libretime/docs/preparing-the-server.md

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docs	Preparing the Server

The following instructions assume that you have root access (sudo on most distributions) to a GNU/Linux server, and are familiar with basic command line tasks.

The recommended LibreTime server platform is Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS. The server should have at least a 1GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a wired ethernet connection. A soundcard is only required if you plan to output audio directly to a mixing console instead of/in addition to using the onboard Icecast2 server.

The LibreTime installation does not use much disk space, but you should allow plenty of storage capacity for the LibreTime library. A hot-swap RAID array is recommended for media storage to mitigate the effects of disk failure. You should also consider a UPS or other battery-powered system to offer some protection against short-term power failures.

LibreTime depends on infrastructure and services that need to be configured properly for it to run smoothly. This chapter will go through the individual parts of a LibreTime install and help you assess how you need to manage them.

Netplan

Starting in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, network settings are managed by the Netplan daemon (more info here). The Netplan config file is written in yaml and located at /etc/netplan/...; if no yaml file is present, create one with a name like ##-netcfg.yaml where ## is a number of your choice.

An example Netplan config looks like this:

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: networkd
  ethernets:
    enp3s0:
      addresses: [192.168.88.8/24]
      gateway4: 192.168.88.1
      nameservers:
        search: [lan]
        addresses: 192.168.88.1

In this example, enp3s0 is the name of your network card; check to see what your network card's name is by running ip -a or ifconfig. Spacing in Netplan config files is two (2) spaces per indent. Using tabs will prevent the Netplan config from starting correctly.

• List your desired static IP address under addresses in the XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/YY format (for more information on this, see this subreddit thread).
  • If your subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 then your IP address will end in /24, just like the example above.
• Set your DNS server under gateway4 (this will likely be your router's IP address)
• Set your gateway under nameservers -> addresses

Once your Netplan config is set up correctly, run sudo netplan apply to update the configuration. Check that your IP address is set to the specified address with ifconfig and check to see if you are connected to the internet properly by pinging a known IP (ex. ping 1.1.1.1, Cloudflare's server) or by running sudo apt update. If no errors appear, than your server's IP is configured correctly.

Firewall

LibreTime should only be run on a Server behind a firewall. This can either be a dedicated firewall in the network (like on some cloud providers) or a local firewall running iptables (as you would use on a root server or a local machine).

Setting up a local firewall is done differently on all the supported distros.

• Debian
• FirewallD (CentOS)
• Ubuntu

To quickly configure Ubuntu's firewall, ufw:

sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw allow 8000/tcp #only if streaming from your server
sudo ufw allow 8001/tcp #only if DJs will be directly connecting to stream in ports, also include 8002/tcp
sudo ufw status #to check setup

There are a vast amount of ways to configure your network, firewall included. Choose the way that best fits your deployment and don't expose internal parts of your LibreTime install on the network.

The following ports are relevant to LibreTime's core services and need to be opened to varying degrees.

Port	Description
80	Default unsecure web port. Needs to be open for the webserver to serve the LibreTime webinterface or if you enable TLS a redirect to the secure web port.
443	Default secure web port. This is where your LibreTime webinterface lives if you choose to configure TLS.
8000	Main Icecast instance. This is where your listeners connect if you plan on using your LibreTime server to directly serve such connections. You can also configure external Icecast or ShoutCast instances for this later.
8001 and 8002	Master and Show source input ports. Only open these ports if you plan on letting anyone use these features.

The remaining parts of LibreTime might open additional ports that should not be accessible from any untrusted networks. You should consider how to configure their firewall access individually once you configure them.

PostgreSQL

You should set up PostgreSQL properly according to the instructions for your distro. Distro provided packages are fine for LibreTime as it does not have any specific version dependencies.

• Debian
• Ubuntu
• CentOS

You should restrict access to the database and create a user specific to LibreTime. The default installer script creates a user with the password airtime, which is far too open and should be replaced with a self provided user and a secure password. See the PostgreSQL docs on roles and databases.

Please take care to ensure that your database is properly backed up at regular intervals. LibreTime uses the database to store your schedule, settings, playout history and more. See backing up the server for more information on this.

RabbitMQ

LibreTime uses RabbitMQ interfacing various components like the main interface and parts of the system like the audio analyzer and podcast downloader as well as the playout system through a common message queue. Again, the version provided by your distro will probably work fine for all LibreTime is concerned.

• Debian/Ubuntu
• CentOS

The install script sets airtime as the password on the default user. It is recommended to provide your own user using a secure password.

You can use rabbitmqctl or the Management Plugin to manage your RabbitMQ users.

There is no state in the RabbitMQ system that you need to backup but you want to ensure that your RabbitMQ configuration and user permissions are safe.

RabbitMQ hostname

RabbitMQ requires a fixed and resolvable hostname (see the docs, which is normal for a server. For a desktop or laptop machine where the hostname changes frequently or is not resolvable, this issue may prevent RabbitMQ from starting. When using a desktop or laptop computer with a dynamic IP address, such as an address obtained from a wireless network, the rabbitmq-server daemon must not start up before the NetworkManager service or network.target. You may also choose to configure RabbitMQ to only listen on the loopback interface with a localhost node name. You can use environment variables or a configuration file to do this.

See these links for more information:

• Networking and RabbitMQ
• Serverfault Instructions for Debian

Services

Once all of the services needed to run LibreTime are installed and configured, it is important that the server starts them during the boot process, to cut down on downtime, especially in live enviornments. Ubuntu 18.04 uses the systemctl command to manage services, so run the following commands to enable all LibreTime-needed services to run at boot:

sudo systemctl enable libretime-liquidsoap
sudo systemctl enable libretime-playout
sudo systemctl enable libretime-celery
sudo systemctl enable libretime-analyzer
sudo systemctl enable apache2
sudo systemctl enable rabbitmq-server

If an error is returned, try adding .service to the end of each command. For example:

sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

User groups

If you plan to have LibreTime output audio directly to a mixing console or transmitter, the www-data user needs to be added to the audio user group using sudo adduser www-data audio. Otherwise, if an Icecast or Shoutcast server is going to be used without an analog audio output, this step can be omitted.

Next steps

After completing this guide, please complete the Setting the server time guide before continuing to the installer.