Introduction

OTRS, also referred to as Open source Ticket Request System, is an aid workdesk as well as IT solution monitoring system. It supplies a solitary factor of get in touch with for individuals, customers, IT personnel, IT solutions, as well as any kind of external companies. The program is written in Perl, supports a selection of databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, and so on), as well as can integrate with LDAP directories.

In this tutorial, you will mount OTRS Community Edition on an Ubuntu 18.04 server and set up an easy help workdesk system, which will enable you to get and process requests from your customers using both the web user interface as well as e-mail.

Requirements

To finish this tutorial, you will require the following:

• An Ubuntu 18.04 server established by following our Initial Server Arrangement Overview for Ubuntu 18.04, including a non-root customer with sudo opportunities and a firewall software set up with ufw.

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

• A totally signed up domain. This tutorial will certainly utilize example.com throughout. You can purchase a domain on Namecheap, obtain one free of charge on Freenom, or make use of the domain registrar of your option.

• Both of the complying with DNS records established for your server. You can follow this intro to DigitalOcean DNS for details on exactly how to include them.Join Us HelpDeskZ Download website

  • An A record with example.com pointing to your server’ s public IP
  • address. An A record with www.example.com pointing to your server’ s public IP

• address. A TLS/SSL certification mounted on your Ubuntu 18.04 web server for your domain. You can adhere to the Let’ s Encrypt on Ubuntu 18.04 overview to obtain a free TLS/SSL certificate.

• Postfix mail transfer representative set up by following our tutorial Exactly how To Mount as well as Configure Postfix on Ubuntu 18.04.

• ( Optional) A committed Gmail account with IMAP access allowed, 2-step confirmation, as well as an App password generated with the Other (Custom-made name) choice. When you generate the App password, create it down so that you can utilize it symphonious 5. You will certainly make use of Gmail to set up inbound mail ticket production in OTRS, with Gmail as your IMAPS mail box. This is just one approach of configuring inbound mail for OTRS; if you want to explore other choices, check out the OTRS documents.

Warning: Do not utilize any one of your own active Gmail accounts to set up inbound mail for OTRS. When imap.gmail.com forwards emails to OTRS, all e-mails in the Gmail account are erased. Due to this, it is a much better option to create a new Gmail account to utilize especially for OTRS.

Step 1 —– Mounting the OTRS Package and also Perl Modules

In this step, you will mount OTRS and a collection of Perl components that will certainly boost the system’ s performance

. OTRS is available in Ubuntu’ s bundle manager, but the main documentation recommends installing OTRS from resource.

To do this, first log right into your Ubuntu server as your non-root individual:

• ssh sammy@Ubuntu_Server_IP!.?.! Replicate Then download the source archive with the wget command. For this tutorial, you will certainly download variation 6.0.19; you can discover the most recent available version on the OTRS download and install web page. wget http://ftp.otrs.org/pub/otrs/otrs-6.0.19.tar.gz Replicate Next , unload the compressed
  • file with tar: tar xzf otrs-6.0.19. tar.gz

  Duplicate

  Relocate the contents of the archive right into the/ opt/otrs

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

  Since OTRS is written in Perl, it utilizes a variety of Perl modules. Examine

  • for missing components by using the CheckModules.pl manuscript

    consisted of with OTRS: sudo/ opt/otrs/bin/ otrs.CheckModules.pl Replicate You ll see output like this, noting which modules you already have actually downloaded and which you are missing:

    • Some modules are only needed for optional functionality,
      

      such

      as communication with other databases or taking care of mail with specific character collections; others are necessary for the program to work

      . Although the suggested commands to download these components utilize apt-get, this tutorial will mount the missing out on components with the proper command, which is the recommended finest technique for Ubuntu 18.04.

      Do not hesitate to experience these modules manually, or make use of the adhering to command:$ sudo appropriate set up 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 setting up these modules, rerun the manuscript to make certain that all the needed components have actually
      been installed: sudo/ opt/otrs/bin/ otrs.CheckModules.pl Duplicate Your output will certainly now show all the installed modules: Output … 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) Now that you have

      OTRS and also its

      dependences installed on your web server, you can set up OTRS to utilize Apache as well as MySQL. Action 2– Setting Up OTRS, Apache, and MySQL web server In this step, you will certainly produce a system user for OTRS, and then configure Apache and also MySQL web server to work with OTRS. Produce a user named otrs to run OTRS features with the useradd command: sudo useradd

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

      the ‘ OTRS user ‘ comment to define the user. Next off, include otrs to the

      webserver group: sudo usermod- G www-data otrs Duplicate OTRS comes with a default config data/ opt/otrs/Kernel/ Config.pm.dist. Activate this by replicating it without the. dist filename expansion: sudo cp/ opt/otrs/Kernel/ Config.pm.dist/ opt/otrs/Kernel/ Config.pm Copy Currently, browse

    to the/ opt/otrs directory: cd/ opt/otrs Duplicate From here, run the otrs.SetPermissions.pl manuscript. It will spot the 'proper individual and also group settings and also set the file as well as directory consents for OTRS. sudo bin/otrs. SetPermissions.pl Copy This

  • will certainly generate the list below result:

  Result Establishing permissions on/ opt/otrs The appropriate authorizations are now established. Next, activate the apache2 configuration documents and make sure it is loaded nevertheless other setups. To

• do this, make a symbolic relate to the zzz _ prefix: sudo ln- s/ opt/otrs/scripts/ apache2-httpd. include.conf/ etc/apache2/sites-enabled/ zzz_otrs. conf Duplicate OTRS requires
• a couple of Apache components

to be

active for ideal procedure. You can activate them by means of the device a2enmod. Although several of these have actually currently been made it possible for, it is a great concept to inspect them all: sudo a2enmod

• perl sudo a2enmod headers sudo a2enmod deflate sudo a2enmod filter Replicate These modules make it possible for Apache to work with Perl,

  control HTTP

  headers, compress server result, and also set up output web content filters.

