Odoo is an open-source enterprise management solution that offers a wide range of applications for business management. In this article, we will show you how to install Odoo 18 on a Debian 12 server, from installing dependencies to setting up a reverse proxy to access Odoo via a secure HTTPS domain.
Prerequisites
Before starting the installation, make sure you have a clean installation of Debian 12 with administrative access. This guide also assumes that you have SSH access to your server.
1. Update your system
The first step is to ensure that your system is up to date. Run the following commands to update all installed packages on your Debian 12 system.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
This ensures that your system has the latest versions of software and security patches.
2. Configure the firewall with UFW
Security is paramount, which is why we will set up a simple firewall using UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall). Follow the steps below:
Installation of UFW
sudo apt install ufw
Allow SSH connections
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH sudo ufw enable
Allow HTTP and HTTPS connections
sudo ufw allow "WWW Full" sudo ufw reload
Firewall status check
sudo ufw status
This ensures that the firewall is active and that the necessary connections (SSH, HTTP, HTTPS) are allowed.
3. Installation of necessary dependencies
Odoo 18 requires Python 3.11, which is already included in Debian 12. We will now install all the necessary dependencies for Odoo, including libraries for graphics, compression, and connections to the PostgreSQL database.
sudo apt install build-essential wget git python3.11-dev python3.11-venv \ libfreetype-dev libxml2-dev libzip-dev libsasl2-dev \ node-less libjpeg-dev zlib1g-dev libpq-dev \ libxslt1-dev libldap2-dev libtiff5-dev libopenjp2-7-dev libcap-dev
These packages are necessary for Odoo to function optimally.
4. Create a system user for Odoo
It is recommended to create a dedicated user to run Odoo in order to avoid conflicts with other system processes. Run the following command to add a user:
sudo useradd -m -d /opt/odoo18 -Urs /bin/bash odoo18
This creates a user named odoo18 with a home directory located at /opt/odoo18.
5. Installation of PostgreSQL
Odoo works with PostgreSQL for database management. Debian 12 includes PostgreSQL in its official repositories, so installation is straightforward.
sudo apt install postgresql
Next, we need to create a PostgreSQL user for Odoo with the same name as the system user:
sudo su - postgres -c "createuser -s odoo18"
6. Installation of wkhtmltopdf
Odoo uses wkhtmltopdf to generate PDF reports from HTML pages. The version of wkhtmltopdf available for Debian 12 is not directly compatible, so we will install a patched version.
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/o/openssl/libssl1.1_1.1.1f-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb sudo apt install ./libssl1.1_1.1.1f-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb wget https://github.com/wkhtmltopdf/packaging/releases/download/0.12.6.1-2/wkhtmltox_0.12.6.1-2.bullseye_amd64.deb sudo apt install ./wkhtmltox_0.12.6.1-2.bullseye_amd64.deb
If you encounter a problem with the installation, you can try running:
sudo apt install -f
7. Odoo Installation
We will now install Odoo in a virtual Python environment. Start by logging in as the user odoo18:
sudo su - odoo18
Clone the GitHub repository of Odoo 18:
git clone https://www.github.com/odoo/odoo --depth 1 --branch 18.0 odoo18
Then, create a Python virtual environment and activate it:
python3.11 -m venv odoo18-venv source odoo18-venv/bin/activate
Install the necessary Python dependencies for Odoo:
pip install wheel setuptools pip --upgrade pip install -r odoo18/requirements.txt
pip install phonenumbers
Once the installation is complete, you can create a directory for Odoo's custom modules:
mkdir /opt/odoo18/odoo18/custom-addons
Then log out of the odoo18 user to create the Odoo configuration file:
exit
8. Create the Odoo configuration file
Create a configuration file for Odoo in /etc/odoo18.conf:
sudo nano /etc/odoo18.conf
Add the following content to the file:
[options] admin_passwd = m0d1fyth15 db_host = False db_port = False db_user = odoo18 db_password = False addons_path = /opt/odoo18/odoo18/addons,/opt/odoo18/odoo18/custom-addons
Replace passwordchangeme with a more secure password.
9. Create a systemd service file for Odoo
To manage Odoo as a service, we need to create a systemd unit file. Run the following command:
sudo systemctl edit odoo18 --force --full
Add the following content to configure Odoo as a service:
[Unit] Description=odoo18 Requires=postgresql.service After=network.target postgresql.service [Service] Type=simple SyslogIdentifier=odoo18 PermissionsStartOnly=true User=odoo18 Group=odoo18 ExecStart=/opt/odoo18/odoo18-venv/bin/python3 /opt/odoo18/odoo18/odoo-bin -c /etc/odoo18.conf StandardOutput=journal+console [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Then reload the systemd service and enable Odoo:
sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl enable --now odoo18
Check if Odoo works with:
sudo systemctl status odoo18
You can now access Odoo by going to http://your_server_ip:8069.
10. Install and configure a reverse proxy with Nginx
To access Odoo via a domain name, we need to configure a reverse proxy with Nginx. Start by installing Nginx:
sudo apt install nginx
Then, create an Nginx server block for Odoo:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/odoo.conf
Add the following configuration:
server { listen 80; server_name yourdomain.com; location / { proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8069; 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; } }
Restart Nginx to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart nginx
11. Secure with SSL via Certbot
Finally, to secure your site with HTTPS, install Certbot and obtain an SSL certificate:
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx sudo certbot --nginx --agree-tos --redirect --hsts --staple-ocsp --email votre_email@example.com -d yourdomain.com
Certbot will automatically configure HTTPS for your domain.
Congratulations, you have now installed Odoo 18 on Debian 12, secured your site with SSL, and configured a Nginx reverse proxy to access Odoo via a domain name.
