Setting up Planka on a pre-existing Ubuntu VPS

[DrewUniverse]

Hello, I'm Drew. I own a virtual private server for various web needs - primarily small websites. On one of these websites, I'd like to install and use Planka! My friend (a software engineer) and I took a quick look at the requirements, and most of it looks okay! There are a few things I'd like to clarify, however.

Firstly, as this is a pre-established VPS, we will need to use the manual installation instructions, correct? As such, it seems we will need to run Planka on a port that is not 80 / 443 since apache is already using it.

Secondly, it seems Planka can't do HTTPS (we already have HTTPS on our websites). So, my friend says we'd have to set up a reverse proxy. We found this related document. My friend noted that we'd have to set up SSL manually because certbot can't do it automatically in this case.

Thirdly, we use MariaDB instead of Postgre. Can we merely use MariaDB for Planka, or should we install the other one anyway?

As an aside, is it fine to use a subfolder instead of a subdomain? i.e. https://website.com/projectboard . Any chance it could then inherit our website's existing SSL if it's using a subfolder?

With all these factors in mind, I'm not sure what actions I should take and in which order. Hopefully our situation is compatible with the software. I'm really excited about the V2 updates for Planka and am eager to get started! Thanks in advance for any clarifications or guidance.

[meltyshev]

Hi! I'll try to answer some of your questions and hopefully point you in the right direction 😊

Firstly, as this is a pre-established VPS, we will need to use the manual installation instructions, correct? As such, it seems we will need to run Planka on a port that is not 80 / 443 since apache is already using it.

You could go with the manual install, but honestly, using Docker might be even easier - it isolates everything, handles the database setup for you, and makes updates simpler too. Totally up to you, though!

Secondly, it seems Planka can't do HTTPS (we already have HTTPS on our websites). So, my friend says we'd have to set up a reverse proxy. We found this related document. My friend noted that we'd have to set up SSL manually because certbot can't do it automatically in this case.

Yep, PLANKA doesn't handle HTTPS on its own, so using a reverse proxy (like Apache or Nginx) is the right move. As for SSL - Certbot can still automate things, depending on how your reverse proxy is set up. You can check Certbot's instructions here: https://certbot.eff.org/instructions?ws=nginx&os=pip (choose your actual server type in the dropdown).

Thirdly, we use MariaDB instead of Postgre. Can we merely use MariaDB for Planka, or should we install the other one anyway?

Unfortunately, PLANKA only works with Postgres - MariaDB isn't supported. If you go with the Docker installation, though, it comes with Postgres already set up via Docker Compose, so you wouldn't have to install it separately.

As an aside, is it fine to use a subfolder instead of a subdomain? i.e. https://website.com/projectboard . Any chance it could then inherit our website's existing SSL if it's using a subfolder?

Currently, PLANKA v2 doesn't support running under a subfolder, so you'd need to use a subdomain.