How to install and configure an OpenERP 6.0.1 server and web server on an Ubuntu 10.10 server

Introduction

OpenERP 6.0 requires Python 2.6 and Postgres 8.4. This document describes how to install these on an Ubuntu 10.10 server (aka. Maverick Meerkat).

These instructions should be run as root – using sudo or similar.

Install and configure Postgresql 8.4

1. Install Postgres. These instructions mostly come from this document: http://doc.openerp.com/install/linux/postgres/index.html

   apt-get install postgresql
   apt-get install postgresql-server
   apt-get install postgresql-client

2. Allow remote PgAdmin clients access to the database: edit /etc/postgresql/8.4/main/postgresql.conf and add this line:

   listen_addresses = '*'

   You could tighten this address range for better security.

3. Set the logging level. To tell Postgres to log all SQL activity (i.e. to see all the SELECT’s, UPDATES, DELETEs and INSERT statements), edit /etc/postgresql/8.4/main/postgresql.conf and add this line:

   log_statement = 'all'

4. Allow openerp-server to connect to postgresql: edit /etc/postgresql/8.4/main/pg_hba.conf. Modify lines as indicated below:

   # TYPE  DATABASE    USER        CIDR-ADDRESS          METHOD
   
   # "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
   # MODIFY THE EXISTING LINE TO LOOK LIKE THIS:
   local   all         all                               trust
   # IPv4 local connections:
   # MODIFY THE EXISTING LINE TO LOOK LIKE THIS:
   host    all         all         127.0.0.1/32          trust
   # ADD THIS LINE TO ALLOW REMOTE ACCESS; use your own IP address range:
   host    all         all         10.10.10.0/24        trust
   # IPv6 local connections:
   host    all         all         ::1/128               ident

   You could tighten this address range and methods for better security.

5. Retart Postgres

   service postgresql restart

Install and configure the OpenERP Server

1. Add an openerp user under which the openerp server can be run:

   adduser openerp

2. Set up a postgres user:

   su - postgres
   createuser --createdb --no-createrole --pwprompt openerp
   Enter password for new role: .....
   Enter it again: .....
   Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) y

3. Install the Python dependencies needed by OpenERP:

   apt-get install python python-psycopg2 python-reportlab \
        python-egenix-mxdatetime python-tz python-pychart \
        python-pydot python-lxml python-vobject python-setuptools
   easy_install PyYaml
   apt-get install python-mako
   apt-get install python-yaml

   The version numbers that got installed when I did this on 24 January 2011 were as follows; I’ve recorded these version numbers here because I found that OpenERP 6 does not work very well on Centos 5.5 and I suspect it is because some of the Centos Python packages are not up to the same version numbers as these ones, so if it’s any help to anybody installing on Centos 5.5, here’s version numbers you may need:

   Package	Version
   python	2.6
   python-psycopg2	2.2.1
   python-reportlab	2.4-3
   python-egenix-mxdatetime
   python-tz	2010b-1
   python-pychart	1.39-7
   python-pydot	1.0.2-1
   python-lxml	2.2.6.1
   python-vobject	0.8.1c-3
   python-setuptools	0.6.14-3
   PyYaml	3.09-py2.6
   python-mako	0.3.4-2
   python-yaml	3.09-4
   python-dev	2.6.6

4. Install the OpenERP Server from http://www.openerp.com/download/stable/deb/openerp-server_6.0.1-0_all.deb. This step is NOT RECOMMENDED – I’ve included this step to show what I did, but I recommend you skip this step. After downloading the package, I installed it using

   dpkg -i openerp-server_6.0.1-0_all.deb

   however, I got the following dependency errors:

   Selecting previously deselected package openerp-server.
   (Reading database ... 25179 files and directories currently installed.)
   Unpacking openerp-server (from openerp-server_6.0.1-0_all.deb) ...
   dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of openerp-server:
    openerp-server depends on python-libxslt1; however:
     Package python-libxslt1 is not installed.
    openerp-server depends on python-yaml; however:
     Package python-yaml is not installed.
    openerp-server depends on python-mako; however:
     Package python-mako is not installed.
   dpkg: error processing openerp-server (--install):
    dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
   Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
   Processing triggers for man-db ...
   Errors were encountered while processing:
    openerp-server

   so I removed the package using:

   dpkg -r openerp-server

5. Install the OpenERP Server: download the package from http://www.openerp.com/download/stable/source/openerp-server-6.0.1.tar.gz then unzip it using

   tar xvf openerp-server-6.0.1.tar.gz

   then install it using

   cd openerp-server-6.0.1
   python setup.py install

Configure OpenERP Server as service

The OpenERP Server is now ready to run, and it can be run using these commands:

sudo -u openerp openerp-server

However, you will probably want the server to be started automatically at boot time, so install it as a service:

1. Create a new fie, /etc/init.d/openerp-server with these contents. This script should work on Ubuntu and Centos. If you are on Ubuntu or Debian and have start-stop-daemon available, you can get a better script here.