  Restart your web server to apply brand-new setups: sudo systemctl restart apache2 Replicate Before you most likely to the next action and run the internet installer, alter a few of the MySQL setup settings.

• Open the MySQL arrangement file in your favored text editor. This tutorial uses nano: sudo nano/ etc/mysql/mysql.

  conf.d/ mysqld.cnf Copy Try to find the complying with alternatives under the [mysqld] area. For max_allowed_packet and also query_cache_size, transform the worths to 64M and 32M specifically, as highlighted in the following code block:/ etc/mysql/mysql. conf.d/

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

the startup

manuscript as well as checks MyISAM tables if needed # the very 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 … Duplicate This readjusts the

  maximum allowed packet dimension as well as the query cache dimension to make sure that MySQL can user interface with OTRS. After that include the following highlighted additional choices under the [mysqld] area, 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 = ‘ SET NAMES utf8 ‘. character-set-server= utf8 Replicate This establishes the data source logfile size, identifies the personality set and also relation

    , and creates an init_connect string to establish the

    personality set upon beginning the MySQL server.
    
    Conserve as well as shut mysqld.cnf by pushing CTRL+ X, complied with by Y and after that GET IN. Then, restart your MySQL
    
    web server to apply the brand-new parameters:
    
    sudo systemctl reboot mysql.service Replicate Since you have developed the otrs user and configured
    
    Apache and MySQL to work with OTRS
    
    , you are ready to use the internet installer. Step 3-- Utilizing the Internet Installer In this action, you will certainly configure OTRS
    
     s data source setups in a web internet browser and also begin the OTRS daemon procedure on the command line. Open https://example.com/otrs/installer.pl in your favored web browser, changing example.com with your domain name. You will certainly locate a welcome screen with the message Invite to OTRS 6 and also details regarding the OTRS
    offices. Click Next. The next display will certainly have the
    
    permit for OTRS, which is the GNU General Public Permit typical to open up source programs. Approve by clicking Accept license and also continue'after analysis.
    
    On the next display, you will be triggered
    
    to select
    a database kind. The defaults( MySQL and also Produce a brand-new database for OTRS) are great for your configuration, so click Beside continue. On the next screen, enter the MySQL credentials
    that you set up throughout the MySQL web server setup. Use root for the User field, after that enter the password you created. Leave the default host value. Click Inspect database setups to make sure it
    
    works. The installer will certainly create qualifications
    for the brand-new
    data source. There is no demand to keep in mind this generated password. Click Next to proceed. The data source will be developed and also you will see the successful result: Click Next. Next off —, give the complying with necessary
    system settings: System FQDN: A totally qualified domain name. Change example.com with your very own domain. AdminEmail: The email address of your system manager. Emails concerning mistakes with OTRS will certainly go right here. Organization: Your organization  s name. Leave all other alternatives at their default worths: Click Next. Currently you will certainly arrive on the Mail Configuration web page. In order to have the ability to send out and get e-mails, you need to configure a mail account. This tutorial will certainly look after this later on in Step 5, so click Miss this action. The OTRS setup is currently full; you will certainly see a Finished page with a web link to the admin panel after Start web page, and also the qualifications
    of the OTRS very individual afterwards. See to it you list the generated password for the root@localhost user as well as the LINK for the Beginning web page. The only point left after a successful installation is to begin the OTRS daemon and activate its cronjob. Raise the terminal you are using to access your Ubuntu 18.04 web server. The OTRS daemon is responsible for handling any type of asynchronous and recurring tasks in OTRS.
    Beginning it with the otrs customer: sudo su- otrs -c"/ opt/otrs/bin/ otrs.Daemon.pl begin" Copy You will certainly see the list below result: Result Manage the OTRS daemon procedure. Daemon started There are
    two default cron files in the/ opt/otrs/var/ cron/ directory. Move right into this directory. cd/ opt/otrs/var/ cron
    Duplicate These cron documents are
    made use of to ensure that the OTRS daemon is running. Activate them
    
    by duplicating them without the. dist filename expansion. sudo cp aaa_base. dist aaa_base sudo cp otrs_daemon.
    dist otrs_daemon Duplicate To arrange these cron tasks, use the manuscript Cron.sh with the otrs individual: sudo su- otrs- c"/ opt/otrs/bin/ Cron.sh begin" Duplicate You have actually currently’mounted OTRS
    with the web installer and established its connection
    to the MySQL
    database. You also began the OTRS daemon on your web server. Next, you will certainly log in to the manager web interface and also safe and secure OTRS. Conclusion In this tutorial, you established OTRS and created examination help workdesk tickets. Now you can approve as well as
    process requests from your individuals making use of both the internet interface and also email. You can find out more regarding OTRS by checking out the OTRS Admin Guidebook. If you want to read more regarding just how to make use of MySQL, see our An Introduction to Queries in MySQL write-up, or explore DigitalOcean  s Managed Databases product.