How to Manually Install Redmine 6.0.6 on Ubuntu 24.04

This guide explains how to manually install and configure Redmine 6.0.6 on Ubuntu 24.04. The commands below perform the same main installation steps as the Redmine Ansible playbook.

Beginner Tip: You do not need to understand every command before running it. Follow the steps in order and copy the commands carefully.

1. Requirements

Before starting, make sure you have:

Ubuntu 24.04 server
sudo/root access
Internet access
A server IP address
At least a few GB of free disk space

This installation uses:

Redmine 6.0.6
MariaDB
Ruby
Bundler
Puma
Apache2

2. Update Ubuntu

First, update the Ubuntu package list.

sudo apt update

Upgrade installed packages if required:

sudo apt upgrade -y

3. Repair Ubuntu Package Configuration

The Ansible playbook first checks whether Ubuntu has any interrupted package installations. Run:

sudo dpkg --configure -a

Then repair broken packages:

sudo apt --fix-broken install -y

4. Install Required Packages

Redmine requires Ruby, MariaDB, Apache and several development libraries. Install the packages used by the playbook:

sudo apt install -y \
apache2 \
build-essential \
curl \
git \
imagemagick \
libdb-dev \
libffi-dev \
libgdbm-dev \
libmagickwand-dev \
libmariadb-dev \
libmariadb-dev-compat \
libreadline-dev \
libssl-dev \
libyaml-dev \
mariadb-client \
mariadb-server \
ruby \
ruby-dev \
tar \
zlib1g-dev

Verify Ruby was installed:

ruby --version

Verify MariaDB:

mariadb --version

5. Start and Enable MariaDB

MariaDB is the database server that Redmine will use.

sudo systemctl enable --now mariadb

Check that MariaDB is running:

sudo systemctl status mariadb

Look for: active (running).

Press q to leave the status screen.

6. Create the Redmine Database

The Ansible playbook creates a database called: redmine.

Open the MariaDB console:

sudo mariadb

At the MariaDB prompt, run:

CREATE DATABASE redmine CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Create the Redmine database user:

CREATE USER 'redmine'@'127.0.0.1' IDENTIFIED BY 'ChangeThisRedminePassword123!';

Give the Redmine user permission to use the database:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON redmine.* TO 'redmine'@'127.0.0.1';

Reload the database privileges:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Exit MariaDB:

EXIT;

Security Warning: The password above comes from the supplied Ansible playbook. For a real production server, replace it with a strong unique password. If you change it here, you must use the same password later in database.yml.

7. Download Redmine 6.0.6

Create a temporary directory:

sudo mkdir -p /tmp/redmine-extract

Download Redmine 6.0.6:

cd /tmp
sudo curl -L -o redmine-6.0.6.tar.gz https://www.redmine.org/releases/redmine-6.0.6.tar.gz

Extract Redmine:

sudo tar -xzf /tmp/redmine-6.0.6.tar.gz -C /tmp/redmine-extract

Check that the Redmine directory exists:

ls -la /tmp/redmine-extract

8. Create the Redmine User

The playbook creates a dedicated Linux user called redmine.

Create the group:

sudo groupadd redmine

If Ubuntu reports that the group already exists, that is okay.

Create the Redmine user and home directory:

sudo useradd -r -m -d /opt/redmine -g redmine -s /bin/bash redmine

Create the Redmine installation directory:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/redmine

9. Copy Redmine to /opt/redmine

Copy the extracted Redmine files into the installation directory:

sudo cp -a /tmp/redmine-extract/redmine-6.0.6/. /opt/redmine/

Give the Redmine user ownership of the files:

sudo chown -R redmine:redmine /opt/redmine

10. Configure Redmine Database Connection

Create the Redmine database configuration file:

sudo nano /opt/redmine/config/database.yml

Paste the following:

production:
  adapter: mysql2
  database: redmine
  host: 127.0.0.1
  port: 3306
  username: redmine
  password: "ChangeThisRedminePassword123!"
  encoding: utf8mb4
  variables:
    tx_isolation: "READ-COMMITTED"

Save the file:

Press Ctrl + O
Press Enter
Press Ctrl + X

Secure the file so that only the Redmine user can read it:

sudo chown redmine:redmine /opt/redmine/config/database.yml
sudo chmod 600 /opt/redmine/config/database.yml

11. Add Puma

Puma is the web server that runs the Redmine Ruby application. The playbook adds Puma to Gemfile.local.

sudo nano /opt/redmine/Gemfile.local

Add:

gem 'puma'

Save with Ctrl + O, press Enter, then press Ctrl + X.

