How to Install Matomo Analytics on FreeBSD 11

• Requirements
• Before you begin
• Install PHP
• Install MariaDB
• Install and configure Nginx
• Install Matomo

Matomo (formerly Piwik) is an open source analytics platform, an open alternative to Google Analytics. Matomo source is hosted on GitHub. It is a fully featured PHP/MySQL software program that you download and install on your own web server. In this guide, we will install Matomo on a fresh FreeBSD 11 Vultr server instance.

Requirements

• A web server such as Nginx, Apache, or IIS. In this guide, we will use Nginx.
• MySQL/MariaDB version 5.5 or greater. In this guide, we will use MariaDB.
• PHP version 5.5.9 or greater.
• PHP extensions pdo and pdo_mysql, or the mysqli extension.

Before you begin

Check the FreeBSD version.

uname -ro
# FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE

Ensure that your FreeBSD system is up to date.

freebsd-update fetch install
pkg update && pkg upgrade -y

Install sudo, vim, unzip, wget and bash packages if they are not present on your system.

pkg install -y sudo vim unzip wget bash

Create a new user account with your preferred username (we will use johndoe).

adduser

# Username: johndoe
# Full name: John Doe
# Uid (Leave empty for default): <Enter>
# Login group [johndoe]: <Enter>
# Login group is johndoe. Invite johndoe into other groups? []: wheel
# Login class [default]: <Enter>
# Shell (sh csh tcsh nologin) [sh]: bash
# Home directory [/home/johndoe]: <Enter>
# Home directory permissions (Leave empty for default): <Enter>
# Use password-based authentication? [yes]: <Enter>
# Use an empty password? (yes/no) [no]: <Enter>
# Use a random password? (yes/no) [no]: <Enter>
# Enter password: your_secure_password
# Enter password again: your_secure_password
# Lock out the account after creation? [no]: <Enter>
# OK? (yes/no): yes
# Add another user? (yes/no): no
# Goodbye!

Run the visudo command and uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL line, to allow members of the wheel group to execute any command.

visudo

# Uncomment by removing hash (#) sign
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Now, switch to your newly created user with su command.

su - johndoe

NOTE: Replace johndoe with your username.

Set up the timezone.

sudo tzsetup

Install PHP

Install PHP, as well as the necessary PHP extensions.

sudo pkg install -y php72 php72-ctype php72-curl php72-dom php72-hash php72-iconv php72-gd php72-json php72-mbstring php72-openssl php72-session php72-simplexml php72-xml php72-zip php72-zlib php72-pdo php72-pdo_mysql php72-mysqli php72-filter php72-ftp php72-tokenizer php72-calendar php72-pecl-APCu php72-opcache

Check the version.

php --version
# PHP 7.2.10 (cli) (built: Oct  2 2018 01:30:18) ( NTS )
# Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
# Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
#     with Zend OPcache v7.2.10, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies

Soft-link php.ini-production to php.ini.

sudo ln -s /usr/local/etc/php.ini-production /usr/local/etc/php.ini

Enable and start PHP-FPM.

sudo sysrc php_fpm_enable=yes
sudo service php-fpm start

Install MariaDB

Download and install MariaDB.

sudo pkg install -y mariadb102-client mariadb102-server

Check the version.

mysql --version
# mysql  Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.2.17-MariaDB, for FreeBSD11.2 (amd64) using readline 5.1

Enable and start MariaDB.

sudo sysrc mysql_enable="yes" 
sudo service mysql-server start

Run the mysql_secure_installation script to improve the security of your MariaDB installation.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Log in to MariaDB as the root user.

sudo mysql -u root -p
# Enter password:

Create a new MariaDB database and user, and remember the credentials.

CREATE DATABASE dbname;
GRANT ALL ON dbname.* TO 'username' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Exit MariaDB.

exit

Install and configure Nginx

Install Nginx.

sudo pkg install -y nginx

Check the version.

nginx -v
# nginx version: nginx/1.14.0

Enable and start Nginx.

sudo sysrc nginx_enable=yes
sudo service nginx start

Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/matomo.conf and configure Nginx for Matomo.

server {

  listen [::]:80;
  listen 80;

  server_name matomo.example.com;

  root /usr/local/www/matomo/;

  index index.php;

  location ~ ^/(index|matomo|piwik|js/index).php {
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    try_files $fastcgi_script_name =404;
    set $path_info $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $path_info;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
  }

  location = /plugins/HeatmapSessionRecording/configs.php { 
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    try_files $fastcgi_script_name =404;
    set $path_info $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $path_info;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
  }

  location ~* ^.+\.php$ {
    deny all;
    return 403;
  }

  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
  }

  location ~ /(config|tmp|core|lang) {
    deny all;
    return 403; 
  }

  location ~ /\.ht {
    deny  all;
    return 403;
  }

  location ~ \.(gif|ico|jpg|png|svg|js|css|htm|html|mp3|mp4|wav|ogg|avi|ttf|eot|woff|woff2|json)$ {
    allow all;
    expires 1h;
    add_header Pragma public;
    add_header Cache-Control "public";
  }

  location ~ /(libs|vendor|plugins|misc/user) {
    deny all;
    return 403;
  }

  location ~/(.*\.md|LEGALNOTICE|LICENSE) {
    default_type text/plain;
  }

}

Save the file and exit with :+W+Q.

Now we need to include matomo.conf file to the main nginx.conf file.

Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf and add the following line to the http {} block.

include matomo.conf;

Test Nginx configuration.

sudo nginx -t

Reload Nginx.

sudo service nginx reload

Install Matomo

Create a document root directory.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/www/matomo

Change ownership of the /usr/local/www/matomo directory to johndoe.

sudo chown -R johndoe:johndoe /usr/local/www/matomo

Navigate to the document root directory.

cd /usr/local/www/matomo

Download the latest Matomo release and unzip it.

wget https://builds.matomo.org/matomo.zip
unzip matomo.zip
rm matomo.zip
mv matomo/* . && mv matomo/.* .
rmdir matomo

Change ownership of the /usr/local/www/matomo directory to www.

sudo chown -R www:www /usr/local/www/matomo

Open your web browser and navigate to the IP/URL to which you have uploaded Matomo. You will see the "Matomo Installation Welcome Screen". If there are any problems, Matomo will identify them and offer a solution. Follow the instructions on the screen to finish the Matomo installation.