Setup & Deployment

Local installation

The following documentation will guide you through the installation of an erxes project using Docker.

Docker is an open platform that allows to develop, ship and run applications by using containers (i.e. packages containing all the parts an application needs to function, such as libraries and dependencies).

Preparing the installation

erxes installation requires at least four software prerequisites to be already installed on your machine:

✋ Caution

Erxes code takes approximately 12GB storage space, make sure you have enough space in your device before going forward.

Prerequisites

Git
Node.js: only LTS versions are supported v18.17.1 or higher. Other versions of Node.js may not be compatible with the latest release of erxes. The 18.17.x version is most recommended by erxes. The easier way to install nvm is here.
npm and yarn (latest version) to run the erxes.
Docker Latest version.

Installing erxes

Create an empty folder.

mkdir example

In your empty folder, where the new erxes project will be created, and it defines the database and erxes plugins to use.

cd example

Run following command in the folder.

git clone https://github.com/erxes/erxes.git

Installing dependencies using docker

In the folder, create dock directory using following command.

mkdir dock

Go to the dock folder using following command.

cd dock

✏️ Note

Run sudo nano or sudo vim command to create .yml file.

Create a docker-compose.yml file, then copy the following script in the newly created file.

version: '3.6'
services:
  mongo:
    hostname: mongo
    image: mongo:4.0.10
    # container_name: mongo
    ports:
      - "27017:27017"
    networks:
      - erxes-net
    healthcheck:
      test: test $$(echo "rs.initiate().ok || rs.status().ok" | mongo --quiet) -eq 1
      interval: 2s
      timeout: 2s
      retries: 200
    command: ["--replSet", "rs0", "--bind_ip_all"]
    extra_hosts:
      - "mongo:127.0.0.1"
    volumes:
      - ./data/db:/data/db

  redis:
    image: 'redis'
    # container_name: redis
    # command: redis-server --requirepass pass
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    networks:
      - erxes-net

  rabbitmq:
    image: rabbitmq:3.7.17-management
    # container_name: rabbitmq
    restart: unless-stopped
    hostname: rabbitmq
    ports:
      - "15672:15672"
      - "5672:5672"
    networks:
      - erxes-net
    # RabbitMQ data will be saved into ./rabbitmq-data folder.
    volumes:
      - ./rabbitmq-data:/var/lib/rabbitmq
  
  elasticsearch:
    image: 'docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.13.0'
    container_name: 'elasticsearch'
    environment:
      - discovery.type=single-node
    ulimits:
      memlock:
        soft: -1
        hard: -1
      nofile:
        soft: 32768
        hard: 65536
    ports:
      - '127.0.0.1:9200:9200'
    networks:
      - erxes-net
    volumes:
      - ./elasticsearchData:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data

  essyncer:
    container_name: essyncer
    image: 'erxes/essyncer:dev'
    environment:
      DB_NAME: 'erxes'
      ELASTICSEARCH_URL: 'http://elasticsearch:9200'
      MONGO_URL: 'mongodb://mongo:27017/erxes?replicaSet=rs0'
    depends_on:
      - 'mongo'
      - 'elasticsearch'
    volumes:
      - './essyncerData:/data/essyncerData'
      - './mongoConnectorLog:/var/log/mongo-connector'
    tty: true
    networks:
      - 'erxes-net'

networks:
  erxes-net:
    driver: bridge

💡 Tip

Please find the useful commands when you're working on Docker

Run the following command in the folder where above file exists.

sudo docker-compose up -d

Go back to erxes folder using following command.

cd ../erxes

Switch a dev branch by using following command.

git checkout dev

In erxes folder, Install node modules by using following command.

yarn install

Install pm2 by using following command.

sudo npm install -g pm2

Running erxes

✋ Caution

Run erxes in erxes/cli directory

Run following command to change the folder.

cd cli

Install node modules in the erxes/cli directory.

yarn install

Copy configs.json.sample, then convert it to configs.json.

cp configs.json.sample configs.json

Add "ui": "local" under every plugin names like shown in below, in configs.json.

