Open Web Analytics (OWA) is an open-source web analytics software that allows you to track, measure, and analyze the traffic on your website or application. It is built on top of the PHP programming language and the MySQL database, and it has a user-friendly interface and a variety of powerful features. In this article, we will show you how to install Open Web Analytics on Rocky Linux 8.

• Before you can install Open Web Analytics, you need to make sure that your Rocky Linux 8 system is up to date. Run the following command to update the package index:

sudo dnf update

• Next, you need to install the required dependencies for Open Web Analytics. This includes the Apache web server, the PHP programming language, and the MySQL database server. To install these dependencies, run the following command:

sudo dnf install httpd php mysql-server

• After installing the dependencies, start the Apache web server and the MySQL server, and enable them to start at boot time by running the following commands:

sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd
sudo systemctl start mysqld
sudo systemctl enable mysqld

• With the web server and database server running, you can download the latest version of Open Web Analytics from the official website. To do this, open a web browser and navigate to https://www.openwebanalytics.com/. This will bring up the Open Web Analytics website, where you can download the Open Web Analytics installation package.
• Once the download is complete, extract the downloaded file to the /var/www/html directory. This directory is the default document root for the Apache web server, and it is where Open Web Analytics will be installed. To extract the file, run the following commands:

cd /var/www/html
unzip owa*.zip

This will extract the contents of the downloaded file to the /var/www/html directory.

• After extracting the files, you need to create a database for Open Web Analytics. To do this, log in to the MySQL server as the root user by running the following command:

mysql -u root -p

This will prompt you for the password for the root user. Enter the password, and press Enter to log in to the MySQL server.

• Once you are logged in, run the following SQL commands to create a database named owa and a user named owa with the password owa:

CREATE DATABASE owa;
CREATE USER 'owa'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'owa';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON owa.* TO 'owa'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

These commands will create the owa database and the owa user, and grant the user the necessary permissions to access the database.

• After creating the database and user, exit the MySQL server by running the exit command.
• With the database and user set up, you can start the installation process for Open Web Analytics. To do this, open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost/owa/install/index.php . This will bring up the Open Web Analytics installation page, where you can enter the details for your Open Web Analytics installation.
• On the installation page, enter the details for the database that you created earlier. This includes the database hostname, database name, database username, and database password. Once you have entered the details, click the “Next” button to continue.
• On the next page, enter the details for the Open Web Analytics administrator user account. This includes the username, password, and email address for the administrator user. Once you have entered the details, click the “Next” button to continue.
• On the next page, review the details that you entered, and click the “Install” button to start the installation process. This will install Open Web Analytics on your Rocky Linux 8 system, and create the necessary tables and records in the database.
• Once the installation is complete, click the “Finish” button to complete the setup process. This will bring up the Open Web Analytics login page, where you can log in to your Open Web Analytics account using the administrator username and password that you specified earlier.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Open Web Analytics on Rocky Linux 8 and set up your Open Web Analytics administrator account. You can now start using Open Web Analytics to track, measure, and analyze the traffic on your website or application.

Christian Wells