This guide will take you through the steps of installing the Student Reward platform. Please make sure you have read all the system requirements before you continue.
¶ Updating your DNS
To start, make sure you have a domain name and it is pointed correctly at your server.
There should be 2 DNS records, here is an example:
Note: Make sure to replace 1.2.3.4 with your server IP address.
¶ Installing the Web Server
Student Rewards can run on most major web servers, this guide will cover the 2 most popular; Nginx & Apache. Nginx is recommended.
¶ Create SSL Certificate with Certbot
Install certbot.
apt -y install certbotCreate the certificate
certbot certonly --webroot -w /var/www/html -d yourdomain.comMake sure to replace yoursite.com with your domain address.
Now, follow the steps in the terminal.
¶ Nginx Installation (Do not install if you installed apache)
Upgrade & update your packages.
sudo apt upgrade -yInstall Nginx
sudo apt install curl gnupg2 ca-certificates lsb-release
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt install nginx -yInstall PHP
sudo apt install php php-fpm php-gd php-zipNow, do the following command to create the Nginx config
cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
curl https://docs.studentrewards.co.nz/_assets/configs/nginx_rewards.conf > nginx_rewards.confMake sure to replace yoursite.com with your site domain.
Now, restart Nginx to apply the changes.
sudo systemctl restart nginx
¶ Apache Installation (Do not install if you installed nginx)
Upgrade & update your packages.
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt upgrade -yInstall Apache
sudo apt install apache2
sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-phpNow, do the following command to create the Apache config
cd /etc/apache2/sites-enabled
curl https://docs.studentrewards.co.nz/_assets/configs/apache_rewards.conf > apache_rewards.confMake sure to replace yoursite.com with your site domain.
Now, restart Apache to apply the changes.
sudo systemctl restart apache2
¶ Install MariaDB (MySQL Database)
Only install this if you need it. Student Rewards requires a MySQL database, this section will take you through the steps to install MariaDB (database server) and how to configure it.
¶ Dependencies
First, install the required dependencies using the following command:
apt-get install curl software-properties-common dirmngr gnupg2 -yOnce all the dependencies are installed, download and add the GPG key with the following command:
curl -LsS -O https://downloads.mariadb.com/MariaDB/mariadb_repo_setup
bash mariadb_repo_setup --os-type=debian --os-version=buster --mariadb-server-version=10.6Next, download and install the MariaDB repository installation package using the command below:
wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/r/readline5/libreadline5_5.2+dfsg-3+b13_amd64.deb
dpkg -i libreadline5_5.2+dfsg-3+b13_amd64.debOnce the repository is added, you can update the package cache with the following command:
apt-get update -y
¶ Install MariaDB
Now, run the following command to install MariaDB 10.6.
apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client -yOnce the installation is completed, start and enable the MariaDB service using the following command:
systemctl start mariadb
systemctl enable mariadb
¶ Securing MariaDB
By default, the MariaDB installation is not secured and its root password is not set. You can do both by running the following script:
mysql_secure_installationYou will be asked several questions to secure the MariaDB installation and set the root password, as shown below:
Enter current password for root (enter for none):
Switch to unix_socket authentication [Y/n] Y
Change the root password? [Y/n] Y
New password: newpassword
Re-enter new password: newpassword
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y
¶ Creating a User
Once you are done, log in to the MariaDB shell with the following command:
mysql -u root -pNow, create a new user called studentrewards, run the following command:
CREATE USER 'studentrewards'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'enter_a_password_here';Grant all privileges to the user by running the following command:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'studentrewards'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'same_password_as_above';Next, reload the privileges using the following command:
FLUSH privileges;Now, you can use these credentials later in the setup process.
¶ Install the Platform
Once that is completed, choose a destination on your server to install Student Rewards. Here, we are installing it into /var/studentrewards
sudo mkdir /var/studentrewards
cd /var/studentrewardsDownload the StudentRewards-v****.zip from your account page at https://studentrewards.co.nz/account/downloads then, extract those files into the folder of choice.
sudo unzip StudentRewards-v****.zipMake sure to replace **** with the correct file name.
Now, update file permissions.
sudo chown <user>:www-data /var/studentrewards/ -R
sudo chmod 775 /var/studentrewards/ -RFinally, you are ready to install the system. Make sure you have your database credentials and school info ready.
Head to https://yoursite.com/ to complete the setup.