB of ram is recommended for a server running Canvas LMS. However, it is possible that you can install and run Canvas LMS on a server with only 4GB or less. This installation was done on a Digital Ocean Ubuntu 18.04 VPS. Be sure to point your domain’s name-servers at your correct cloud host and edit your DNS networking so that your domain is pointed at your server before you begin. You can check using nslookup command as shown below. The result should show the IP of the sever you are setting up.

Check if your domain is being resolved properly

$ nslookup yourdomain.com

Server: 8.8.8.8
Address: 8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: yourdomain.com
Address: 3.212.82.98

Install NTP Network Time Protocol

sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo apt-get update

Install NTP Network Time Protocol

apt-get install -y ntp
apt-get install -y ntpdate
chkconfig ntpd on
systemctl enable ntpd
ntpdate pool.ntp.org
systemctl start ntpd
hwclock -w
timedatectl set-ntp yes
timedatectl set-local-rtc 0

Setup crontab

crontab -e

Enable Persistant log jourlanling

mkdir /var/log/journal
systemd-tmpfiles --create --prefix /var/log/journal
systemctl restart systemd-journald
crontab -l | { cat; echo "1 0 1 * * journalctl --vacuum-time=30d"; } | crontab -

Enable Swap space

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile count=8096 bs=1MiB
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
swapon /swapfile
echo "/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
swapon --show
swapon --summary
free -h

Install Firewalld and config

apt-get install -y firewalld
systemctl start firewalld
systemctl enable firewalld
systemctl enable firewalld.service

Install Fail2ban

apt-get install -y fail2ban
systemctl restart fail2ban
systemctl enable fail2ban
fail2ban-client status

Install required OS Packages

apt-get install -y gcc make automake autoconf curl openssl minizip apache2 apache2-dev libapache2-mod-xsendfile libapr1 libapr1-dev libaprutil1-dev
apt-get install -y sqlite3 libsqlite3-dev wget g++ expat gettext patch libreadline-dev libyaml-dev libffi-dev bzip2 zlib1g bison
apt-get install -y ruby-dev libxmlsec1-dev pkg-config build-essential policycoreutils
apt-get install -y yum yum-utils python3-pip libtool
apt-get install -y libxslt-devel libxmlsec1-openssl libxmlsec1 libxml2 libxml2-dev xmlsec1-devel xmlsec1-openssl-devel

Install required Python Packages

apt-get install -y python-pip
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install xmlsec

Configure Apache

/bin/cp /etc/mime.types /etc/apache2/conf-available/mime.types
systemctl enable apache2
systemctl enable apache2.service
apt-get install -y python-certbot-apache

a2enmod ssl
systemctl restart apache2
systemctl status apache2
crontab -l | { cat; echo "* * * * * systemctl is-active --quiet apache2 || systemctl restart apache2"; } | crontab -

Enable Apache Security Modules

apt-get install libapache2-mod-evasive
apachectl -M | grep evasive
mkdir /var/log/mod_evasive
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/log/mod_evasive
systemctl restart apache2

Configure Firewall

firewall-cmd --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --add-service=https
firewall-cmd --add-service=smtp
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=587/tcp
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=465/tcp
setsebool -P httpd_can_sendmail 1
firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Install Ruby

apt-get install -y gnupg2
curl -sSL https://rvm.io/mpapis.asc | gpg2 --import -
curl -sSL https://rvm.io/pkuczynski.asc | gpg2 --import -
curl -L get.rvm.io | bash -s stable
source /etc/profile.d/rvm.sh

apt-get install -y ruby
ruby -v
rvm reload
rvm requirements run
rvm list known
rvm install 2.6
rvm list
rvm use 2.6
apt-get install -y ruby-bundler

Install Passenger for Ubuntu 18 via Yum and Other Gems

gem -v
gem install passenger
apt-get install -y dirmngr
apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 561F9B9CAC40B2F7
apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates
sudo sh -c 'echo deb https://oss-binaries.phusionpassenger.com/apt/passenger xenial main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/passenger.list'

sudo apt-get update
apt-get install -y libapache2-mod-passenger
gem install sqlite3-ruby
gem install bundler
gem install execjs
gem install nokogiri -v '1.10.9'
gem install bcrypt -v '3.1.13' --source 'https://rubygems.org/'
gem install bundler:2.1.4

Update and restart Apache

apt-get clean all && sudo apt-get update -y
systemctl restart apache2

Install PostgresSQL

wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ `lsb_release -cs`-pgdg main" |sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list
sudo apt-get update
apt-get -y install postgresql-12 postgresql-client-12 postgresql-server-dev-all
systemctl status postgresql.service
systemctl enable --now postgresql
su postgres
psql

At the psql# prompt

psql# ALTER USER postgres with password 'your-password-here';
psql# CREATE USER canvas with encrypted password 'your-other-password-here';
psql# CREATE DATABASE canvas_production ENCODING 'UTF8' OWNER canvas;
psql# CREATE DATABASE canvas_development ENCODING 'UTF8' OWNER canvas;
psql# CREATE DATABASE canvas_queue_production ENCODING 'UTF8' OWNER canvas;
psql# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE canvas_production to canvas;
psql# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE canvas_development to canvas;
psql# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE canvas_queue_production to canvas;
psql# \q