✋ Caution

You do not have to add it under logs plugin since it has no ui.

 {
    "name": "inbox",
    "ui": "local"
 },

Run following command to start your erxes project.

./bin/erxes.js dev

If your browser don't automatically jump to localhost:3000, you should check logs by using these commands.

💡 Tip

Frequently used pm2 commands on erxes:

pm2 list - Display all processes status
pm2 kill - Will remove all processes from pm2 list
pm2 logs -f - Display all processes logs in streaming (gateway, plugin-name etc.)
pm2 restart all - Restart all processes

If you see this screen, you have successfully install erxes XOS. Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉

Server installation

The following documentation will guide you through the installation of an erxes project using Docker image via Dockerhub that can be used on Ubuntu/CentOS in order to use erxes. This the guideline will be dedicated to anyone who is about to use erxes for their businesses. If you want to customize or develop additional plugins on erxes, please go to the developer installation guideline.

Docker is an open source platform that allows to develop, ship and run applications by using containers (i.e. packages containing all the parts an application needs to function, such as libraries and dependencies).

Prerequisites

You will need following things before dive into erxes installation.

any type of server with 8 core cpu & atleast 16gb ram
basic knowledges to work on ubuntu/centos operating system such as execute commands in user directory
domain controller's A record must pointed to the instance you are going to install erxes on
ability to connect to your instance via ssh protocol

Installation steps

1. Create install.sh file using text editors such as nano or vim. Then copy the following content into install.sh. Following script will install nginx, certbot, docker, docker-compose and nodejs into your server.

 #!/bin/bash
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 1 $now : Updating \e[0m"
sudo apt-get update -y
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 2 $now : Installing nginx\e[0m"
sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo apt update -y
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 3 $now : Installing docker\e[0m"
sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common -y
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable"
apt-cache policy docker-ce
sudo apt install docker-ce -y
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 5 $now : Installing docker compose\e[0m"
sudo apt-get update -y
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.27.4/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 6 $now : Installing ndoejs\e[0m"
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.38.0/install.sh | bash
curl -s https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo bash
sudo apt-get install nodejs -y
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 7 $now : Installing awscli \e[0m"
sudo apt-get install awscli -y
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 8 $now : Installing npm\e[0m"
sudo apt install npm -y
  now=$(date +'%H:%M:%S')
  echo -e "\e[1mStep 9 $now : Enter your domain address to configure erxes\e[0m"
sudo npm install -g create-erxes-app -y

2. Before execute script the use below command to make install.sh file executable.

sudo chmod +x install.sh

3. Execute install.sh file.

./install.sh

Create an erxes user on the instance

Assuming you have connected to your instance and ready to execute following steps. First you need to create erxes user because all erxes related installation scripts are made for erxes user. Why? You don't want to use root user to administer your server. So everything will be done by a user called, erxes. To accomplish this, run the following command:

adduser erxes

When prompted, enter unique & strong password. (Finish adding the user simply by pressing the enter or return key through the questions)

Grant sudo and docker rights to erxes user by following command::

usermod -aG sudo erxes

usermod -aG docker erxes

su - erxes

All prerequisites are completed now you can proceed to installation steps.

Starting erxes project

1. Below command will trigger erxes installation process.

create-erxes-app erxes

After the execution it will ask your erxes domain name

https://example.com

✏️ Note

Please use full domain or subdomain names including http socket like below

2. After the above command erxes directory will be created. That includes following files in it docker-compose.yml, configs.json, package.json, package-lock.json. In order to change to erxes directory use below command.

cd /home/erxes/erxes

3. Change erxes package version of /home/erxes/erxes/package.json file to latest version.

{
  "name": "erxes",
  "private": true,
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "scripts": {
    "erxes": "erxes"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "amqplib": "^0.8.0",
    "create-erxes-app": "0.0.28",
    "dup": "^1.0.0",
    #Change here
    "erxes": "change me",
    "ip": "^1.1.5",
    "up": "^1.0.2"
  }
}

