How to Install nopCommerce on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx Reverse Proxy and SSL: Step-by-Step Guide

nopCommerce is an open-source e-commerce platform that allows users to create and manage their online stores. It is built on the ASP.NET Core framework and supports multiple database systems, including MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and PostgreSQL as it’s backend. The platform is highly customizable and offers a wide range of features, including product management, order processing, shipping, payment integration, and customer management. nopCommerce is a popular choice for businesses of all sizes because of its flexibility, scalability, and user-friendly interface.
In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of installing nopCommerce on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx reverse proxy and SSL.

Register Microsoft key and feed
To register the Microsoft key and feed, launch the terminal and execute these commands:

1. Download the packages-microsoft-prod.deb file by running the command:

wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb

2. Install the packages-microsoft-prod.deb package by running the command:

sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb

Install the .NET Core Runtime
To install the .NET Core Runtime, perform the following steps:

1. Update the available product listings for installation by running the command:

sudo apt-get update

2. Install the .NET runtime by running the command:

sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https aspnetcore-runtime-7.0

To determine the appropriate version of the .NET runtime to install, you should refer to the documentation provided by nopCommerce, which takes into account both the version of nopCommerce you are using and the Ubuntu OS version. Refer to the link below:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux-ubuntu
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux-ubuntu#supported-distributions

3. Verify the installed .Net Core runtimes by running the command:

dotnet --list-runtimes

4. Install the libgdiplus library:

sudo apt-get install libgdiplus

libgdiplus is an open-source implementation of the GDI+ API that provides access to graphic-related functions in nopCommerce and is required for running nopCommerce on Linux.

Install MySql Server
Latest nopCommerce support latest MySQL and MariaDB versions. We will install the latest MariaDB 10.6.

1. To install mariadb-server for nopCommerce, execute the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server

2. After installing MariaDB Server, you need to set the root password. Execute the following command in the terminal to set the root password:

sudo /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

This will start a prompt to guide you through the process of securing your MySQL installation and setting the root password.

3. Create a database and User. We will use these details while installing nopCommerce. Replace the names of the database and the database user accordingly.

mysql -u root -p
create database  nopCommerceDB;
grant all on nopCommerceDB.* to nopCommerceuser@localhost identified by 'P@ssW0rD';

Please replace the database name, username and password accordingly.

4. Reload privilege tables and exit the database.

flush privileges;
quit;

Install nginx

1. To install Nginx, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install nginx

2. After installing Nginx, start the service by running:

sudo systemctl start nginx

3. You can verify the status of the service using the following command:

sudo systemctl status nginx

4. Nginx Reverse proxy configuration
To configure Nginx as a reverse proxy for your nopCommerce application, you’ll need to modify the default Nginx configuration file located at /etc/nginx/sites-available/nopcommerce.linuxwebhostingsupport.in. Open the file in a text editor and replace its contents with the following:

server {

    server_name nopcommerce.linuxwebhostingsupport.in;

	listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;


  location / {
    proxy_pass         http://localhost:5000;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header   Connection keep-alive;
    proxy_set_header   Host $host;
    proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

}

You need to replace nopcommerce.linuxwebhostingsupport.in with your domain name
5. Enable the virtual host configuration file:
Enable the server block by creating a symbolic link in the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directory:
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/nopcommerce.linuxwebhostingsupport.in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

6. Reload Nginx for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl reload Nginx

Install NopCommerce

In this example, we’ll use /var/www/nopCommerce for storing the files.

1. Create a directory:

sudo mkdir /var/www/nopCommerce

2. Navigate to the directory where you want to store the nopCommerce files, Download and unpack nopCommerce:

cd /var/www/nopCommerce
sudo wget https://github.com/nopSolutions/nopCommerce/releases/download/release-4.60.2/nopCommerce_4.60.2_NoSource_linux_x64.zip
sudo apt-get install unzip
sudo unzip nopCommerce_4.60.2_NoSource_linux_x64.zip

3. Create two directories that nopCommerce needs to run properly:

sudo mkdir bin
sudo mkdir logs

4. Change the ownership of the nopCommerce directory and its contents to the www-data group:

sudo chown -R www-data.www-data  /var/www/nopCommerce/

www-data is the user Nginx webserver runs.

Create the nopCommerce service

1. Create a file named nopCommerce.service in the /etc/systemd/system directory with the following content:

[Unit]
Description=Example nopCommerce app running on Xubuntu

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/nopCommerce
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /var/www/nopCommerce/Nop.Web.dll
Restart=always
# Restart service after 10 seconds if the dotnet service crashes:
RestartSec=10
KillSignal=SIGINT
SyslogIdentifier=nopCommerce-example
User=www-data
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
Environment=DOTNET_PRINT_TELEMETRY_MESSAGE=false

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

2. Start the nopCommerce service by running:

sudo systemctl start nopCommerce.service

3. To check the status of the nopCommerce service, use the following command:

sudo systemctl status nopCommerce.service

Also, check if the service is running on port 5000

sudo lsof -i:5000

4. After that, restart the nginx server:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Now that the prerequisites are installed and configured, you can proceed to install and set up your nopCommerce store.

Install nopCommerce
After completing the previous steps, you can access the website through the following URL: http://nopcommerce.linuxwebhostingsupport.in. Upon visiting the site for the first time, you will be automatically redirected to the installation page as shown below:

Provide the following information in the Store Information panel:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

sudo certbot renew --quiet