Installing Akaunting (open source accounting / invoicing software) on Ubuntu 18.04 LEMP

Welcome to my quick guide how to install self-hosted Akaunting web application. Akaunting is a very good open source accounting software. It is 100% free to use and customize because it is open source. It is built solidly using PHP and Laravel and stores data using MySQL server.

Here is the link to Akaunting project official website:

https://www.akaunting.com

Before you get started you may want to install LEMP (linux nginx mysql and PHP) first.
I have a quick 10 minute guide here:

https://ubuntu-server-how-to-tips-tricks.blogspot.com/2019/10/installing-lemp-linux-nginx-mysql-php.html

in this example I am going to store my akaunting software in /data_local/app/www/akaunting
yours may be different such as /var/www/akaunting


After you have LEMP installed you can start installing Akaunting:


DOWNLOAD AND COPY AKAUNTING ZIP FILE FROM THIS URL

https://akaunting.com/thank-you


PREPARE THE DESTINATION DIRECTORY

mkdir -p /data_local/app/www/akaunting


UNZIP THE AKAUNTING ZIP FILE  (adjust filename as necessary for different version)

unzip Akaunting_1.3.17-Stable.zip


SET CORRECT PERMISSION ON DESTINATION DIRECTORY

chmod -R 775 /data_local/app/www/akaunting
chown -R www-data:www-data /data_local/app/www/akaunting


SETUP MYSQL DATABASE, USER AND PERMISSIONS

sudo mysql
create database akaunting;
create user accountant@localhost identified by '<your_password_here>';
grant all privileges on akaunting.* to accountant@localhost;
flush privileges;
exit;


INSTALL ADDITIONAL PHP MODULES AS REQUIRED BY AKAUNTING

sudo apt install php-imagick php7.2-gd php7.2-curl php7.2-zip php7.2-xml php7.2-mbstring php7.2-bz2 php7.2-intl


SETUP NGINX CONFIGURATION FILE USING THE FOLLOWING TEXT

nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

server {

    listen 80 default_server;

    # listen 443 ssl http2;



    # ssl_certificate /ssl/crt/file.crt;

    # ssl_certificate_key /ssl/key/file.key;



    server_name _;



    root /data_local/app/www/akaunting/;



    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";

    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";

    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";



    index index.html index.htm index.php;



    charset utf-8;



    location / {

        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;

    }



    # Prevent Direct Access To Protected Files

    location ~ \.(env|log) {

        deny all;

    }



    # Prevent Direct Access To Protected Folders

    location ~ ^/(^app$|bootstrap|config|database|resources|routes|storage|tests|artisan) {

        deny all;

    }



    # Prevent Direct Access To modules/vendor Folders Except Assets

    location ~ ^/(modules|vendor)\/(.*)\.((?!ico|gif|jpg|jpeg|png|js|css|less|sass|font|woff|woff2|eot|ttf|svg).)*$ {

        deny all;

    }



    error_page 404 /index.php;



    # Pass PHP Scripts To FastCGI Server

    location ~ \.php$ {

        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;

        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock; # Depends On The PHP Version

        fastcgi_index index.php;

        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;

        include fastcgi_params;

    }



    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {

        deny all;

    }

}

sudo systemctl nginx reload


GO TO BROWSER AND FINISH CONFIGURATION

Just follow the rest of the guide / wizard from the Akaunting.

Congratulations! You have just installed a free and powerful accounting software for your business!

REVERSE PROXY SETTING

If you are using Akaunting behind reverse proxy, make sure you add this setting:

fastcgi_param HTTPS 1;

This setting saved my day!