   #!/bin/sh
   
   #
   # OpenERP init script v0.1 for centos by Open-Future
   # Bert Deferme - www.open-future.be - bert@open-future.be
   #
   
   # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 as
   # published by the Free Software Foundation.
   #
   # For a copy of the GNU General Public License, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
   
   # chkconfig: 345 60 61
   # description: starts the openerp-server service
   
   NAME=openerp-server
   USER=openerp
   
   PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
   PIDDIR=/var/run/openerp
   PIDFILE=$PIDDIR/$NAME.pid
   DAEMON=/usr/local/bin/openerp-server
   DAEMONOPTS="--pidfile=${PIDFILE}"
   
   checkpid() {
     [ -f $PIDFILE ] || return 1
     pid=`cat $PIDFILE`
     [ -d /proc/$pid ] && return 0
     return 1
   }
   
   do_start() {
   
     if [ -f $PIDFILE ]; then
       echo "pidfile already exists: $PIDFILE"
       exit 1
     fi
   
     echo -n "Starting $NAME: "
   
     if [ ! -d $PIDDIR ]
     then
         mkdir $PIDDIR
         chown $USER $PIDDIR
     fi
   
     su - $USER -c "nohup $DAEMON $DAEMONOPTS >/dev/null 2>&1 &"
   
     sleep 3
   
     checkpid
   
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       rm -f $PIDFILE
       echo "failed."
       exit 1
     fi
   
     echo "done."
   }
   
   do_stop() {
   
     checkpid
   
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       echo -n "$NAME not running... (no pidfile found)"
       exit 0
     fi
   
     echo -n "Stopping $NAME: "
   
     pid=`cat $PIDFILE`
     kill -15 $pid
   
     sleep 2
   
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       echo "Failed. (pidfile found but process didn't exist)"
       exit 1
     fi
   
     echo "done."
   
   }
   
   do_status() {
   
     echo -n "Checking $NAME: "
   
     checkpid
   
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       echo "stopped."
     else
       echo "running."
     fi
   
   }
   
   do_restart() {
   
     do_stop
   
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       exit 1
     fi
   
     do_start
   
   }
   
   case "$1" in
       start) do_start ;;
       stop) do_stop ;;
       restart|force-reload) do_restart ;;
       status) do_status ;;
       *)
           N=/etc/init.d/$NAME
           echo "Usage: $N {start|stop|restart|status}" >&2
           exit 1
           ;;
   esac
   
   exit 0

2. Make the file executable.

   chmod a+x /etc/init.d/openerp-server

3. DON’T DO THIS STEP: it wrongly rewrites the order of the filenaming in the /etc/rc?.d directories: Configure openerp-server to start on boot.

   apt-get install chkconfig
   cd /etc/init.d
   chkconfig --add openerp-server
   chkconfig --levels 2345 openerp-server on

4. Link from /etc/init.d/openerp-server to /etc/rc*.d (this is instead of the previous step):

   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-server /etc/rc0.d/K83openerp-server
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-server /etc/rc1.d/S83openerp-server
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-server /etc/rc2.d/S83openerp-server
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-server /etc/rc3.d/S83openerp-server
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-server /etc/rc4.d/S83openerp-server
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-server /etc/rc5.d/S83openerp-server
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-server /etc/rc6.d/K83openerp-server

5. Make sure the log file is writable by openerp.

   touch /var/log/openerp-server.log
   chown openerp /var/log/openerp-server.log

6. Create a config file. If the user you created as part of the installation was openerp, then create ~openerp/.openerp_serverrc with these contents:

