Install Wirow on Ubuntu 22.04

Introduction

This tutorial describes how to install Wirow on Ubuntu 22.04.

The time needed to follow this tutorial is approximately 10 - 20 minutes.

The tutorial was tested on Ubuntu 22.04 (July 2023).

The tutorial uses the example IP 123.123.123.123.
This hostname needs to be replaced by the name of your own server when you perform the workflow described in this tutorial.
We will also use the subdomain conference.example.com, please replace it with your own domain.

Requirements

A VPS 200 is sufficient for this tutorial.

The server must already have the Ubuntu 22.04 Image from the (SCP)[https://servercontrolpanel.de/] installed.

Step 1 - Finding out the IP of your server

1. Log in to the SCP (Server Control Panel) under https://www.servercontrolpanel.de
2. Click on the server you would like to use.
3. You are now in the "General" tab and, below on the right, you will see a pane labelled "Network".
4. Here you can find the IP of your server (under IPv4).
5. Write it down somewhere.

Step 2 - Configuring DNS

1. Log in to the CCP (Customer Control Panel) under https://www.customercontrolpanel.de
2. In the sidebar on the left, click on "Domains".
3. Find the domain you want to use and click on the "Magnifying glass" symbol next to it.
4. In the new window, click on "DNS".
5. Scroll down until there are empty fields.
6. In the first field, write your subdomain name (I recommend using "conference" or something similar).
7. In the dropdown menu, select A.
8. In the last field, write the IP of your server (from Step 1).
9. Click on "Save DNS records" at the bottom of the form.

Step 3 - Preparing the server

First you need to log in to your server via SSH. Then proceed as follows:

1. Enter sudo -s to get root privileges.
2. If asked for your password, enter it and press Enter.
3. Now enter apt update -y && apt upgrade -y && apt remove -y nginx apache2 lighttpd && apt autoremove -y && apt install -y wget unzip zip to update the server, remove any existing webservers and old packages and install required packages.

• If a pink window with the title "Pending kernel upgrade" is displayed, press Enter once to continue.
• If a pink window with the title "Daemons using outdated libraries" is displayed, press Enter once to continue.

4. Enter exit to exit the root shell.

Step 4 - Getting the Wirow files

1. Go to (wirow.io)[wirow.io] and click on "EAP" in the menu bar.
2. Now you have to enter your email address and name. Then click on "Request Access" (you can enter "None" in the "Company" field).
3. You will receive an email with a link to the download page.
4. Copy the link.

Step 5 - Starting Wirow

1. After entering wget, paste the link you copied in Step 4, and then press Enter.
2. Enter unzip wirow.zip to unzip the downloaded file.
3. Enter sudo /usr/sbin/setcap 'cap_net_bind_service=+ep' ./wirow to allow Wirow to use port 80 and 443 (you will be asked for the root user password).
4. Enter ./wirow -n conference.example.com -a PASSWORD to start Wirow (replace conference.example.com with your subdomain and PASSWORD with a password of your choice).
5. Navigate to your domain in your browser. Enter the password you assigned in Step 5.3 with the username "admin" to log in to Wirow.
6. Click on the big "Admin" button in the center.
7. Click on the "Users" icon in the top right corner.
8. Click on the "Edit" button next to the user "admin".
9. Enter a new password and click on "Save" (you can also change the username here or add an email address.
10. Press Ctrl+C to stop Wirow in the terminal.

Step 6 - Setting up Wirow to start on boot

We want to start Wirow automatically when the server starts.

1. Enter sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/wirow.service to create a new systemd service file.
2. Paste the following code into the file:

[Unit]
Description=Wirow - A free and open source web based video conferencing tool
Documentation=https://github.com/wirow-io/wirow-server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=[REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME]
WorkingDirectory=/home/[REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME]/
ExecStart=/home/[REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME]/wirow -n conference.example.com
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

3. Replace [REPLACE_WITH_USERNAME] with the user under which you extracted the Wirow files in Step 5.2.
4. Replace conference.example.com with your domain.
5. Exit the file by pressing Ctrl + X and then Y and then Enter.
6. Enter sudo systemctl daemon-reload to reload the systemd daemon.
7. Enter sudo systemctl enable wirow to enable the service.
8. Enter sudo systemctl start wirow to start the service.

Step 7 - Setting up the firewall

We need a firewall to protect our server from unwanted connections.

We will use ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) to set up the firewall, because it is easy to use and configure and is also pre-installed on Ubuntu.

1. Enter ufw allow ssh to allow SSH connections.
2. Enter ufw allow http to allow HTTP connections.
3. Enter ufw allow https to allow HTTPS connections.
4. Enter ufw enable to enable the firewall.
5. Press Y and then Enter to confirm.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Wirow and set it up to start on boot.

From now on, your Wirow instance will be available on your subdomain (e.g. https://conference.example.com).

Thank you for using this tutorial!

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Konstantin Protzen

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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