A pre-configured TopLogic can be installed directly as a Debian package on an Ubuntu Linux system.

Selection of the computer

The Debian package is optimized for use in a dedicated VM: In addition to the application itself, the required database and WebServer are also installed if they are not already installed. Their configurations are then adapted for the application and the application is started directly. This runs until it is explicitly terminated. If the server is restarted, the application is also started automatically.

Important: The package adapts the configuration of the database and the web server so that they can be used directly by the TopLogic application. The Debian package is therefore not suitable for installation on systems that are already in use elsewhere. In particular, it should not be installed on your own computer or existing servers. It is well suited for a virtual environment on your own computer or in a cloud.

Importing the TopLogic repository key

Downloading and integrating the TopLogic signature key:

curl -sL "https://keyserver.ubuntu.com/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x955a22ff7750f043ea48e580b44eb751b8a3726c" | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/toplogic.gpg >/dev/null

Integrating the TopLogic repository

Integrating the TopLogic Debian repository into the system's package sources:

sudo add-apt-repository -y "deb https://dev.top-logic.com/nexus/repository/toplogic-deb/ toplogic main"

After successfully integrating the repository, an update of the package sources must be initiated:

sudo apt update

Installing TopLogic

Start the installation from a preconfigured empty TopLogic instance:

sudo apt install tl-process

The package automatically sets up a MariaDB database, a Tomcat application container and an Apache web server on the system and installs TopLogic so that the web interface can be accessed directly (on standard port 80) via HTTP.

Logging into the application

After successful installation, it is possible to log in to the TopLogic web interface via http://<mein-rechner-name>/. A secure initial password is automatically assigned and written to the application log at the end of the start process. It can be looked up with the following command (up to version 7.6.0 the initial password was fixed as root1234):

grep -n3 " Initial password " /var/log/tomcat9/catalina.out

The output could look like this:

966-[2023-10-25 13:58:47] [info] *****************************************************
967-[2023-10-25 13:58:47] [info] ***                                               ***
968:[2023-10-25 13:58:47] [info] ***  Initial password for 'root': 702d104d-4f...  ***
969-[2023-10-25 13:58:47] [info] ***                                               ***
970-[2023-10-25 13:58:47] [info] *****************************************************

At this point you can now start the TopLogic tutorial. The application will continue to run in the background until the server is shut down. It will be started automatically the next time the server is started.

Updates

The application is automatically updated by apt when there are updates, just like all other packages installed via apt.

Starting and stopping the application

The application uses Tomcat as a web server, which can be stopped and started as follows:

sudo systemctl stop tomcat9.service
sudo systemctl start tomcat9.service

By default, Tomcat is started automatically after a system restart.
This behavior can be switched on and off with the following commands:

sudo systemctl enable tomcat9.service
sudo systemctl disable tomcat9.service

Information on the current status of the Tomcat service can be obtained as follows:

sudo systemctl status tomcat9.service

Uninstalling TopLogic

The TopLogic package can be uninstalled using the following command:

sudo apt remove tl-process

The configuration files are retained and can continue to be used after reinstallation.

Operation on the Internet - protection via SSL certificate

If the application is to be operated publicly on the Internet, it is recommended to install an HTTPS certificate so that a secure connection via HTTPS is possible.
A simple and free option for this is to use CertBot.
This requires a public domain name and the following packages must be installed.

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache

The configuration is then renamed to reflect the domain name:

sudo mv /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/bpe.conf /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/{example.com}.conf

Finally, the certificate is queried with this command:

sudo certbot --apache