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Virola self-hosted server installation on Debian and Ubuntu

  1. Download the Virola Server installation package 
    wget https://virola.io/downloads/2.5.1.25040115/virola-server-debian-2.5.1.25040115_amd64.deb
  2. Install Virola Server 
    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt --yes --fix-broken install ./virola-server-debian-2.5.1.25040115_amd64.deb
  3. Choose host and port your server will be listening on. You will need to enter them later to launch the server. You may want your Virola Server to be accessible:
    • only from your current Linux machine,
    • from your local network,
    • or from the entire world.
    Depending on your needs, you may need to adjust your network configuration and choose a specific IP address as the server host. Learn more about this from our articles
  4. During the installation, you will be offered to register Virola server as a systemd service (daemon). This allows to launch the server automatically with the system startup and restart it gracefully. We recommend choosing this option.
    To register Virola server as a systemd service, do the following:
    1. Answer Y to the question Do you want to configure Virola Server? and proceed with answering Y to all of the following questions.
    2. Then enter the IP address you've chosen as the host on step 3 as an answer to the question Enter IP on which Virola Server will listen when running as Systemd service (0.0.0.0)
      You may use the IP address 0.0.0.0 to make the server accessible from anywhere, but be sure to have proper security measures in place to protect it.
    3. Enter the port you've chosen on step 3 as an answer to the question Enter PORT on which Virola Server will listen when running as Systemd service (7777)
    4. Answer Y to the question Do you want to start Virola Server Sysetmd service now?
    After this your system service configuration will be created and Virola server will be launched. You'll see your credentials to login to Virola client app as the server administrator:
Screenshot of the process of registering Virola server as systemd service (daemon)

Automatically configured systemd service will be restarted on each server update by the server installer.

If you need to start / stop your systemd service manually, change its configuration, move Virola server database to another location, follow the instructions provided for managing systemd services on Ubuntu / Debian

If you chose not to register Virola server as a systemd service

If you don't want to register Virola server as a systemd service, just answer n to the question Do you want to configure Virola Server? during the installation. The installation will be completed, and you'll be able to run the server manually by executing the following command: 

virola-server --listen HOST:PORT

where

  • HOST - host you've chosen for your Virola Server
  • PORT - port you've chosen for the your Virola Server

Example:
virola-server --listen 127.0.0.1:7777

If you decide to register your Virola server as a systemd service later, follow the instruction.

Next steps

To communicate via the installed Virola Server, you will need to install Virola Client:

  1. Go to Virola Client downloads
  2. Download Virola Client installer for Debian / Ubuntu
  3. Proceed with the standard installation

Logging into Virola Client

Upon launching the Virola Client, you will need to enter the following details on the login screen:

  • Server Host - host you've specified when running Virola Server (127.0.0.1 in the example above)
  • Server Port - the port you specified when running Virola server (7777 in the example above)
  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin

After entering these details, click on "Login" button.

Now you can use Virola Client for both communication, and your team and server management. Use our video tutorials to learn how to add users, create chat rooms, etc.

Video tutorial

Detailed video tutorial about setting up and running Virola server on Debian Linux:

Important Notes

Make sure to change your default admin password to a more secure one as soon as possible. You can do this either from the Virola Client (Hamburger menu / My User Profile / User Account Settings / Change My User Password) or using the --change-password command line argument of the Virola server.

We strongly recommend to encrypt Linux machine on which Virola server is running. The best way is to encrypt it during Linux installation but it is also possible to encrypt the existing Linux instance. We've prepared a detailed instruction about disc encryption in Linux environment for you.

For any questions or additional assistance, our online support team is available to help. Click the live chat button to start a conversation with one of our support representatives.