Exit from the postgres user and return to root

exit

Install PostgreSQL specific Ruby gems and configure firewall

gem install pg -v '1.2.2' --source 'https://rubygems.org/'
firewall-cmd --add-service=postgresql --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Install Yarn and NodeJS

curl --silent --location https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo bash -
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs
apt-get install -y bundle
curl -sS https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
apt-get update
apt-get install -y yarn
yarn install --pure-lockfile
yarn upgrade

Install Redis (Not required)

apt-get install -y redis
service redis start

Modify Ubuntu user default shell

nano /etc/default/useradd

change

SHELL /bin/sh

SHELL /bin/bash

Create system user for canvas

useradd -m canvas
echo "canvas:make-canvas-user-password" | chpasswd
usermod -aG sudo canvas

Download Canvas Repository

mkdir /var/canvas
git clone https://github.com/instructure/canvas-lms.git /var/canvas
cd /var/canvas
git checkout --track -b stable origin/stable
chown -R canvas:canvas /var/canvas

Edit config files

cd /var/canvas/config
cp database.yml.example database.yml
cp domain.yml.example domain.yml
cp redis.yml.example redis.yml
cp security.yml.example security.yml
cp delayed_jobs.yml.example delayed_jobs.yml
cp dynamic_settings.yml.example dynamic_settings.yml
cp outgoing_mail.yml.example outgoing_mail.yml
cp incoming_mail.yml.example incoming_mail.yml
chown canvas:canvas /var/canvas/config/*

Add the database credentials created in PostgreSQL to database config file

nano database.yml

Add the domain information to config file

nano domain.yml

Replace the key with random characters

nano security.yml

Configure with SMTP settings for mail

outgoing_mail.yml

Configure with SMTP settings for mail

incoming_mail.yml

Configure the environment

touch /home/canvas/.bash_profile
nano /etc/.bashrc

Copy the following code into the /etc/.bashrc file and save

export RAILS_ENV=production

Bundle and Install Canvas

cd /var/canvas
su canvas
bundle install
yarn upgrade
rake canvas:compile_assets
bundle exec rails db:initial_setup
yarn install --pure-lockfile
yarn clean cache
bundle exec rake canvas:compile_assets —trace

Exit from the canvas user to root user

exit

Move the Canvas v-host file into place

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/canvas.conf

Paste the following code into the file

ServerName www.yourdomain.com
ServerAlias yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot /var/canvas/public
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/errors.log
LogLevel warn
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
SetEnv RAILS_ENV production
Allow from all
Options -MultiViews

Connect SSL Cert with EFF Certbot

certbot --non-interactive --agree-tos --redirect --hsts --uir -m your@email.com --apache -d www.yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com
crontab -l | { cat; echo "30 2 * * * /usr/bin/certbot renew >> /var/log/le-renew.log"; } | crontab -

Start Canvas Service

ln -s /var/canvas/script/canvas_init /etc/init.d/canvas_init
service apache2 restart
/etc/init.d/canvas_init start

At this point you should be able to visit your site from the domain you used during the setup. If you see a permissions error, you should make sure that the permissions have been set correctly for the public/ folder.

chown www-data:www-data /var/canvas/public

If you to do not see the Canvas LMS home page to login, you can check the Apache logs or the Canvas application logs to see what has gone wrong.

nano /var/log/apache/error.log
nano /var/canvas/log/production.log

Sparc | September 20, 2020 at 7:15 pm | Reply

Install required OS Packages shows errors
E: Package ‘apache’ has no installation candidate
E: Unable to locate package sqlite-devel
E: Unable to locate package xmlsec1-openssl
E: Unable to locate package xmlsec1-devel
E: Unable to locate package xmlsec1-openssl-devel
E: Unable to locate package libxslt-devel

Joseph Lee | September 21, 2020 at 8:27 am | Reply

I have modified the installation of OS packages section to break down into multiple parts. If apt-get still cannot locate a package you should look up each package and find out how to install on your version of Ubuntu. Also it sounds like you are likely using Ubuntu version 20.04 since python-pip is available for Ubuntu 18.04 but not 20.04. These instructions are written for Ubuntu 18.04. I don’t believe that Canvas LMS has been tested or is supported for Ubuntu 20.04.
- Sparc | September 22, 2020 at 9:45 am | Reply
  
  Hi there, I am using Digital Ocean VPS and Ubuntu 18.04. I notices these errors.
  