If the erxes version has been changed in the package.json file, run the command below to install the necessary modules for erxes.

npm install

4. Now you need to initiate docker swarm mode in order to do that use following command.

docker swarm init

✏️ Note

If you get a permission denied warning when you run this command, you haven't run the usermod -aG docker erxes command.

docker network create --driver=overlay --attachable erxes

✏️ Note

In erxes directory we have docker-compose.yml file even with that we do not use docker-compose up, docker-compose down, docker-compose restart commands further

5. Before start application services we need to start databases. Following command will start database services.

openssl rand -base64 756 > mongo-key
sudo chmod 400 mongo-key && sudo chown 999:999 mongo-key
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout key.pem -x509 -days 365 -out certificate.pem --batch
cat key.pem certificate.pem > mongo.pem

Running elasticsearch

If your server is bigger than our required size you can use erxes with elasticsearch. To do that following steps need to be taken.

Add following lines to configs.json positions does not matter.

"essyncer": {},
"elasticsearch" : {},

Then run deploy dbs with following command.

npm run erxes deploy-dbs

6. To check database services up use following command it will shows you all running docker services id, name and state etc.

docker ps -a | grep mongo

wait until all services state become up.

7. Now we need to make our mongo have replica set. First we need to enter mongo container then enter mongo instance then execute command following 3 commands will do.

docker exec -it <mongo container name> bash
mongo -u erxes -p <auto generated in configs.json>
rs.initiate();

✏️ Note

you may want to hit return or enter button few times if we done correctly mongo shell will changes into "RS0: primary"

To quit mongo instance and container run exit command twice.

8. Now we need to create locales directory in our working directory /home/erxes/erxes to do that use following command.

mkdir locales

9. Change erxes version of /home/erxes/erxes/configs.json file to latest version. It is the latest version that has undergone further development.

Start application services like erxes core uis and gateway services we run following command.

npm run erxes up -- --uis

After this step ui will be downloaded from AWS:s3 so make sure your server can communicate AWS instances without problem

✏️ Note

Containers are generated one by one, so wait until they finish reading. Meanwhile check for the status using

docker ps -a

To check docker services use

docker service ls

all erxes services needs to be up state Wait until gateway container status becomes healthy also gateway container needs to be start at last.

10. Now we need to configure our web server, we need to configure our nginx first. To do this, we create an nginx config file named erxes.conf in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled. To do this, use the following command.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/erxes.conf

Copy the nginx configuration below

server {
        server_name example.com;
        index index.html;
        client_max_body_size 50M;
        client_header_buffer_size 32k;

        location / {
                access_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-front.access.log;
                error_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-front.error.log;
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_redirect off;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        }

        location /widgets/ {
                access_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-widgets.access.log;
                error_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-widgets.error.log;
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3200/;
                proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
                proxy_set_header Host $host;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
        }

        location /gateway/ {
                access_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-api.access.log;
                error_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-api.error.log;
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3300/;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_buffering off;
                proxy_redirect off;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
                proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";
        }

        location /mobile-app/ {
                access_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-mobile-app.access.log;
                error_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-mobile-app.error.log;
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4100/;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_buffering off;
                proxy_redirect off;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
                proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";
        }

        location /integrations/ {
                access_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-integrations.access.log;
                error_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-integrations.error.log;
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3400/;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_redirect off;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        }
        location /dashboard/front {
                access_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-integrations.access.log;
                error_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-integrations.error.log;
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4200;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_redirect off;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        }

        location /dashboard/api/ {
                access_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-integrations.access.log;
                error_log /var/log/nginx/erxes-integrations.error.log;
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4300/;
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_redirect off;
                proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        }
    }

11. After that we need to test nginx config. To do that use following command.

sudo nginx -t

12. If nginx test shows successful message we need to restart Nginx. To do that use following command.

sudo service nginx restart

13. Erxes only works in secure connection to generate free ssl certificate we use Certbot. To configure that use following command.

sudo certbot --nginx

✏️ Note

you have to point your domain's A record to your erxes host machine in order to get certificate without that certbot will not generate certificate order.

