Hi All, Today we are going to setup Xibo which is an open source digital signage(public display signs) solution that comprised of a web based content management system (CMS) and choice of Windows or Android signage players. The best way to capture the attention of people for your very important announcements can be done with digital signs using Xibo. It lets us to turn PCs and TVs into a distinctive way of getting the word out, transforming them into information desks which you can place in strategic locations to draw people's attention.
Using Xibo, you can set up your own digital signage server that can push out images, video, and even PowerPoint presentations to kioks automatically, allowing you to keep your entire organization up to date on your latest news without resorting to mass e-mailings or having to hand-edit files or slideshows on multiple machines.
Xibo Prerequisites
Xibo is a web based application developed in PHP language, so we need to install a Web server, database and PHP5 including its some extra supporting libraries.
Let's follow the below steps to complete the prerequisites.
1) System Update
Prepare your system with latest updates, to do so must have access to the Internet and sudo privileges. Once you are login to your Ubuntu server run the below command to update your system.
# apt-get update
2) Installing Packages
As we discussed earlier Xibo is a web based application, so we have to install a web server, database and PHP5. To install all these required packages including some of the shown below PHP libraries run the below command.
# apt-get install apache2 mysql-server php5 php5-curl php5-gd php5-mysql php5-mcrypt
Configure the password for the mysql root user as you will be asked to do so during the first time installation of MySQL database.
3) Downloading Xibo
After installing the required packages, download the Xibo installation package by using wget command as shown below.
# wget https://github.com/xibosignage/xibo-cms/archive/1.7.5.tar.gz -O xibo-server.tar.gz
To extract the compressed archive run the below command to extract it.
# tar -zxvf xibo-server.tar.gz
4) Setup Web Server
Before moving to the installation process of Xibo, we will configure the document root directory for Xibo and assign it the apache rights. First run the below command to move the extracted package into the document root directory and give it permissions of Apache Web server so that you can have access its web interface.
# mv xibo-cms-1.7.5/ /var/www/html/xibo-server
# chown www-data:www-data -R /var/www/html/xibo-server
Then create a directory for the media files to be stored in by using the below command.
# mkdir /media/xibo-library
# chown www-data:www-data -R /media/xibo-library
Installing Xibo Server
Let's start the web installation of Xibo Server and complete the steps to complete its setup by using the below steps by open the below URL in your favorite web browser.
http://your_servers_ip/xibo-server/
1) Extensions Test
You might get an error of missing libraries in ubuntu 15 like Mcrypt extension. To resolve the mcrypt issue let's do the following.
# updatedb
# locate mcrypt.ini
# locate mcrypt.so
Then open the 'mcrypt.ini' file to configure its extension.
# vim /etc/php5/mods-available/mcrypt.ini
; configuration for php MCrypt module
extension=/usr/lib/php5/20131226/mcrypt.so
:wq!
After saving the file create the symbolic links in between the below files and then restart Apache web service.
# ln -s /etc/php5/mods-available/mcrypt.ini /etc/php5/cli/conf.d/20-mcrypt.ini
# ln -s /etc/php5/mods-available/mcrypt.ini /etc/php5/apache2/conf.d/20-mcrypt.ini
# service apache2 restart
After that click on the 'Retest' button to verify the successful installation of all extensions and press the Next key to proceed forward upon success.
2) Database Settings
Xibo needs to set-up a connection to your MySQL database.
If you have not yet created an empty database and database user for Xibo to use, and know the user name / password of a MySQL administrator stay on this tab, otherwise click "Use Existing" as shown below.
3) Setup Admin
Xibo needs an administrator user account to be the first user account that has access to the CMS, choose the appropriate user and then click on the Next button to proceed.
4) Media Location
Xibo needs somewhere to store the things you upload to be shown, so configure the location and its secret key here as shown.
5) Xibo Login
Congratulations, initial web installation setup is complete now login to your Xibo server by providing the admin account user credentials.
Welcome to the Xibo CMS dashboard now enjoy using Xibo, to get further help in using Xibo CMS click on the Getting Started Guide as shown.
Conclusion
I hope you get this article much helpful to setup Xibo on Ubuntu 14/15. If you wish to upload large size of images, you can do so by the configuration of 'Php.ini' fil. For further settings and customization of Xibo CMS you can consider reading its official documentation for more details. Thank you for reading, and get back to us if you face any issue and leave your valuable comments.
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