   [options]
   debug_mode =  True
   logfile =  /var/log/openerp-server.log
   log_level =  debug_rpc_answer
   #############################################
   # Uncomment the options that you want to override:
   # email_from = False
   # xmlrpc_interface =  ''    # this will bind the server to all interfaces
   # xmlrpc_port =  8069
   # netrpc_interface =  ''
   # netrpc_port =  8070
   # xmlrpcs_interface =  ''    # this will bind the server to all interfaces
   # xmlrpcs_port =  8071
   # db_host =  False
   # db_port =  False
   # db_name =  False
   # db_user =  False
   # db_password =  False
   # db_maxconn =  64
   # reportgz =  False
   # netrpc =  True
   # xmlrpc =  True
   # xmlrpcs =  True
   # translate_in =  None
   # translate_out =  None
   # overwrite_existing_translations =  False
   # load_language =  None
   # language =  None
   # pg_path =  None
   # admin_passwd =  'admin'
   # csv_internal_sep =  ','
   # addons_path =  None
   # root_path =  None
   # debug_mode =  False
   # import_partial =  ""
   # pidfile =  None
   # logfile =  None
   # logrotate =  True
   # smtp_server =  'localhost'
   # smtp_user =  False
   # smtp_port = 25
   # smtp_ssl = False
   # smtp_password =  False
   # stop_after_init =  False   # this will stop the server after initialization
   # syslog = False
   # log_level =  INFO
   # Options for log-level are: ['info', 'debug_rpc', 'warn', 'critical', 'error', 'debug', 'notset', 'debug_rpc', 'debug_rpc_answer']
   # debug_rpc_answer seems to be the highest level.
   # assert_exit_level =  ERROR # level above which a failed assert will be raised
   # cache_timeout =  100000
   # login_message =  False
   # list_db = True
   # timezone = False # to override the default TZ
   # test_file = False
   # test_report_directory = False
   # test_disable = False
   # test_commit = False
   # static_http_enable =  False
   # static_http_document_root =  None
   # static_http_url_prefix =  None
   # secure_cert_file =  'server.cert'
   # secure_pkey_file =  'server.pkey'
   # publisher_warranty_url =  'http://services.openerp.com/publisher-warranty/'
   #############################################

7. If you were running these commands as root, change the ownership to openerp:

   chown openerp:openerp ~openerp/.openerp_serverrc

8. Start the OpenERP server:

   service openerp-server start

Install and configure the OpenERP Web Client

The Web client is actually a server-side component, not a client-side component that needs to be installed on each client PC.

1. Install these packages:

   apt-get install python-dev build-essential

2. Download and install the web client from http://www.openerp.com/download/stable/source/openerp-web-6.0.1.tar.gz

   tar xvf openerp-web-6.0.1.tar.gz
   cd openerp-web
   python setup.py install

3. Copy /usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/openerp_web-6.0.1-py2.6.egg/doc/openerp-web.cfg to /etc/openerp-web.cfg and edit it so that it looks something like this:

   [global]
   server.environment = "development"
   
   # Some server parameters that you may want to tweak
   server.socket_host = "0.0.0.0"
   # server.socket_host = "127.0.0.1"
   server.socket_port = 8080
   
   # Sets the number of threads the server uses
   server.thread_pool = 10
   
   tools.sessions.on = True
   
   # Simple code profiling
   server.profile_on = False
   server.profile_dir = "profile"
   
   # if this is part of a larger site, you can set the path
   # to the TurboGears instance here
   #server.webpath = ""
   
   # Set to True if you are deploying your App behind a proxy
   # e.g. Apache using mod_proxy
   #tools.proxy.on = True
   
   # If your proxy does not add the X-Forwarded-Host header, set
   # the following to the *public* host url.
   #tools.proxy.base = 'http://example.com'
   
   # logging
   log.access_file = "/var/log/openerp-web/access.log"
   log.error_file = "/var/log/openerp-web/error.log"
   
   # OpenERP tools
   tools.nestedvars.on = True
   
   # OpenERP Server
   openerp.server.host = 'localhost'
   openerp.server.port = '8070'
   openerp.server.protocol = 'socket'
   openerp.server.timeout = 450
   
   # Web client settings
   [openerp-web]
   # filter dblists based on url pattern?
   # NONE: No Filter
   # EXACT: Exact Hostname
   # UNDERSCORE: Hostname_
   # BOTH: Exact Hostname or Hostname_
   
   dblist.filter = 'NONE'
   
   # whether to show Databases button on Login screen or not
   dbbutton.visible = True
   
   # will be applied on company logo
   company.url = 'http://www.example.com/your_logo.jpg'

4. SKIP THIS STEP: It is no longer needed as I fixed a bug in the /etc/init.d/openerp-web script, of which the latest version is below.
   Make sure the log directory /var/log/openerp-web exists and is owned by openerp.

   mkdir /var/log/openerp-web
   chown openerp /var/log/openerp-web

5. Create the openerp-web startup file, /etc/init.d/openerp-web, with these contents. This script should work on Ubuntu and Centos. If you are on Ubuntu or Debian and have start-stop-daemon available, you can get a better script here.

