How to get Kanboard working on your Linux server
Open source alternatives to the Trello service are starting to pop up on Linux, and they’re excellent. Earlier this month, we covered the Wekan project manager. It’s a kanban-style project management system that users can host themselves.
Introducing Kanboard, it’s another self-hosted task management system that aims to take on Trello. It has a lot to offer, including plugins, dynamic custom filters and more!
In this guide, we’ll cover how to set up and install Kanboard on a variety of Linux operating systems.
Before we begin
Kanboard is a network application that lets users interact with it through the web, and to use it, you must have a server running a Linux OS.
Please keep in mind that while we recommend using a traditional Linux server, as it can handle the software load the best, it is also possible to run Kanboard on a Linux desktop PC — provided it is always on and connected to the network.
As of now, the Kanboard software supports multiple Linux server operating systems. Specifically, it supports Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and a few others.
Install Kanboard on Ubuntu server
The Kanboard documentation states that Ubuntu 16.04 the latest OS that is supported, so our instructions will focus on that. That said, there are’t many changes within releases, so it’ll probably work on 18.04/18.10 as well.
To start the installation of Kanboard, launch a terminal window and use the update and upgrade commands to ensure that your Ubuntu machine has the latest patches.
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y
Now that everything is up to date, you must install the required dependencies for Kanboard on Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
sudo apt-get install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-php7.0 php7.0-cli php7.0-mbstring php7.0-sqlite3 php7.0-opcache php7.0-json php7.0-mysql php7.0-pgsql php7.0-ldap php7.0-gd php7.0-xml
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
sudo apt-get install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-cli php7.2-mbstring php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-opcache php7.2-json php7.2-mysql php7.2-pgsql php7.2-ldap php7.2-gd php7.2-xml
Move the terminal session into the Apache web directory with the CD command.
cd /var/www/html
Once in the web directory, gain root access via the sudo -s command.
sudo -s
Grab the latest version of the Kanboard software from the GitHub release page using the wget downloading tool.
wget https://github.com/kanboard/kanboard/archive/v1.2.6.zip -O kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Extract the Kanboard files from the ZIP file using the unzip command.
unzip kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Update the permissions for the Kanboard folder with chown.
chown -R www-data:www-data kanboard-1.2.6/data
Rename the Kanboard folder.
mv kanboard-1.2.6 kanboard
Finally, delete the ZIP archive from your Ubuntu web folder.
rm kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Install Kanboard on Debian server
Debian Linux is a lot like Ubuntu, so Kanboard is supported on the operating system. To start the installation, launch a terminal. Then, use the update and upgrade commands to get everything up to date.
Note: these instructions cover Debian 9 Stretch. Please upgrade your machine before continuing, if you’re on an earlier release.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade -y
Next, you must install the Kanboard dependencies on your Debian server. To install the dependencies, enter the Apt-get command below in a terminal window.
sudo apt-get install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-php7.0 php7.0-cli php7.0-mbstring \ php7.0-sqlite3 php7.0-opcache php7.0-json php7.0-mysql php7.0-pgsql \ php7.0-ldap php7.0-gd php7.0-xml
With the dependencies taken care of, it’s time to install Kanboard on Debian. Using the CD command, move the terminal into /var/www/html
cd /var/www/html
Gain a root shell using the su command.
su -
Download the latest Kanboard release from the developer’s GitHub using the wget downloader tool.
wget https://github.com/kanboard/kanboard/archive/v1.2.6.zip -O kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Extract the code with the unzip command.
unzip kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Rename the Kanboard data directory.
mv kanboard-1.2.6 kanboard
Finally, delete the Kanboard Zip archive from the web directory.
rm kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Install Kanboard on RHEL/CentOS
If you’re looking to host a Kanboard instance on a RedHat-based Linux distribution such as RedHat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and others, you’ll need to start by installing a few dependencies. Launch a terminal and enter the commands below.
sudo yum install -y php php-xml php-mbstring php-pdo php-gd unzip wget
After installing the dependencies required to run Kanboard, you’ll need to restart the Apache web server.
sudo systemctl restart httpd.service
Using the CD command, move your terminal window into the web folder.
cd /var/www/html/
Grab the Kanboard source code from GitHub using the wget downloader tool.
wget https://github.com/kanboard/kanboard/archive/v1.2.6.zip -O kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Extract the ZIP archive with the unzip command.
unzip kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Rename the Kanboard data folder.
mv kanboard-1.2.6 kanboard
Finish up by deleting the Kanboard Zip archive.
rm kanboard-v1.2.6.zip
Access Kanboard
Installation is complete! Now all that’s left is to access your Kanboard instance by opening up a web browser and visiting the URL below.
Note: the default login for Kanboard is admin/admin.
https://server-ip-address/kanboard/
Don’t know your Kanboard server’s IP address? Run:
ip addr show | grep 192.168.*
