Virola self-hosted server installation on Alma Linux and Rocky Linux

We tested this instruction on freshly installed Alma Linux 8, 9 and Rocky Linux 8, 9.

The instruction is also valid for centOS and other RedHat/Fedora-based Linux distros.

Download the Virola Server installation package and install it
```
dnf install -y https://virola.io/downloads/2.5.1.25040115/virola-server-fedora-2.5.1.25040115_x86_64.rpm
```
During installation, you'll be prompted to register the Virola Server as a systemd service (daemon). Unfortunately, it's not yet possible to run the Virola Server as a daemon on RedHat/Fedora-based Linux distributions. Therefore, answer n to the prompt Do you want to configure Virola Server? and complete the installation.
Open TCP and UDP ports on which Virola Server will listen in the system firewall, then reboot
```
firewall-cmd --add-port PORT/tcp --add-port PORT/udp --permanent
reboot
```
PORT - can be any valid port number (from 1 to 65535), but must be the same for both TCP and UDP protocols.
Run Virola server
```
virola-server --listen *:PORT
```
Where * (asterisk) — means that the Virola server will listen on all available IP addresses. Or you can set the specific IP address explicitly, for example virola-server --listen 127.0.0.1:7777

You may want your Virola Server to be available only from your current Linux machine, from your local network, or from the whole 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
- How to make your server app publicly accessible
- How to make Virola server app publicly accessible on macOS

Next steps

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

Go to Virola Client downloads
Download Virola Client installer for Alma / Rocky Linux (.rpm file)
Proceed with the 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.

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.