How to install LimeSurvey¶
Tutorial to install LimeSurvey¶
In this guide, we will demonstrate how to install and configure LimeSurvey. We’ll assume that you already have a server with Apache and PostgreSQL installed (If you installed NES, then you have it!).
Important technical information¶
This guide walks through an installation by using packages available through Debian 10 (code name: Buster), but can easily be adapted to other Unix operating systems.
For demonstration purposes, we will use the
/var/www
directory to deploy the LimeSurvey.Always check the official LimeSurvey manual for the most up-to-date information!
The latest version of LimeSurvey that works with NES is 2.73.1.
LimeSurvey 2.73.1 only works with PostgreSQL 11 or older versions.
Initial setup¶
Before running through the steps of this tutorial, make sure that all of your repositories are up to date:
apt update
Install some packages:
apt install -y wget php php-pgsql php-gd php-imap php-mbstring php-ldap php-zip php-xml
Get the latest version of LimeSurvey that works with NES is 2.73.1:
cd /var/www wget https://github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey/archive/2.73.1+171220.tar.gz
Extract the file (rename the file according to what you’ve downloaded):
tar xzvf 2.73.1+171220.tar.gz rm 2.73.1+171220.tar.gz mv LimeSurvey-2.73.1-171220/ limesurvey
Change owner and group:
chown -R www-data.www-data limesurvey/
Change directory permissions:
chmod -R o-rwx limesurvey/ chmod -R 770 limesurvey/application/config/ chmod -R 770 limesurvey/upload/ chmod -R 770 limesurvey/tmp/
Create user and database (you will use this user/password/database soon):
su - postgres createuser limesurvey --pwprompt --encrypted createdb limesurvey --owner=limesurvey exit
Create a virtual host:
nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/limesurvey.conf
Insert the following content, but remembering that the paths and the ServerName provided should be changed according to your installation:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName limesurvey.example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/limesurvey
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/limesurvey>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
AcceptPathInfo On
</Directory>
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/limesurvey_error.log
LogLevel warn
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/limesurvey_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Enable the virtual host:
a2ensite limesurvey service apache2 reload
Web-based configuration
Using a browser, access the server using the IP address of the machine or its name and complete the installation. At this step you will:
Select the language to be used
You have to agree with the license
See if you have all the packages needed installed
Set the database (using the credentials of step 7)
Create and populate the database
Create an administrator user