ProjectSend is a free, secure, self-hosted, and user-friendly software for file sharing. Whether you’re creating a personal or company setting up a self-hosted file-sharing platform, ProjectSend can help you build and manage your content on every device with its intuitive and powerful user and admin dashboard. Instead of relying on third-party services or sending files via email, ProjectSend lets you build your server and securely upload files and assign them to specific clients that you create yourself. When you’re ready to install and use ProjectSend, follow the steps below:

Install Nginx

Nginx HTTP Server is probably the second most popular web server in use today. Go and install Nginx since ProjectSend needs it. To install Nginx HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below. After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots. To test the Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see the Nginx default test page as shown below.

Install MariaDB

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with ProjectSend. To install MariaDB run the commands below. After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service always to start up when the server boots. After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access. When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter Set root password? [Y/n]: Y New password: Enter password Re-enter new password: Repeat password Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon into the MariaDB server Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

Install PHP 7.4-FPM

PHP 7.4-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories. Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.4-FPM Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.4-FPM Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2-FPM and related modules. After installing PHP 7.4-FPM, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Nginx. Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is a great setting to apply in your environment.

Create ProjectSend Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for ProjectSend to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank ProjectSend database. To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below. Then create a database called projectsend Create a database user called projectsenduser with a new password Then grant the user full access to the database. Finally, save your changes and exit.

Download and Install ProjectSend

Download the ProjectSend package from its download page. You can simply run the commands below to create a ProjectSend directory, extract its content into the directory and change the content permissions. Once you’re done above, run the commands below to create a ProjectSend configuration file from the sample. After that, run the commands below to open its configuration file. Then make the highlighted changes below: Save and exit. Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.

Configure ProjectSend Site

Next, configure Nginx virtual host for the ProjectSend site. This file will control how users access ProjectSend content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called projectsend.conf Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location. Save the file and exit. After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below and restarting Nginx. Finally, open your browser and go to the URL. http://example.com You should see the ProjectSend setup wizard. Type in the database name, database username, and password. Then continue with the wizard. Next, create the site name and administrator account, and password. After the installation, log in with the admin account created above. That’s it! Conclusion: This post showed you how to install ProjectSend on Ubuntu 20.04 | 18.04. If you find any error above, please use the form below to report.