How to Install InvoicePlane with Apache and Free Let's Encrypt SSL Certificate on Debian 11

InvoicePlane is a free, open-source, and self-hosted application for managing your quotes, invoices, clients, and payments. It is used by many organizations and freelancers to manage their payments and invoices. It offers custom templates, themes, and other tools that help you to increase the functionality of InvoicePlane. It also supports multiple languages and multiple payment providers such as Paypal, Stripe or even Bitcoin via Coinbase.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install InvoicePlane with Apache on Debian 11.

Prerequisites

  • A server running Debian 11.
  • A valid domain name pointed with your server IP.
  • A root password is configured on the server.

Install Apache, PHP, and MariaDB

First, you will need to install the Apache web server, MariaDB database server, PHP and other required PHP extensions to your server. You can install all of them by running the following command:

apt-get install apache2 mariadb-server php libapache2-mod-php php-common php-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-soap php-gd php-xml php-intl php-mysql wget unzip php-cli php-zip php-curl -y

Once all the packages are installed, edit the PHP configuration file and change the default settings:

nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

Change the following lines:

memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 128M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = UTC

Save and close the file then restart the Apache service to apply the changes:

systemctl restart apache2

Create a Database for InvoicePlane

Next, you will need to secure the MariaDB installation and create a database and user for InvoicePlane.

First, secure the MariaDB installation using the following command:

mysql_secure_installation

Answer all the questions as shown below:

Set root password? [Y/n] Y
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

Next, connect to the MariaDB shell with the following command:

mysql -u root -p

Once you are connected, create a database and user for InvoicePlane with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE invplanedb;
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'invplane'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Next, grant all the privileges to the InvoicePlane with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON invplanedb.* TO 'invplane'@'localhost';

Next, run the FLUSH PRIVILEGES command so that the privileges table will be reloaded by MariaDB:

MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Finally, exit from the MariaDB shell:

MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT

Install InvoicePlane

First, download the latest version of the InvoicePlane with the following command:

wget -c -O v1.5.11.zip https://invoiceplane.com/download/v1.5.11

Once the download is completed, create a directory for InvoicePlane and extract the downloaded file inside the InvoicePlane directory:

mkdir /var/www/html/invoiceplane
unzip v1.5.11.zip -d /var/www/html/invoiceplane

Next, navigate to the InvoicePlane directory and rename the configuration file and .htaccess file:

cd /var/www/html/invoiceplane
cp ipconfig.php.example ipconfig.php
cp htaccess .htaccess

Next, edit the ipconfig.php file with the following command:

nano ipconfig.php

Define your website URL and database settings as shown below:

IP_URL=http://invoice.example.com
DB_HOSTNAME=localhost
DB_USERNAME=invplane
DB_PASSWORD=password
DB_DATABASE=invplanedb
DB_PORT=3306

Next, set proper permission and ownership to the InvoicePlane directory:

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/invoiceplane/
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/invoiceplane/

Configure Apache for InvoicePlane

Next, you will need to create an Apache virtual host configuration file for InvoicePlane. You can create it with the following command:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/invoiceplane.conf

Add the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin [email protected]
     DocumentRoot /var/www/html/invoiceplane
     ServerName invoice.example.com


     <Directory /var/www/html/invoiceplane/>
          Options +FollowSymlinks
          AllowOverride All
          Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file then activate the Apache virtual host and rewrite module with the following command:

a2ensite invoiceplane.conf
a2enmod rewrite

Next, restart the Apache service to apply the configuration changes:

systemctl restart apache2

To verify the Apache status, run the following command:

systemctl status apache2

You will get the following output:

? apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2022-01-21 08:42:34 UTC; 5s ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
    Process: 15965 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 15970 (apache2)
      Tasks: 6 (limit: 2341)
     Memory: 15.1M
        CPU: 82ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ??15970 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??15971 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??15972 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??15973 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??15974 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??15975 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Jan 21 08:42:34 debian11 systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...

Access InvoicePlane Web UI

Now, open your web browser and access the InvoicePlane web interface using the URL http://invoice.example.com. You should see the following page:

InvoicePlane Installer

Click on the Setup button. You should see the Language selection page:

Choose language

Select your language and click on the Continue button. You should see the prerequisites page:

Prerequisites check

Click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:

Database details

Click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:

Install database tables

Click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:

Create a user account

Contact details

Provide your admin user account information, address and click on the Continue button. Once the InvoicePlane has been installed, you should see the following page:

InvoicePlane installation complete

Click on the Login button. You should see the following page:

Login

Provide your admin username, password then click on the Login button. You should see the InvoicePlane dashboard on the following page:

InvoicePlane dashboard

Secure InvoicePlane with Let's Encrypt SSL

It is always a good idea to secure your website with Let's Encrypt SSL. You will need to install the Certbot client to install and manage the SSL. You can install it with the following command:

apt-get install python3-certbot-apache -y

Once the Certbot is installed, run the following command to secure your website with Let's Encrypt SSL:

certbot --apache -d invoice.example.com

You will be asked to provide your email and accept the term of service as shown below:

Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
Plugins selected: Authenticator standalone, Installer None
Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices) (Enter 'c' to
cancel): [email protected]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please read the Terms of Service at
https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.2-November-15-2017.pdf. You must
agree in order to register with the ACME server at
https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(A)gree/(C)ancel: A

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Would you be willing to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit
organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about our work
encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(Y)es/(N)o: Y
Plugins selected: Authenticator apache, Installer apache
Obtaining a new certificate
Performing the following challenges:
http-01 challenge for invoice.example.com
Enabled Apache rewrite module
Waiting for verification...
Cleaning up challenges
Created an SSL vhost at /etc/apache2/sites-available/invoice-le-ssl.conf
Enabled Apache socache_shmcb module
Enabled Apache ssl module
Deploying Certificate to VirtualHost /etc/apache2/sites-available/invoice-le-ssl.conf
Enabling available site: /etc/apache2/sites-available/invoice-le-ssl.conf

Next, select whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS as shown below:

Please choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, removing HTTP access.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1: No redirect - Make no further changes to the webserver configuration.
2: Redirect - Make all requests redirect to secure HTTPS access. Choose this for
new sites, or if you're confident your site works on HTTPS. You can undo this
change by editing your web server's configuration.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press 'c' to cancel): 2

Type 2 and hit Enter to install the Let's Encrypt SSL for your website:

Enabled Apache rewrite module
Redirecting vhost in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/invoice.conf to ssl vhost in /etc/apache2/sites-available/invoice-le-ssl.conf

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Congratulations! You have successfully enabled https://invoice.example.com

You should test your configuration at:
https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=invoice.example.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IMPORTANT NOTES:
 - Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at:
   /etc/letsencrypt/live/invoice.example.com/fullchain.pem
   Your key file has been saved at:
   /etc/letsencrypt/live/invoice.example.com/privkey.pem
   Your cert will expire on 2022-04-23. To obtain a new or tweaked
   version of this certificate in the future, simply run certbot again
   with the "certonly" option. To non-interactively renew *all* of
   your certificates, run "certbot renew"
 - If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by:

   Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt:   https://letsencrypt.org/donate
   Donating to EFF:                    https://eff.org/donate-le

Conclusion

Congratulations! you have successfully installed InvoicePlane with Apache and Let's Encrypt SSL on Debian 11. You can now implement InvoicePlane in your company and start managing your payments and invoices from the web browser.

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