Mailtrain is an open-source self-hosted newsletter app built on Node.js and MySQL/MariaDB. Mailtrain's source is on GitHub. This guide will show you how to install Mailtrain on a fresh FreeBSD 12 Rcs instance.
Requirements
Software Requirements:
Node.js v7 or greater
MySQL v5.5
Nginx
Redis (optional)
Hardware Requirements:
1 vCPU
1024 MB RAM
Before you begin
Check the FreeBSD version.
uname -ro
# FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE
Ensure that your FreeBSD system is up to date.
freebsd-update fetch install
pkg update && pkg upgrade -y
Install the necessary packages.
pkg install -y sudo vim unzip wget git bash socat
Create a new user account with your preferred username (we will use johndoe).
adduser
# Username: johndoe
# Full name: John Doe
# Uid (Leave empty for default): <Enter>
# Login group [johndoe]: <Enter>
# Login group is johndoe. Invite johndoe into other groups? []: wheel
# Login class [default]: <Enter>
# Shell (sh csh tcsh nologin) [sh]: bash
# Home directory [/home/johndoe]: <Enter>
# Home directory permissions (Leave empty for default): <Enter>
# Use password-based authentication? [yes]: <Enter>
# Use an empty password? (yes/no) [no]: <Enter>
# Use a random password? (yes/no) [no]: <Enter>
# Enter password: your_secure_password
# Enter password again: your_secure_password
# Lock out the account after creation? [no]: <Enter>
# OK? (yes/no): yes
# Add another user? (yes/no): no
# Goodbye!
Run the visudo command and uncomment %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL, to allow members of the wheel group to execute any command.
visudo
# Uncomment by removing hash (#) sign
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
Now, switch to your newly created user with su command.
su - johndoe
NOTE: Replace johndoe with your username.
Set up the timezone.
sudo tzsetup
Install Node.js and npm
Install Node.js and npm.
sudo pkg install -y node10 npm-node10
Check the versions.
node -v && npm -v
# v10.15.3
# 6.9.0
Install MariaDB
Install MariaDB.
sudo pkg install -y mariadb102-client mariadb102-server
Check the version.
mysql --version
# mysql Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.2.24-MariaDB, for FreeBSD12.0 (amd64) using readline 5.1
Start and enable MariaDB.
sudo sysrc mysql_enable="yes"
sudo service mysql-server start
Run the mysql_secure_installation script to improve the security of your MariaDB installation.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Log into MariaDB as the root user.
mysql -u root -p
# Enter password:
Create a new MariaDB database and user. Remember the credentials for this new user.
CREATE DATABASE dbname;
GRANT ALL ON dbname.* TO 'username' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;
Install Nginx
Install Nginx.
sudo pkg install -y nginx
Check the version.
nginx -v
# nginx version: nginx/1.14.2
Enable and start Nginx.
sudo sysrc nginx_enable=yes
sudo service nginx start
Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/mailtrain.conf and set up Nginx for Mailtrain.
server {
listen [::]:80;
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
charset utf-8;
client_max_body_size 50M;
location / {
proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
proxy_next_upstream error timeout http_502 http_503 http_504;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Now we need to include mailtrain.conf in the main nginx.conf file.
Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf and add the following line to the http {} block.
include mailtrain.conf;
Test the configuration.
sudo nginx -t
Reload Nginx.
sudo service nginx reload
Install Mailtrain
Create an empty document root folder where Mailtrain should be installed.
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/www/mailtrain
Navigate to the document root folder.
cd /usr/local/www/mailtrain
Change ownership of the /usr/local/www/mailtrain folder to user johndoe.
sudo chown -R johndoe:johndoe /usr/local/www/mailtrain
Download and unzip Mailtrain.
wget https://github.com/Mailtrain-org/mailtrain/archive/master.zip
unzip master.zip
rm master.zip
mv mailtrain-master/* . && mv mailtrain-master/.* .
rmdir mailtrain-master
Run npm install --production in the Mailtrain folder to install required dependencies.
Copy config/default.toml as config/production.toml and update MySQL and any other settings in it.
cp config/default.toml config/production.toml
vim config/production.toml
Run the server.
NODE_ENV=production npm start
Installation is complete. Login with the username admin and the password test. Once logged in, update the user information and password via the Mailtrain web interface.
