Install Rudder root server on Debian or Ubuntu

If you are working on a test system, you can use the quick install script:

curl https://repository.rudder.io/tools/rudder-setup | bash -s setup-server 5.0

That will automatically execute the installation, and you can go directly to the Initial configuration section below.

Before installation

Before all, you need to setup a server according to the server specifications. You should also configure the network.

As Rudder data can grow really fast depending on your number of managed nodes and number of rules, it is advised to separate partitions to prevent /var getting full and break your system.

Dependencies

Rudder requires Java RE (version 8 at least) which is not packaged by default on Debian 8. The Java RE 8 for Debian can be found through Oracle’s website: https://www.java.com

Installation

Each official package is signed with our GPG signature. To ensure the packages you will install are official builds and have not been altered, import our key into apt using the following command:

wget --quiet -O- "https://repository.rudder.io/apt/rudder_apt_key.pub" | sudo apt-key add -

Our key fingerprint is:

pub  4096R/474A19E8 2011-12-15 Rudder Project (release key) <security@rudder-project.org>
      Key fingerprint = 7C16 9817 7904 212D D58C  B4D1 9322 C330 474A 19E8

Add Rudder’s package repository:

# If lsb_release is not installed on your machine, change $(lb_release -cs) by your distribution codename.
# Ex:
#   stretch for Debian 9
#   bionic  for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

echo "deb http://repository.rudder.io/apt/5.0/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rudder.list

Update your local package database to retrieve the list of packages available on our repository:

apt-get update

To begin the installation, you should simply install the rudder-server-root metapackage, which will install the required components:

apt-get install rudder-server-root

Initial configuration

After the installation, you have to configure some system elements, by launching the following initialisation script:

/opt/rudder/bin/rudder-init

This script will ask you to fill in the following details:

Allowed networks: A list of IP networks authorized to connect to the server. It uses the network/CIDR mask notation, for instance 192.168.0.0/24 or 10.0.0.0/8. To add several networks, first type the first network, then press the return key - the script will ask if you wish to add some more networks. Also, the allowed networks can be adjusted later in the web interface in the Administration - Settings tab without having to run the script again.

In case of typing error, or if you wish to reconfigure Rudder, you can execute this script again as many times as you want.

Validate the installation

Once all these steps have been completed, use your web browser to go to the URL given in the output of rudder-init.

You should see a loading screen, then a login prompt. The default login is:

User: admin
Password: admin

You are strongly advised to change this password as soon as possible.

The setup of the Rudder server is now over. If you plan to manage hundreds or thousands of nodes, please note that some performance tuning can be necessary on the system.

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