   #!/bin/sh
   #
   # OpenERP init script v0.2 for Centos and Ubuntu by Open-Future
   # Bert Deferme - www.open-future.be - bert@open-future.be
   # Philip Uren - www.mbase.com.au - philu A-t ieee.org
   #
   # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 as
   # published by the Free Software Foundation.
   #
   # For a copy of the GNU General Public License, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
   # chkconfig: 345 61 60
   # description: runs the openerp-web service
   ###################################################################################
   
   NAME=openerp-web
   USER=openerp
   
   PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
   DAEMON=/usr/local/bin/openerp-web
   PIDDIR=/var/run/openerp
   PIDFILE=$PIDDIR/$NAME.pid
   DAEMONOPTS="-c /etc/openerp-web.cfg"
   
   checkpid() {
     [ -s $PIDFILE ] || return 1
     pid=`cat $PIDFILE`
     [ -z "$pid" ] && return 1
     [ -d /proc/$pid ] && return 0
     return 1
   }
   
   do_start() {
   
     if [ -f $PIDFILE ]; then
       echo "pidfile already exists: $PIDFILE"
       exit 1
     fi
   
     echo -n "Starting $NAME: "
   
     if [ ! -d $PIDDIR ]
     then
         mkdir $PIDDIR
         chown $USER $PIDDIR
     fi
   
     su - $USER -c "nohup $DAEMON $DAEMONOPTS >/dev/null 2>&1 &"
   
     sleep 2
   
     # This next line, in particular the use of the cut command, doesn't work on Ubuntu 10.10
     # because it treats a single space as a delimiter, not a series of spaces.
     # pid=`ps -ef|grep openerp-web|grep -v grep|cut -d " " -f3`
     ps -ef | grep openerp-web | grep python | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}' > $PIDFILE  
   
     checkpid
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       rm -f $PIDFILE
       echo "failed."
       exit 1
     fi
   
     echo "done."
   }
   
   do_stop() {
   
     checkpid
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       echo -n "$NAME not running... (no pidfile found)"
       exit 0
     fi
   
     echo -n "Stopping $NAME: "
   
     pid=`cat $PIDFILE`
     kill -15 $pid
   
     sleep 2
   
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       echo "Failed. (pidfile found but process didn't exist)"
       exit 1
     fi
   
     rm $PIDFILE
   
     echo "done."
   
   }
   
   do_status() {
   
     echo -n "Checking $NAME: "
   
     checkpid
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       echo "stopped."
     else
       echo "running."
     fi
   
   }
   
   do_restart() {
   
     do_stop
   
     if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
       exit 1
     fi
   
     do_start
   
   }
   
   case "$1" in
       start) do_start ;;
       stop) do_stop ;;
       restart|force-reload) do_restart ;;
       status) do_status ;;
       *)
           N=/etc/init.d/$NAME
           echo "Usage: $N {start|stop|restart|status}" >&2
           exit 1
           ;;
   esac
   
   exit 0

6. Make openerp-web executable:

   chmod a+x /etc/init.d/openerp-web

7. DON’T DO THIS STEP: it wrongly rewrites the order of the filenaming in the /etc/rc?.d directories: Configure openerp-web to start on boot.

   chkconfig --add openerp-web
   chkconfig --levels 235 openerp-web on

8. Link from /etc/init.d/openerp-server to /etc/rc*.d (this is instead of the previous step):

   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-web /etc/rc0.d/K82openerp-web
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-web /etc/rc1.d/S84openerp-web
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-web /etc/rc2.d/S84openerp-web
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-web /etc/rc3.d/S84openerp-web
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-web /etc/rc4.d/S84openerp-web
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-web /etc/rc5.d/S84openerp-web
   ln -s /etc/init.d/openerp-web /etc/rc6.d/K82openerp-web

9. Start the OpenERP web client:

   service openerp-web start

Install your Windows Client

1. Download and install the Windows GTK Client from http://www.openerp.com/download/stable/source/openerp-client-6.0.1.tar.gz, or your preferred client from http://www.openerp.com/downloads. Run it; hit the Change button and point it to your server; hit the Cancel button on the login window, then go to File / Databases / New Database and create a new database and install modules and proceed to use the system.

Run OpenERP from a Web Client

1. In your browser, go to http://example.com:8080, select your database, log in and proceed to use the system.

See Also

Here are some related references that may be helpful:

• How to install OpenERP 5.0.12 on Ubuntu 10.04:
  http://www.novapointgroup.com/learn/articles/45-openerp/65-how-to-install-openerp-on-ubuntu
• How to install OpenERP 6 on Ubuntu 10.04:
  https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5sP74yBnjjDOTdmYjM1ZTItOWNlYi00OTNjLWI1ZDYtOTkyOTA0NGUzMWQ0&hl=en&authkey=CIz–pYK
• How to install OpenERP 6 on Ubuntu 10.04 for beginners:
  http://www.openerp.com/forum/topic17584.html
• How to install OpenERP6 on Ubuntu 10.04
  http://www.openerp.com/forum/topic22157.html
• How to install OpenERP 6 on Ubuntu 10.04 in a Virtual Machine:
  http://www.smartmode.co.uk/site/OpenERP-6-a-how-to-install-on-Ubuntu-10.4
• Installing OpenERP on Ubuntu 10.0.4 LTS
  http://brunogirin.blogspot.com/2010/05/installing-openerp-on-ubuntu-1004-lts.html