discourse Installation Guide

discourse is a free and open-source modern discussion platform. Discourse reimagines online discussion forums with modern features, serving as an alternative to vBulletin, phpBB, or commercial forum software

1. Prerequisites

Hardware Requirements:
- CPU: 2+ cores minimum
- RAM: 2GB minimum (4GB+ recommended)
- Storage: 10GB for data
- Network: HTTPS for web access
Operating System:
- Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)
- macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)
- Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10
- FreeBSD: 11.0+
Network Requirements:
- Port 80/443 (default discourse port)
- Port 3000 for development
Dependencies:
- See official documentation for specific requirements
System Access: root or sudo privileges required

2. Supported Operating Systems

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)
Debian 11/12
Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS
Arch Linux (rolling release)
Alpine Linux 3.18+
openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+
macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)
FreeBSD 13+
Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install discourse
sudo dnf install -y discourse

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now discourse

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
discourse --version

Debian/Ubuntu

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install discourse
sudo apt install -y discourse

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now discourse

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 80/443

# Verify installation
discourse --version

Arch Linux

# Install discourse
sudo pacman -S discourse

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now discourse

# Verify installation
discourse --version

Alpine Linux

# Install discourse
apk add --no-cache discourse

# Enable and start service
rc-update add discourse default
rc-service discourse start

# Verify installation
discourse --version

openSUSE/SLES

# Install discourse
sudo zypper install -y discourse

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now discourse

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
discourse --version

macOS

# Using Homebrew
brew install discourse

# Start service
brew services start discourse

# Verify installation
discourse --version

FreeBSD

# Using pkg
pkg install discourse

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'discourse_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service discourse start

# Verify installation
discourse --version

Windows

# Using Chocolatey
choco install discourse

# Or using Scoop
scoop install discourse

# Verify installation
discourse --version

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/discourse

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
discourse --version

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable discourse

# Start service
sudo systemctl start discourse

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop discourse

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart discourse

# Check status
sudo systemctl status discourse

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u discourse -f

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

# Enable service
rc-update add discourse default

# Start service
rc-service discourse start

# Stop service
rc-service discourse stop

# Restart service
rc-service discourse restart

# Check status
rc-service discourse status

rc.d (FreeBSD)

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'discourse_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service discourse start

# Stop service
service discourse stop

# Restart service
service discourse restart

# Check status
service discourse status

launchd (macOS)

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start discourse
brew services stop discourse
brew services restart discourse

# Check status
brew services list | grep discourse

Windows Service Manager

# Start service
net start discourse

# Stop service
net stop discourse

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service discourse
Stop-Service discourse
Restart-Service discourse

# Check status
Get-Service discourse

Advanced Configuration

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

upstream discourse_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:80/443;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name discourse.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name discourse.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/discourse.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/discourse.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://discourse_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Apache Configuration

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName discourse.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://discourse.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName discourse.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/discourse.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/discourse.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:80/443/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:80/443/
</VirtualHost>

HAProxy Configuration

frontend discourse_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/discourse.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend discourse_backend

backend discourse_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server discourse1 127.0.0.1:80/443 check

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R discourse:discourse /etc/discourse
sudo chmod 750 /etc/discourse

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

Database Setup

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status discourse

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u discourse -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep discourse)

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/discourse"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/discourse-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/discourse /var/lib/discourse

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/discourse-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

Restore Procedure

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop discourse

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/discourse/discourse-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start discourse

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Service won't start:

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u discourse -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/discourse/discourse.log

# Check configuration
discourse --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/discourse

Connection issues:

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 80/443

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 80/443

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

Performance issues:

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep discourse)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep discourse)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 80/443

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

version: '3.8'
services:
  discourse:
    image: discourse:latest
    ports:
      - "80/443:80/443"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/discourse
      - ./data:/var/lib/discourse
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

Update Procedures

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update discourse

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade discourse

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu discourse

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade discourse

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update discourse

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade discourse

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/discourse-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/discourse

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart discourse

Regular Maintenance

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/discourse

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/discourse -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/discourse

Additional Resources

Official Documentation: https://docs.discourse.org/
GitHub Repository: https://github.com/discourse/discourse
Community Forum: https://forum.discourse.org/
Best Practices Guide: https://docs.discourse.org/best-practices

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

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