In this tutorial, I will show you how to install osTicket on Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver, using a LEMP stack, with Nginx as a web server, MySQL/MariaDB as a database server and PHP 7.2. OsTicket is an open source ticket system often used for support. How to install OSTicket 1.7.0 on your server. OsTicket is a widely-used and trusted open source support ticket system. It seamlessly routes inquiries created via email, web-forms and phone calls. This time I will show you how to install OsTicket on AWS. We are using Amazon’s Free Tier EC2 for this tutorial. This installation is possible using the Free Tier on AWS, utilizing the Ubuntu Server 16.04 image. OsTicket is a widely-used and trusted open source support ticket system. It seamlessly routes inquiries created via email, web-forms and phone calls into a simple, easy-to-use, multi-user, web-based customer support platform. OsTicket comes packed with more features and tools than most of the expensive (and complex) support ticket systems on the market.

Most companies, especially those that deploy in-house built software, depend upon a ticketing system. These systems allow users to report problems with software or hardware, and make it easier for developers and technicians to stay on top of issues. Some of these systems can be very complex, both to install and use. Fortunately, we have Linux and a slew of ticketing server software to choose from. One such choice is osTicket. This open source, free solution easily rivals those costing hundreds of dollars more.

I want to walk you through the process of installing osTicket on a fresh install of Ubuntu Server 16.04. Once installed, you can begin the process of customizing osTicket to meet and exceed your needs.

What you'll need

All you will need is a working Ubuntu Server 16.04 platform. Either have this installed on dedicated hardware or a virtual machine with plenty of resources. Either way, osTicket will need access to port 80. That's it. Let's install.

Update and upgrade

The first thing we're going to do is update and upgrade Ubuntu. On the off-chance this process updates the kernel, the server will need a reboot. To run the update/upgrade, open a terminal and issue the following commands:

NGINX/mysql

Next we're going to install NGINX and MySQL. From your terminal window, issue the following command:

During the above installation, you will be prompted to create a password for the MySQL root user. Once you've done that, restart both services with the following commands:

Next enable both services with the commands:

PHP-FPM7

For our next trick, we'll install the necessary PHP extensions. This can be done with the single command:

PHP must also be configured. Change into the php directory, with the command cd /etc/php/7.0/fpm and open the php.ini file for editing with the command sudo nano php.ini. Around line 760, you'll see the entry:

Remove the # character and change the 1 to a 0. Save and close the file. Restart and enable php7-fpm with the commands:

NGINX

Now it's time to configure NGINX. Change into the sites-available directory with the command cd /etc/nginx/sites-available. Open the default file with the command sudo nano default. Locate the PHP 7 configuration section and make sure to uncomment it (remove the necessary # characters) like so:

Where DOMAIN_OR_IP is either the domain name or the IP address of your osTicket server.

Save and close that file. Enable the virtual host by adding a link to sites-enabled with the command:

Restart NGINX with the command:

OSTICKET

Now it's time to download and configure osTicket. Change into the document root with the command cd /var/www. Create a new directory with the command sudo mkdir -p osticket. Change into that newly created directory with the command cd osticket. Download osTicket with the command:

NOTE: You might want to check the osTicket download to see if it has been upgraded since this writing. Go to the osTicket download page to find out. If there's a newer release than 1.10.1, make sure the wget command reflects that. Unzip the downloaded file with the command:

If you receive an error that unzip isn't installed, resolve that with the command sudo apt install unzip.

Change into the newly created upload directory and issue the command:

Change the permissions of the upload directory with the command:

Install

Open up a browser and point it to http://SERVER_IP (Where SERVER_IP is the IP address of your osTicket server). You should automatically be redirected to http://SERVER_IP/setup. If you're not redirected, point your browser to http://SERVER_IP/setup. You will find yourself on the installation checklist. Everything should be green (Figure A), so you can click Continue.

Figure A

In the next screen (Figure B), you must configure all the necessary options. One thing of note, you cannot use the same email address for the Default email and the Admin user. If you do, the installation will error out and you'll have to re-configure this section.

Figure B

Make sure to scroll down and configure the database settings (Figure C).

Figure C

Click the Install Now button and the installation will complete. Once it finishes, go back to the terminal window, change into the upload directory with the command cd /var/www/osticket/upload and rename the setup directory with the command sudo mv setup setup-bak. Change the permission of the ost-config.php file with the command

It's all yours

How To Use Osticket

That's it. You should be able to point your web browser to http://SERVER_IP and start using osTicket. This osTicket installation is now all yours to configure and make available to all necessary parties. Congratulations.

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Install Osticket Ubuntu

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How To Install Osticket