Matomo (formerly Piwik) is a free and open source web analytics application developed by a team of international developers, that runs on a PHP/MySQL webserver. It tracks online visits to one or more websites and displays reports on these visits for analysis.You can think of it as an alternative to Google Analytics. Matomo is open source and its code is publicly available on Github. Some of the features it has are: A/B Testing, Heatmaps, Funnels, Tracking and Reporting API, Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, Bing Ads, Cost Per Click (CPC), etc. This tutorial will show you how to install Matomo on a Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system using Nginx as the web server and we will secure the website with a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate.
Requirements
To run Matomo (Piwik) on your Ubuntu system you will need a couple of things:
- Web server such as Apache, Nginx, IIS.
- PHP version 5.5.9 or higher with pdo and pdo_mysql or mysqli, gd, xml, curl, and mbsting extensions. PHP 7+ is recommended.
- MySQL version 5.5 or higher, or the equivalent MariaDB version. MySQL 5.7+ is recommended.
Prerequisites
- An operating system running Ubuntu 18.04.
- A non-root user with sudo privileges.
Initial steps
Check your Ubuntu version:
lsb_release -ds
# Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTSSet up the timezone:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdataUpdate your operating system packages (software). This is an important first step because it ensures you have the latest updates and security fixes for your operating system's default software packages:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -yInstall some essential packages that are necessary for basic administration of Ubuntu operating system:
sudo apt install -y curl wget vim git unzip socatStep 1 - Install MySQL and create a database for Matomo
Matomo supports MySQL and MariaDB databases. In this tutorial, we will use MySQL as database server.
Install MySQL database server:
sudo apt install -y mysql-serverCheck MySQL version:
mysql --version
# mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.24, for Linux (x86_64) using EditLine wrapperRun mysql_secure installation script to improve MySQL security and set the password for MySQL root user:
sudo mysql_secure_installationAnswer each of the questions:
Would you like to setup VALIDATE PASSWORD plugin? N
New password: your_secure_password
Re-enter new password: your_secure_password
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] YConnect to MySQL shell as the root user:
sudo mysql -u root -p
# Enter password
Create an empty MySQL database and user for Matomo and remember the credentials:
mysql> CREATE DATABASE dbname;
mysql> GRANT ALL ON dbname.* TO 'username' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;Exit from MySQL:
mysql> exitReplace dbname, username and password with your own names.
Step 2 - Install PHP and necessary PHP extensions
Install PHP, as well as the necessary PHP extensions:
sudo apt install -y php7.2 php7.2-cli php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-curl php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-mbstring php7.2-mysqlCheck PHP version:
php --version
# PHP 7.2.10-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 (cli) (built: Sep 13 2018 13:45:02) ( NTS )
# Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
# Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies
# with Zend OPcache v7.2.10-0ubuntu0.18.04.1, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies
PHP-FPM service is automatically started and enabled on reboot on Ubuntu 18.04 system, so there is no need to start and enable it manually. We can move on to the next step, which is obtaining free SSL certs from Let's Encrypt CA.
Step 3 - Install acme.sh client and obtain Let's Encrypt certificate (optional)
Securing your website with HTTPS is not necessary, but it is a good practice to secure your site traffic. In order to obtain TLS certificate from Let's Encrypt we will use Acme.sh client. Acme.sh is a pure unix shell software for obtaining TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt with zero dependencies.
Download and install Acme.sh:
sudo mkdir /etc/letsencrypt
git clone https://github.com/Neilpang/acme.sh.git
cd acme.sh
sudo ./acme.sh --install --home /etc/letsencrypt --accountemail your_email@example.com
cd ~Check Acme.sh version:
/etc/letsencrypt/acme.sh --version
# v2.8.0Obtain RSA and ECC/ECDSA certificates for your domain/hostname:
# RSA 2048
sudo /etc/letsencrypt/acme.sh --issue --standalone --home /etc/letsencrypt -d example.com --keylength 2048
# ECDSA
sudo /etc/letsencrypt/acme.sh --issue --standalone --home /etc/letsencrypt -d example.com --keylength ec-256After running the above commands, your certificates and keys will be in:
- For RSA:
/etc/letsencrypt/example.comdirectory. - For ECC/ECDSA:
/etc/letsencrypt/example.com_eccdirectory.
Step 3 - Install NGINX and configure NGINX for Matomo
Matomo can work fine with many popular web server softwares. In this tutorial, we selected Nginx.
Download and install latest mainline release of Nginx from the Ubuntu repository:
sudo apt install -y nginxCheck the Nginx version:
sudo nginx -v
# nginx version: nginx/1.14.0Configure Nginx for Matomo by running:
sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/matomo.conf
And populate the file with the following configuration:
server {
listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
listen 443 ssl http2;
listen [::]:80;
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
root /var/www/matomo/;
index index.php;
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/example.com/fullchain.cer;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/example.com/example.com.key;
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/example.com_ecc/fullchain.cer;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/example.com_ecc/example.com.key;
location ~ ^/(index|matomo|piwik|js/index).php {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
}
location = /plugins/HeatmapSessionRecording/configs.php {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
}
location ~* ^.+\.php$ {
deny all;
return 403;
}
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
location ~ /(config|tmp|core|lang) {
deny all;
return 403;
}
location ~ \.(gif|ico|jpg|png|svg|js|css|htm|html|mp3|mp4|wav|ogg|avi|ttf|eot|woff|woff2|json)$ {
allow all;
}
location ~ /(libs|vendor|plugins|misc/user) {
deny all;
return 403;
}
}NOTE: For complete and production ready Nginx config for Matomo visit https://github.com/matomo-org/matomo-nginx.
Activate the new matomo.conf configuration by linking the file to the sites-enabled directory.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/matomo.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabledCheck Nginx configuration for syntax errors:
sudo nginx -tReload Nginx service:
sudo systemctl reload nginx.serviceStep 4 - Install Matomo Analytics
Create /var/www directory:
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/
Navigate to /var/www directory:
cd /var/www/Download the latest release Matomo via wget and unzip it:
sudo wget https://builds.matomo.org/matomo.zip && sudo unzip matomo.zip
Remove downloaded matomo.zip file:
sudo rm matomo.zipChange ownership of the /var/www/matomo directory to www-data user:
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/matomoStep 5 - Complete the Matomo Analytics setup
Open your site in a web browser and follow the Matomo web installation wizard.
First, Matomo welcome message should appear. So click on the "Next" button.
After, you will see a "System Check" page. If something is missing, you will see a warning. If everything is marked with green checkmark click on the "Next" button to proceed to the next step. Now, fill in database details and click on the "Next" button.
If everything went well with database setup you should see "Tables created with success!" message. Next, Create Matomo superuser account and click on the "Next" button.
Next, set up the first website you would like to track and analyze with Matomo. Later on, you can add more sites to track with Matomo. Now, you will be provided with the JavaScript tracking code for your site that you need to add to start tracking. Thus, the Matomo installation is completed.
Congratulations! Your Matomo installation is complete.
