How to Install FileRun on a Vultr Cloud Server

Introduction

FileRun is a self-hosted file management application that supports a wide range of file formats such as CSV, JPEG, Markdown, Text, MP3, and MP4. It also integrates the WebDav protocol, which supports various desktop applications, including Windows Explorer on Windows and Finder on macOS.

This article explains how to install FileRun on a Vultr Cloud Server running the LEMP (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP) Stack. This article uses a One-Click Ubuntu 20.04 LEMP server instance, but these steps work on any other system running the same stack.

Prerequisites

• Deploy a One-Click LEMP instance from the Vultr Marketplace.
• Set up a subdomain pointing to the server.
• Use SSH to access the server as a non-root user with sudo privileges.
• Update the server.

Setup the FileRun Database

1. View the MySQL root password.

     $ sudo cat /root/.my.cnf

2. Log in to MySQL.

     $ mysql -u root -p

3. Create a new database.

     CREATE DATABASE filerun;

4. Create a new database user with a strong password.

     CREATE USER 'fileuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your-strong-password-here';

5. Grant the user full privileges to the FileRun database.

     GRANT ALL ON filerun.* TO fileuser@localhost;

6. Refresh MySQL privileges.

     FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

7. Exit the MySQL console.

     EXIT

Install PHP Extensions

By default, the Vultr One-Click LEMP application runs PHP version 7.4. Verify the installed version using the following command.

     $ php -v

1. Install PHP extensions required by FileRun.

     $ sudo apt install php7.4-fpm php7.4-mysql php7.4-gd php7.4-cli php7.4-common php7.4-json php7.4-opcache php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xml php7.4-zip php7.4-gd php7.4-curl php7.4-ldap php7.4-imagick unzip

2. To install the ionCube PHP extension, download its latest release file.

     $ wget https://downloads.ioncube.com/loader_downloads/ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.tar.gz

3. Extract files to the /usr/lib/php directory.

     $ sudo tar -xvf ioncube_loaders_lin_x86-64.tar.gz -C /usr/lib/php 

4. Using a text editor of your choice, create a new 00-ioncube.ini PHP file to enable the extension.

     $ sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/conf.d/00-ioncube.ini  

5. Add the following directive to the file.

     zend_extension = /usr/lib/php/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_7.4.so  

   Save and close the file.

6. Create the FileRun PHP configuration file.

     $ sudo nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/conf.d/filerun.ini  

7. Add the following PHP Settings to the file.

     expose_php              = Off  
     error_reporting         = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE  
     display_errors          = Off  
     display_startup_errors  = Off  
     log_errors              = On  
     ignore_repeated_errors  = Off  
     allow_url_fopen         = On  
     allow_url_include       = Off  
     variables_order         = "GPCS"  
     allow_webdav_methods    = On  
     memory_limit            = 256M  
     max_execution_time      = 300  
     output_buffering        = Off  
     output_handler          = ""  
     zlib.output_compression = Off  
     zlib.output_handler     = ""  
     safe_mode               = Off  
     register_globals        = Off  
     magic_quotes_gpc        = Off  
     upload_max_filesize     = 25M  
     post_max_size           = 25M  
     enable_dl               = Off  
     disable_functions       = ""  
     disable_classes         = ""  
     session.save_handler     = files  
     session.use_cookies      = 1  
     session.use_only_cookies = 1  
     session.auto_start       = 0  
     session.cookie_lifetime  = 0  
     session.cookie_httponly  = 1  
     date.timezone            = "UTC"

   Save and close the file.

8. Restart PHP-FPM to save changes.

     $ sudo systemctl restart php7.4-fpm

Install FileRun

1. Create a new FileRun web root directory.

     $ sudo mkdir /usr/share/nginx/filerun

2. Download the latest FileRun release file.

     $ wget -O FileRun.zip https://filerun.com/download-latest-ubuntu-nginx

3. Extract files from the FileRun.zip file to the web root directory.

     $ sudo unzip -d /usr/share/nginx/filerun FileRun.zip

4. Create a superuser home folder within the directory.

     $ sudo mkdir /usr/share/nginx/filerun/example-home

5. Grant Nginx ownership permissions to the directory.

     $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/nginx/filerun

Configure Nginx

1. Create a new FileRun Nginx configuration file.

     $ sudo touch /etc/nginx/conf.d/filerun.conf

2. Open and edit the file.

     $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/filerun.conf

3. Add the following contents. Replace filerun.example.com with your actual domain name.

     server {  
        listen 80;
        listen [::]:80;
   
        server_name filerun.example.com;
   
        root /usr/share/nginx/filerun;
        index index.php index.html;
   
        location / {
          try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php;
         }
   
        location ~ [^/]\.php(/|$) {
          fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
          if (!-f $document_root$fastcgi_script_name) { 
            return 404;
           }
          include fastcgi_params;
          fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
          fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
          fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        }
   
        location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|webp|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|css|js|ico|xml)$ {
          expires           360d;
        }
   
        location ~ /\.ht {
          deny all;
        }
     }

   Save and close the file.

4. Test the Nginx configuration for errors.

     $ sudo nginx -t

5. Restart Nginx to save changes.

     $ sudo systemctl restart nginx

Security

FileRun does not require any special ports to run other than HTTP and HTTPS access. By default, UFW is active on the Vultr One-Click LEMP instance. Configure it to allow access to the FileRun web interface.

1. Verify the UFW firewall status.

     $ sudo ufw status

   If inactive, run the following command to activate UFW.

     $ sudo ufw enable

2. Allow HTTP access on port 80.

     $ sudo ufw allow 80/tcp

3. Allow HTTPS on port 443.

     $ sudo ufw allow 443/tcp

4. Restart the firewall to save changes.

     $ sudo ufw reload

Secure FileRun with a valid SSL Certificate

1. Verify that Snap is up to date.

     $ sudo snap install core; sudo snap refresh core

2. Install the Certbot Let's Encrypt application.

     $ sudo snap install --classic certbot

3. Activate the Certbot command.

     $ sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot

4. Request for a free SSL certificate. Replace filerun.example.com with your actual domain name, and turn on automatic redirects when prompted.

     $ sudo certbot -d filerun.example.com --agree-tos

5. Test certificate auto-renewal.

     $ sudo certbot renew --dry-run

6. Restart Nginx to save changes.

     $ sudo systemctl restart nginx

Configure FileRun

1. Using a web browser of your choice, visit your server domain.

     https://filerun.example.com

2. On the Welcome to FileRun wizard, click Next to check all minimum server requirements.

3. On the Database Setup page, keep localhost as the MySQL hostname and 3306 as the port.

4. Enter the database name, username, and password you created earlier.

5. Click Next to install all FileRun database tables.

6. Copy the default account username and password to your clipboard, then Next to access the FileRun login page.

7. Sign in using your superuser username and the default password.

8. On the main FileRun dashboard, click Control Panel at the bottom left corner.

9. Change the administrator username from superuser to your custom username, and enter a new strong password in the Password: field.

10. Navigate to the Permissions tab next to Basic Information.

11. Enter the full home directory path you created earlier in the Home folder section.

     /usr/share/nginx/filerun/example-home

12. Click Check path to validate the directory, then click Save changes to load changes.

    

13. To create other users, click Admin users and set up new users by username and password.

14. Exit the control panel to start uploading and sharing files on your FileRun server.

More Information

You have installed FileRun on a Vultr Cloud Server running the LEMP stack. For more information, please refer to the following resources.

• FileRun Documentation.