After entering this command, provide your email and subscription information, and accept the terms. Following that, you will be prompted about the 'redirect' option. We highly recommend enabling this option for security reasons. Once these steps are completed, open your browser and enjoy our product.

Adding new plugins to erxes

Adding new plugins to erxes is easy task all you need to is add plugin name under "plugins:"[{}] in /home/erxes/erxes/configs.json file then run npm run erxes up -- --uis command. But for some plugins like dashboard does require some extra service we will discuss that in another section. Below we have ideal configs.json file content that includes every nessacery configuration lines for all plugins. Please read following contents carefully some lines need some replacement.

{
    "jwt_token_secret": "will be generated in configs.json",
    "db_server_address": "ip address of your machine",
    "secondary_server_address": "",
    "image_tag": "dev",
    "domain": "https://example.com",
    "widgets": {
        "domain": "https://example.com/widgets"
    },
    "elasticsearch": {},
    "essyncer": {},
    "redis": {
        "password": "will be generated in configs.json"
    },

    "mongo": {
        "username": "erxes",
        "password": "will be generated in configs.json",
    },
    "rabbitmq": {
        "cookie": "",
        "user": "erxes",
        "pass": "will be generated in configs.json",
        "vhost": ""
    },

    "plugins": [
        {
            "name": "inbox",
            "extra_env": {
                "INTEGRATIONS_MONGO_URL": "will be generated in docker-compose-dbs.yml",
                "FB_MONGO_URL": "will be generated in docker-compose-dbs.yml"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "cards"
        },
        {
            "name": "contacts"
        },
        {
            "name": "internalnotes"
        },
        {
            "name": "notifications"
        },
        {
            "name": "automations",
            "db_name": "erxes_automations"
        },
        {
            "name": "products"
        },
        {
            "name": "forms"
        },
        {
            "name": "inventories"
        },
        {
            "name": "segments"
        },
        {
            "name": "tags"
        },
        {
            "name": "engages"
        },
        {
            "name": "logs",
            "db_name": "erxes_logger"
        },
        {
            "name": "clientportal",
            "extra_env": {
                "JWT_TOKEN_SECRET": ""
                    }
        },
        {
            "name": "webbuilder"
        },
        {
            "name": "knowledgebase"
        },
        {
            "name": "emailtemplates"
        },
        {
            "name": "integrations",
            "db_name": "erxes_integrations",
            "extra_env": {
                "ENDPOINT_URL": "https://enterprise.erxes.io"
            }
        },
        {
            "name": "dashboard"
        },
        {
            "name": "documents"
        },
        {
            "name": "filemanager"
        },
        {
            "name": "facebook",
            "extra_env": {
                "ENDPOINT_URL": "https://enterprise.erxes.io",
                "MONGO_URL": "will be generated in docker-compose-dbs.yml"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Removing erxes

1. First this is sad but every server need to be tidy following few commands will remove docker stack and dangling containers of swarm.

docker stack ls

will show you stack informations. To leave that use following command.

docker stack rm erxes
docker stack rm erxes-dbs

2. To remove all dangling containers use following commands.

List and remove all dangling images.

docker images -f dangling=true
docker rmi $(docker images -q -f dangling=true)

List and remove all dangling containers.

docker ps -a -f status=exited
docker rm $(docker ps -a -q -f status=exited)

List and remove all dangling volumes

✏️ Note

volumes might have data in it so do it with your responsibility

docker volume ls -f dangling=true
docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q -f dangling=true)

Installation video

Joining erxes community

Join the erxes community today! If you encounter any difficulties during the installation process, don't hesitate to reach out for assistance. You can create issues on our Github repository or seek help from our friendly community on Discord. We're here to support you every step of the way!