Install Rudder 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 8.1

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

Before installation

Before all, you need to set up 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.

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 /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/rudder_apt_key.gpg "https://repository.rudder.io/apt/rudder_apt_key.gpg"

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:
#   "bullseye" for Debian 11
#   "jammy"    for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)] http://repository.rudder.io/apt/8.1/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rudder.list

If you have an active subscription, use the following to get access to long term support. You need to replace the username (LOGIN) and the password (PASSWORD) by your Rudder account:

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)] https://download.rudder.io/apt/8.1/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/rudder.list

echo 'machine download.rudder.io login LOGIN password PASSWORD' > /etc/apt/auth.conf.d/rudder.conf
chmod 640 /etc/apt/auth.conf.d/rudder.conf

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

apt-get update

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

apt-get install rudder-server

Initial configuration

User account

Now the installation is complete you need to create a first user account. The easiest way is to use the dedicated command to create a local admin user:

# Replace USERNAME by the user you want to create
rudder server create-user -u USERNAME

It will ask you a password twice and will create the user.

Read more about user account options in the dedicated section.

First connection

Once all these steps have been completed, use your web browser to go to the server URL. Use your first user credentials to connect.

Now you should go to Settings → General → Allowed Networks and check that the networks listed there properly include all your nodes network addresses. By default, this will contain your server’s attached networks.

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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