mediawiki Installation Guide Installation Guide

mediawiki is a free and open-source wiki platform. MediaWiki powers Wikipedia and provides collaborative documentation platform

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 512MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for data

Network: HTTP/HTTPS access

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 80 (default mediawiki port)

None

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install mediawiki
sudo dnf install -y mediawiki

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mediawiki

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install mediawiki
sudo apt install -y mediawiki

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mediawiki

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 80

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Install mediawiki
sudo pacman -S mediawiki

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mediawiki

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Install mediawiki
apk add --no-cache mediawiki

# Enable and start service
rc-update add mediawiki default
rc-service mediawiki start

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Install mediawiki
sudo zypper install -y mediawiki

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now mediawiki

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install mediawiki

# Start service
brew services start mediawiki

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install mediawiki

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'mediawiki_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service mediawiki start

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install mediawiki

# Or using Scoop
scoop install mediawiki

# Verify installation
mediawiki --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/mediawiki

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
mediawiki --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable mediawiki

# Start service
sudo systemctl start mediawiki

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop mediawiki

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart mediawiki

# Check status
sudo systemctl status mediawiki

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u mediawiki -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add mediawiki default

# Start service
rc-service mediawiki start

# Stop service
rc-service mediawiki stop

# Restart service
rc-service mediawiki restart

# Check status
rc-service mediawiki status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'mediawiki_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service mediawiki start

# Stop service
service mediawiki stop

# Restart service
service mediawiki restart

# Check status
service mediawiki status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start mediawiki
brew services stop mediawiki
brew services restart mediawiki

# Check status
brew services list | grep mediawiki

powershell

# Start service
net start mediawiki

# Stop service
net stop mediawiki

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service mediawiki
Stop-Service mediawiki
Restart-Service mediawiki

# Check status
Get-Service mediawiki

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream mediawiki_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:80;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mediawiki.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name mediawiki.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/mediawiki.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/mediawiki.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://mediawiki_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName mediawiki.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://mediawiki.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName mediawiki.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/mediawiki.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/mediawiki.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:80/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:80/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend mediawiki_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/mediawiki.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend mediawiki_backend

backend mediawiki_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server mediawiki1 127.0.0.1:80 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R mediawiki:mediawiki /etc/mediawiki
sudo chmod 750 /etc/mediawiki

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status mediawiki

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u mediawiki -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep mediawiki)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/mediawiki"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/mediawiki-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/mediawiki /var/lib/mediawiki

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/mediawiki-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop mediawiki

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/mediawiki/mediawiki-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start mediawiki

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u mediawiki -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/mediawiki/mediawiki.log

# Check configuration
mediawiki --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/mediawiki

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 80

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 80

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep mediawiki)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep mediawiki)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 80

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  mediawiki:
    image: mediawiki:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/mediawiki
      - ./data:/var/lib/mediawiki
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update mediawiki

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade mediawiki

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu mediawiki

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade mediawiki

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update mediawiki

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade mediawiki

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/mediawiki-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/mediawiki

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart mediawiki

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/mediawiki

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/mediawiki -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/mediawiki

Official Documentation: https://docs.mediawiki.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/mediawiki/mediawiki

Community Forum: https://forum.mediawiki.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.mediawiki.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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