Make sure the Redmine user owns the file:

sudo chown redmine:redmine /opt/redmine/Gemfile.local

12. Install Bundler

Bundler manages the Ruby libraries required by Redmine.

sudo gem install bundler --no-document

Check that Bundler is available:

bundle --version

13. Configure Bundler

Change to the Redmine user:

sudo -u redmine -H bash

Change to the Redmine directory:

cd /opt/redmine

Configure Bundler so development and test dependencies are not installed:

bundle config set --local without 'development test'

14. Install Redmine Ruby Dependencies

Run Bundler to install the Ruby dependencies:

RAILS_ENV=production bundle install --jobs 4 --retry 3

This step may take several minutes.

Important: Do not close the terminal while Bundler is installing the dependencies.

15. Generate the Redmine Secret Token

Still logged in as the Redmine user, run:

RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake generate_secret_token

16. Run the Redmine Database Migration

Redmine needs to create its database tables.

RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rake db:migrate

Wait until the command finishes successfully.

17. Create Required Redmine Directories

Create the directories required by Redmine:

mkdir -p /opt/redmine/files
mkdir -p /opt/redmine/log
mkdir -p /opt/redmine/tmp
mkdir -p /opt/redmine/tmp/pids
mkdir -p /opt/redmine/public/plugin_assets

Exit the Redmine user shell:

exit

Make sure all Redmine files have the correct ownership:

sudo chown -R redmine:redmine /opt/redmine

18. Configure Puma

Create the Puma configuration:

sudo nano /opt/redmine/config/puma.rb

Paste:

directory "/opt/redmine"
environment "production"
workers 0
threads 0, 5
bind "tcp://127.0.0.1:3000"
pidfile "/opt/redmine/tmp/pids/puma.pid"
state_path "/opt/redmine/tmp/pids/puma.state"
stdout_redirect "/opt/redmine/log/puma.stdout.log", "/opt/redmine/log/puma.stderr.log", true

Save and exit Nano:

Ctrl + O
Enter
Ctrl + X

Set ownership:

sudo chown redmine:redmine /opt/redmine/config/puma.rb

19. Create the Redmine Systemd Service

Systemd will allow Redmine to start automatically when Ubuntu boots.

Create the service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/redmine.service

Paste:

[Unit]
Description=Redmine Rails Application
After=network.target mariadb.service
Wants=mariadb.service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=redmine
Group=redmine
WorkingDirectory=/opt/redmine
Environment=RAILS_ENV=production
Environment=RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES=true
Environment=PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/bundle exec puma -C /opt/redmine/config/puma.rb
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save the file and exit Nano.

20. Reload Systemd

Tell Ubuntu that a new systemd service has been created:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

21. Start Redmine

Enable Redmine so that it starts automatically after a reboot:

sudo systemctl enable redmine

Start Redmine:

sudo systemctl start redmine

Check the service:

sudo systemctl status redmine

The expected result is: Active: active (running)

22. Check Redmine Port 3000

The playbook configures Puma to listen internally on port 3000.

sudo ss -ltnp | grep :3000

You should see Redmine/Puma listening on:

127.0.0.1:3000

This means Puma is running locally and Apache will forward web traffic to it.

23. Configure Apache

Apache will act as the web server and reverse proxy for Redmine.

Enable the required Apache modules:

sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_http
sudo a2enmod headers

24. Configure Apache ServerName

Create the Apache ServerName configuration:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/conf-available/servername.conf

Add:

ServerName 127.0.0.1

Save and exit Nano.

Enable the configuration:

sudo a2enconf servername

25. Create the Redmine Apache Site

Create the Apache configuration:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/redmine.conf

Paste:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName _

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:3000/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:3000/

    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "http"

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/redmine_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/redmine_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save and exit Nano.

26. Enable the Redmine Apache Site

sudo a2ensite redmine.conf

27. Configure Apache Ports

The supplied playbook deliberately does not configure Apache to use port 443 because the Wazuh Dashboard is already using that port.

Apache is configured to listen on ports 80 and 8443.

Open the Apache ports configuration:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Replace the contents with:

Listen 80
Listen 8443

Save and exit Nano.

Important: Do not change Apache to use port 443 if Wazuh Dashboard is already using port 443.

28. Disable the Elasticsearch SSL Apache Site

The supplied playbook disables the Elasticsearch SSL Apache site if it exists.

