Step-by-Step Guide to Installing InvoicePlane with Nginx on CentOS 7

InvoicePlane is a free and open-source invoicing application. You can find its source code on GitHub. This guide will walk you through the installation process of InvoicePlane on a fresh CentOS 7 system.

Requirements

WebServer (Apache, NGINX). This tutorial uses Nginx.
MySQL version 5.5 or greater, or the equivalent version of MariaDB.
PHP version 7.0 or greater with the following PHP extensions installed and activated:
php-gd
php-hash
php-json
php-mbstring
php-mcrypt
php-mysqli
php-openssl
php-recode
php-xmlrpc
php-zlib

Prerequisites

A server running CentOS 7.
A non-root user with sudo privileges.

Initial Steps

First, verify your CentOS system version:

cat /etc/centos-release
# CentOS Linux release 7.6.1810 (Core)

Set up the timezone:

timedatectl list-timezones
sudo timedatectl set-timezone 'Region/City'

Update your operating system’s packages:

sudo yum update -y

Install required packages:

sudo yum install -y vim wget curl git bash-completion unzip

Step 1 – Install PHP and Required PHP Extensions

InvoicePlane requires PHP version 7.0 or greater. The default CentOS repositories don’t include this version, so you need to set up a third-party repository, such as Webtatic.

Setup the Webtatic YUM repository:

sudo rpm -Uvh https://mirror.webtatic.com/yum/el7/webtatic-release.rpm

Install PHP and the necessary PHP extensions:

sudo yum install -y php72w php72w-cli php72w-fpm php72w-common php72w-gd php72w-json php72w-mbstring php72w-mcrypt php72w-mysql php72w-xmlrpc php72w-recode

Verify the PHP version:

php --version

# PHP 7.2.12 (cli) (built: Nov 11 2018 14:54:16) ( NTS )
# Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
# Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies

Start and enable the PHP-FPM service:

sudo systemctl start php-fpm.service
sudo systemctl enable php-fpm.service

Step 2 – Install MariaDB

Install the MariaDB database server:

sudo yum install -y mariadb-server

Check MariaDB version:

mysql --version
# mysql Ver 15.1 Distrib 5.5.60-MariaDB, for Linux (x86_64) using readline 5.1

Start and enable the MariaDB service:

sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

To secure MariaDB, run the MySQL secure installation script and set the root password:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Answer the following prompts:

Enter current password for root (enter for none):
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Log into the MariaDB shell as the root user:

mysql -u root -p
# Enter password

Create a database and a user for InvoicePlane:

CREATE DATABASE dbname;
GRANT ALL ON dbname.* TO 'username' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Exit the MariaDB shell:

quit

Step 3 – Install NGINX

Install the Nginx web server:

sudo yum install -y nginx

Check the NGINX version:

nginx -v
# nginx version: nginx/1.12.2

Start and enable the Nginx service:

sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

Configure NGINX for InvoicePlane:

sudo vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/invoiceplane.conf

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    server_name example.com;

    root /var/www/invoiceplane;

    index index.php index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        try_files $uri =404;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    }
}

Test the NGINX configuration:

sudo nginx -t

Reload NGINX:

sudo systemctl reload nginx.service

Step 4 – Install InvoicePlane

Download the latest stable version of InvoicePlane and extract the archive:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www
cd /var/www
sudo curl -O -J -L https://invoiceplane.com/download/v1.5.9
sudo unzip v1.5.9.zip
sudo rm v1.5.9.zip
sudo mv ip invoiceplane

Navigate to the /var/www/invoiceplane directory:

cd /var/www/invoiceplane

Copy the ipconfig.php.example file and rename it to ipconfig.php:

sudo cp ipconfig.php.example ipconfig.php

Edit the ipconfig.php file to include your URL:

sudo vim ipconfig.php
# Example:
IP_URL=http://example.com

Change ownership of the /var/www/invoiceplane directory to nginx:

sudo chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/invoiceplane

Edit the PHP-FPM configuration to set the user and group to nginx:

sudo vim /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
# user = nginx
# group = nginx

Set the timezone in PHP:

sudo vim /etc/php.ini
date.timezone = Region/City

Restart the PHP-FPM service:

sudo systemctl restart php-fpm.service

Run the InvoicePlane installer from your web browser and follow the instructions:

http://example.com/index.php/setup

Once the installation is complete, log into InvoicePlane with the credentials you set during installation.

For security, disable the setup by setting DISABLE_SETUP=true in your ipconfig.php file.

Step 5 – Complete the InvoicePlane Setup

Access the web installation wizard:

Open your browser and navigate to http://example.com. You should see the following pages:

Click Setup to proceed:

Select your language and continue:

Click Continue:

Enter database details and proceed:

Click Continue following setup steps:

After setup, the following screen confirms a successful installation:

Click Login to access the InvoicePlane administration area.

Useful Links

FAQ

How can I secure my InvoicePlane installation?

After installing, you can enhance security by disabling setup access in the ipconfig.php file by setting DISABLE_SETUP=true.

Can I use a database other than MariaDB?

Yes, InvoicePlane supports MySQL version 5.5 or greater as well.

What should I do if I encounter an error during setup?

Verify all input details such as database credentials, ensure services like NGINX and PHP-FPM are running, and check log files for any specific error messages.