Installing Request Tracker 4 on Debian (1/2)

Previously I talked about why you need a ticketing system, this post (and the next) will cover installing Request Tracker 4 on Debian 7 using packages.

Install Request Tracker

This guide assumes you are installing a fresh install of Debian 7 onto a new computer (or virtual machine). I strongly recommend using 1GB+ of memory. Feel free to change settings to suit your environment and use your favorite text editor (vi, emacs, butterflies etc) instead of nano.

With a few minor changes these instruction should also work on any Debian based system with access to the Request Tracker 4 packages (Ubuntu 11.10/12.04).

Update Jan 2013 I have created an Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server version of this guide here.
Update July 2013 This document has been updated to support Debian 7 Wheezy.

I have used PostgreSQL over MySQL as it makes enabling fast full-text searching in RT4 much easier.

Requirements

You will need to have a few basic things before proceeding:

  • Spare server (or VM) with 1GB+ RAM and at least 9GB HDD (more is better)
  • Email account for RT (I have used rt@example.com)
  • Email account for RT comments (I used rt-comments@example.com)
  • A basic understanding of Linux, networking etc

Debian Install

Install Debian 7 using the net-inst .ISO image (choose settings that suit your environment)

  • Select Language (English)
  • Select Location
  • Select Keyboard Layout
  • Edit the Hostname (rt)
  • Edit the Domain Name (example.com)
  • Set the root password
  • Add a normal user
  • Set password
  • Configure the clock
  • Partition Disks
  • Wait while the base system installs (make a coffee..)
  • Select the nearest/fastest Debian package mirror
  • Configure proxy if required
  • Wait while the installer runs a few tasks
  • Choose if you want to participate in the Debian popularity contest
  • Select Packages – de-select Graphical Desktop and Print Server, but add SSH Server
  • Wait while the installer downloads and installs packages
  • Install the GRUB boot loader
  • Finish install, remove CD, Continue to reboot

sudo Setup

Login as your root user and install sudo

apt-get install sudo

Add your normal user to the sudo security group

adduser youruser sudo

Logout and login as your regular user.

Network Setup

Configure a Static IP address and DNS resolution

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Change the following two lines from:

allow-hotplug eth0
 iface eth0 inet dhcp

To suit your environment:

auto eth0
 iface eth0 inet static
 address 192.168.1.100
 broadcast 192.168.1.255
 gateway 192.168.1.1
 dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1

Restart networking and test:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
ping google.com

No covered here but now is a good time to configure SSH (preferably using certificates).

Continued in Part 2/2

Links

http://wiki.debian.org/Manual-Howto

One thought on “Installing Request Tracker 4 on Debian (1/2)

  1. Pingback: Updated Request Tracker 4 on Debian install guide | Burn.co.nz

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