Run:

sudo a2dissite elasticsearch-le-ssl.conf

If Ubuntu says that the site does not exist, you can safely continue.

29. Test Apache Configuration

Before restarting Apache, always test the configuration.

sudo apache2ctl configtest

The expected result is:

Syntax OK

Do not continue if you receive an Apache syntax error. Fix the reported error first and run the configuration test again.

30. Restart Apache

Enable Apache:

sudo systemctl enable apache2

Restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Check Apache:

sudo systemctl status apache2

The expected result is: active (running).

31. Verify All Important Services

Check MariaDB:

sudo systemctl is-active mariadb

Check Redmine:

sudo systemctl is-active redmine

Check Apache:

sudo systemctl is-active apache2

All three should return:

active

32. Check Listening Ports

Run:

sudo ss -ltnp

According to the supplied playbook, the important Redmine-related ports are:

Port	Purpose
80	Apache HTTP
3000	Redmine/Puma internal application port
8443	Apache alternate listener
3306	MariaDB
443	Not used by Apache in this playbook because Wazuh uses it

33. Open Redmine in a Web Browser

Find the IP address of your Ubuntu server:

hostname -I

You should receive an address similar to:

192.168.1.100

Open a web browser and enter:

http://YOUR_SERVER_IP/

For example:

http://192.168.1.100/

Apache receives the request on port 80 and forwards it to Redmine/Puma on the internal port 3000.

34. Troubleshooting Redmine

Redmine service is not running

sudo systemctl status redmine

View the detailed Redmine logs:

sudo journalctl -u redmine -n 100 --no-pager

You can also check the Puma logs:

sudo tail -n 100 /opt/redmine/log/puma.stderr.log
sudo tail -n 100 /opt/redmine/log/puma.stdout.log

Apache is not working

Check the Apache configuration:

sudo apache2ctl configtest

Check Apache:

sudo systemctl status apache2

View the Redmine Apache error log:

sudo tail -n 100 /var/log/apache2/redmine_error.log

Redmine cannot connect to MariaDB

Check MariaDB:

sudo systemctl status mariadb

Test the Redmine database login:

mariadb -h 127.0.0.1 -u redmine -p redmine

Enter the Redmine database password when requested.

35. Installation Summary

If the installation was successful, the setup should look like this:

Component	Configuration
Operating System	Ubuntu 24.04
Application	Redmine 6.0.6
Application directory	/opt/redmine
Database	MariaDB
Database name	redmine
Database user	redmine
Ruby application server	Puma
Puma port	3000
Web server	Apache2
Apache HTTP	Port 80
Apache alternate port	8443
HTTPS port 443	Not configured for Apache because Wazuh uses port 443

Installation Complete!
Redmine should now be running on the Ubuntu 24.04 server. Access it using http://YOUR_SERVER_IP/.

Note: This article is based on the supplied Redmine 6.0.6 Ansible playbook. The manual commands reproduce the installation flow defined by that playbook rather than providing a separate alternative deployment method.

Knowledgebase

Categories

Categories

Tag Cloud

Support

Redmine Print

How to Manually Install Redmine 6.0.6 on Ubuntu 24.04

1. Requirements

2. Update Ubuntu

3. Repair Ubuntu Package Configuration

4. Install Required Packages

5. Start and Enable MariaDB

6. Create the Redmine Database

7. Download Redmine 6.0.6

8. Create the Redmine User

9. Copy Redmine to /opt/redmine

10. Configure Redmine Database Connection

11. Add Puma

12. Install Bundler

13. Configure Bundler

14. Install Redmine Ruby Dependencies

15. Generate the Redmine Secret Token

16. Run the Redmine Database Migration

17. Create Required Redmine Directories

18. Configure Puma

19. Create the Redmine Systemd Service

20. Reload Systemd

21. Start Redmine

22. Check Redmine Port 3000

23. Configure Apache

24. Configure Apache ServerName

25. Create the Redmine Apache Site

26. Enable the Redmine Apache Site

27. Configure Apache Ports

28. Disable the Elasticsearch SSL Apache Site

29. Test Apache Configuration

30. Restart Apache

31. Verify All Important Services

32. Check Listening Ports

33. Open Redmine in a Web Browser

34. Troubleshooting Redmine

Redmine service is not running

Apache is not working

Redmine cannot connect to MariaDB

35. Installation Summary

Was this answer helpful?

Generate Password