nodebb Installation Guide Installation Guide

nodebb is a free and open-source Node.js based forum. NodeBB provides modern forum software built on Node.js

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 1GB 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 4567 (default nodebb 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 nodebb
sudo dnf install -y nodebb

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=4567/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install nodebb
sudo apt install -y nodebb

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

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 4567

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

# Install nodebb
sudo pacman -S nodebb

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

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

# Install nodebb
apk add --no-cache nodebb

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

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

# Install nodebb
sudo zypper install -y nodebb

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=4567/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install nodebb

# Start service
brew services start nodebb

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install nodebb

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

# Start service
service nodebb start

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install nodebb

# Or using Scoop
scoop install nodebb

# Verify installation
nodebb --version

bash

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

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

# Test configuration
nodebb --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable nodebb

# Start service
sudo systemctl start nodebb

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop nodebb

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart nodebb

# Check status
sudo systemctl status nodebb

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u nodebb -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add nodebb default

# Start service
rc-service nodebb start

# Stop service
rc-service nodebb stop

# Restart service
rc-service nodebb restart

# Check status
rc-service nodebb status

bash

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

# Start service
service nodebb start

# Stop service
service nodebb stop

# Restart service
service nodebb restart

# Check status
service nodebb status

bash

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

# Check status
brew services list | grep nodebb

powershell

# Start service
net start nodebb

# Stop service
net stop nodebb

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

# Check status
Get-Service nodebb

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream nodebb_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:4567;
}

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

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

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

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://nodebb_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 nodebb.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://nodebb.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName nodebb.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/nodebb.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/nodebb.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:4567/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:4567/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend nodebb_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/nodebb.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend nodebb_backend

backend nodebb_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server nodebb1 127.0.0.1:4567 check

bash

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=4567/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 nodebb

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u nodebb -f

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

bash

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

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

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

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop nodebb

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

# Start service
sudo systemctl start nodebb

1. Service won't start:

bash

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

# Check configuration
nodebb --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/nodebb

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 4567

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 4567

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

3. Performance issues:

bash

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

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

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 4567

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  nodebb:
    image: nodebb:latest
    ports:
      - "4567:4567"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/nodebb
      - ./data:/var/lib/nodebb
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

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

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

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu nodebb

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade nodebb

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update nodebb

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade nodebb

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

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart nodebb

Regular Maintenance

bash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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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