  1. after input: sudo sh -c ‘echo deb https://oss-binaries.phusionpassenger.com/apt/passenger xenial main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/passenger.list’sudo apt-get update
  
  you get this error: N: Ignoring file ‘passenger.listsudo’ in directory ‘/etc/apt/sources.list.d/’ as it has an invalid filename extension
  
  2. gem install bcrypt -v ‘3.1.13’ –source ‘https://rubygems.org/‘
  needs to change “‘” to “‘”
  
  3. when input: touch /home/canvas/.bash_profile
  gets error msg: touch: cannot touch ‘/home/canvas/.bash_profile’: No such file or directory
  
  4. when input: /etc/.bashrc >> export RAILS_ENV=production
  gets error msg: /etc/.bashrc: command not found
  - Joseph Lee | September 22, 2020 at 11:08 am | Reply
    
    Thanks for finding those error and pointing them out to me. I have corrected the code. If you notice any other errors, please let me know!
    - Sparc | September 22, 2020 at 4:02 pm |
      
      1. input: chkconfig ntpd on
      error: chkconfig: command not found
      
      input: systemctl enable ntpd
      error: Failed to enable unit: Unit file ntpd.service does not exist.
      
      input: systemctl start ntpd
      error: Failed to start ntpd.service: Unit ntpd.service not found.
      
      2.
      input: apt-get install -y libxslt-devel libxmlsec1-openssl libxmlsec1 libxml2 libxml2-dev xmlsec1-devel xmlsec1-openssl-devel
      error:
      E: Unable to locate package libxslt-devel
      E: Unable to locate package xmlsec1-devel
      E: Unable to locate package xmlsec1-openssl-devel
      
      3. input: apt-get install -y mod_ssl mod_evasive mod_security
      error:
      E: Unable to locate package mod_ssl
      E: Unable to locate package mod_evasive
      E: Unable to locate package mod_security
      
      Should it be sudo a2enmod ssl??
      
      3. setsebool -P httpd_can_sendmail 1
      error: setsebool: SELinux is disabled.
      
      4. apt-get install -y dirmngr gnup
      error: E: Unable to locate package gnup
      (should it be gnupg?)
      
      5. apt-get install -y libapache2-mod-passenger
      
      error:
      E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
      root@CanvasLMS:~# apt-get install -y libapache2-mod-passenger
      Reading package lists… Done
      Building dependency tree
      Reading state information… Done
      Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
      requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
      distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
      or been moved out of Incoming.
      The following information may help to resolve the situation:
      
      The following packages have unmet dependencies:
      libapache2-mod-passenger : Depends: passenger (= 1:6.0.6-1~xenial1) but it is not going to be installed
      E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
      
      fix:
      
      sudo apt-get install -y dirmngr gnupg
      sudo apt-key adv –keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 –recv-keys 561F9B9CAC40B2F7
      sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates
      
      sudo sh -c ‘echo deb https://oss-binaries.phusionpassenger.com/apt/passenger bionic main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/passenger.list’
      sudo apt-get update
      
      sudo apt-get install -y libapache2-mod-passenger
      
      6. input: apt-get install -y bundle
      E: Unable to locate package bundle
      
      7. input: yarn install –pure-lockfile
      msg
      yarn install v1.22.5
      info No lockfile found.
      warning package-lock.json found. Your project contains lock files generated by tools other than Yarn. It is advised not to mix package managers in order to avoid resolution inconsistencies caused by unsynchronized lock files. To clear this warning, remove package-lock.json.
      [1/4] Resolving packages…
      [2/4] Fetching packages…
      [3/4] Linking dependencies…
      [4/4] Building fresh packages…
    - Joseph Lee | September 22, 2020 at 5:24 pm |
      
      There should have been an update a at the first line, so I modified include that. It will fix most of those errors. Otherwise, I found Canvas to be a brutal installation with so many dependencies. If you want I can provide a VPS instance of Canvas on Ubuntu, but it’s costly.

Akshay Sharma | November 30, 2020 at 1:46 pm | Reply

RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake brand_configs:generate_and_upload_all

Got error :

Could not find thrift-0.9.3.0 in any of the sources
Run `bundle install` to install missing gems.

Please help me out

Joseph Lee | November 30, 2020 at 3:14 pm | Reply

I’m not sure if you are using Ubuntu or another Linux variant, but you can read this tutorial with instructions on how to install the Ruby Gem Thrift which is what the error message is indicating:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19649984/thrift-ruby-gem

You can also look to get help from the Group at Canvas. The have an chat room and GitHub account you can ask questions about errors installing.

Akshay Sharma | December 1, 2020 at 2:03 pm | Reply

above error was fixed

but now I’m getting this following error when i enter /etc/init.d/canvas_init start :

The git source https://github.com/rails-api/active_model_serializers.git is not yet checked out. Please run `bundle install` before trying to start your application

I’M USING UBUNTU 18.04

please help

Joseph Lee | December 1, 2020 at 2:33 pm | Reply

Here are some solutions to that error message: https://github.com/activeadmin/activeadmin/issues/2899
You can try just running “bundle” or update bundle to a newer version. If you read the link above it seems that running simply ‘bundle’ will checkout the github repo.

How to Install Canvas LMS on Ubuntu 18.04

Getting Canvas LMS Pre-installed

Installing Canvas LMS on Ubuntu 18.04

10 Comments on How to Install Canvas LMS on Ubuntu 18.04

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