This tutorial requires advanced knowledge. We recommend you get professionals to do this if you are not at an advanced level.
Requires: phpFox version >= 4.5.2
The IM app requires NodeJS and Redis. In this article, we will go over how to setup NodeJS and Redis on the Linux Flavor, Ubuntu. We recommend that you separate your NodeJS, Redis and HTTP server from each other. Your HTTP server is the main web server that has your phpFox source code.
Hosting Services
There are cloud-based services where you can host your NodeJS code and Redis database without having to setup anything on a server.
Setup on Your Own Servers
If you decide to setup NodeJS and Redis on your own web environments, let's first set up NodeJS.
Node JS
Connect to your NodeJS server via SSH and run the command
sudo apt-get install nodejs sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nodejs /usr/bin/node sudo apt-get install npm
At this point your NodeJS is setup. FTP/SSH to the server and upload the folder /PF.Site/Apps/core-im/server/ to a secure directory on your server that does not have HTTP access to it. You can find this folder in the phpFox ZIP package you get when you downloaded our product.
Via SSH navigate to the folder you just uploaded. You use the CD command to do this. Example:
cd /some/folder
Once you reached your NodeJS script you need to install all the libraries required to run the script.
npm update npm install
Next, rename the sample config file.
mv config.js.new config.js
Update the config file with your information:
- chat_server_key: server key, remember it to configure in ACP
- redis: information of your Redis server: host, port, and password
module.exports = { port: 3000, chat_server_key: "your-chat-server-key", secure: false, // use ssl ? privateKey: "./private_key.key", // path to private key ? cert: "./cert.crt", // path to cert key ? redis: { host: '127.0.0.1', port: 6379, password: '' } };
Redis
Next, we need to install Redis.
sudo apt-get install redis-server
SSL Configurations
Please skip this step if your phpFox site doesn't support SSL.
It requires your Chat supports SSL also if you want to use IM app on an SSL site. So, make sure that you have enabled SSL before doing below step:
Open the file config.js, set true for a secure property, you also need to provide the path of private key file and cert key file, an example of the change:
module.exports = { port: 3000, chat_server_key: "your-chat-server-key", secure: true, // use ssl ? privateKey: "./private_key.key", // path to private key ? cert: "./cert.crt", // path to cert key ? redis: { host: '127.0.0.1', port: 6379 } };
Note: In case you are using Nginx server, you can add below configurations to your server instead of updating file config.js as above. Don't forget to update the path for your certificate and private key files. (For many distributions, the file will be located at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf. If it does not exist there, it may also be at /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf or /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf)
# your SSL configuration #ssl on; #ssl_certificate /path/to/ssl_cert.crt; #ssl_certificate_key /path/to/ssl_private_key.key; location /socket.io/ { # switch off logging access_log off; # redirect all HTTP traffic to 127.0.0.1:3000 proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header Host $host; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; # WebSocket support (nginx 1.4) proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade"; }
Congratulation! Chat server has been set up completely, run below command to start it:
node index.js
Enabling from AdminCP
With both NodeJS and Redis installed you can now visit your AdminCP and head over to the IM App: AdminCP > Apps > IM
For the setting Provide your Node JS server enter: http://your-nodejs-server.com:3000 or https://your-nodejs-server.com:3000
In Provide your Node JS server key, enter the key that you have configured in your chat server.
Make sure to change your-nodejs-server.com with the IP or Domain that leads to your NodeJS server.
Congratulations you have successfully setup the IM App.
To use the IM, see this tutorial.