Common Issues with Zoneminder Installation on Ubuntu

04OCT15

With some changes “in-the-works” for Ubuntu installs by the hard working volunteers who keep Zoneminder up-to-date, it was recommended

that we post fixes/instructions for some issues that continue to surface. One difference will be that the Zoneminder install will no

longer automatically install the zm database in MySQL. This document will likely grow over time but may become obsolete as procedures

become better documented.

Zoneminder Database

Versions of Zoneminder up to and including 1.28.1 in Ubuntu would automatically add the zm database to MySQL. Beginning about August

2015 the development version from the iconnor-master PPA omitted this step becoming like the Debian install process. Manually adding the database to MySQL will be To install the zm database (after doing apt-get install zoneminder) Create Zoneminder database in MySQL (Note: this also creates the default Zoneminder user and permissions in MySQL)

This next step creates a file which contained the MySQL user and password. Otherwise you will have to enter the user and password on the

command line which is not secure!

Go to the root directory

cd ~

Create a hidden password file

nano .my.cnf

Enter this content (but use your MySQL root password!)

[client]
user=root
password=(mysqlpass)

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Create database (press ENTER after each command)

mysql < /usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql 

mysql 

grant select,insert,update,delete on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';

\q (enter) (to quit)

Note for upgrade from prior version of Zoneminder: The latest version from the PPA Master contains a new table. If you try to run zmupdate.pl to upgrade the database you will ge an error. You need to run the entry:

grant select,insert,update,delete,create on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';

Remove password file

rm .my.cnf

Continue with the Zoneminder installation

Getting the API to work

WARNING! If your Zoneminder is exposed to the internet make sure you have OPT_USE_AUTH enabled.

The API is needed to get Zoneminder to work with zmNinja (under development as of 1OCT15) and possibly household automation software.

The "official" documentation is here:https://github.com/pliablepixels/zmNinja/wiki/Configuring-ZoneMinder-with-API But can be done in two steps.

Enable rewrite

a2enmod rewrite

Change owner of /usr/share/zoneminder/www sub directories and files to: www-data:www-data

chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/zoneminder/www

Restart Apache

Testing. if you have OPT_USE_AUTH turned on make sure you are logged into Zoneminder before you try the following tests or turn off OPT_USE_AUTH.

Test to see if cake is working: http://localhost/zm/api/

Test API using: http://localhost/zm/api/host/getVersion.json Should return something like:

{
   "version": "1.28.107",
   "apiversion": "1.28.107.1"
}

Upgrades

Ubuntu 14.04 - ZM 1.26.5 to 1.28.1

Become root

sudo su

Add Repository

add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder

apt-get update

Stop Zoneminder

service zoneminder stop

Upgrade the installation

apt-get upgrade  (may return nothing to upgrade)

apt-get dist-upgrade

You will be asked if you want to replace /etc/init.d/zoneminder. Choose "Y"

The database should update but to be sure run:

/usr/bin/zmupdate.pl

Add back the delay to allow MySQL to start before Zoneminder

nano /etc/init.d/zoneminder

Add sleep 15 as shown:

start() {
     sleep 15
     echo -n "Starting $prog: "

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Start Zoneminder

service zoneminder restart

Reload Apache

service apache2 reload

Ubuntu 14.04 - ZM 1.26.5 to 1.28.107 or the latest PPA Master version

Become root

sudo su

Add Repository

add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-master

apt-get update

Stop Zoneminder

service zoneminder stop

Upgrade the installation

apt-get upgrade  (may return nothing to upgrade)

apt-get dist-upgrade

You will be asked if you want to replace /etc/init.d/zoneminder. Choose "Y"

The database will not automatically update. Replace "abc123" with your MySQL root password.

Change permissions in your "ZM database to allow the creation of a table

mysql -uroot -pabc123 -e "grant select,insert,update,delete,create on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';"

Run the database upgrade

/usr/bin/zmupdate.pl --version=1.26.5 

Reset database permissions

mysql -uroot -pabc123 -e "grant select,insert,update,delete on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';"

Add back the delay to allow MySQL to start before Zoneminder

nano /etc/init.d/zoneminder

Add sleep 15 as shown:

start() {
     sleep 15
     echo -n "Starting $prog: "

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Enable rewrite for API function

a2enmod rewrite

Start Zoneminder

service zoneminder start

Restart Apache

service apache2 restart

Open Zoneminder. Click on Options - Paths

Change PATH_ZMS to /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms

Ubuntu 15.04 - ZM 1.26.5 to 1.28.1

Become root

sudo su

Add Repository

add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder

apt-get update

Stop Zoneminder

service zoneminder stop

Upgrade the installation

apt-get upgrade  (may return nothing to upgrade)

apt-get dist-upgrade

You will be asked if you want to replace /etc/init.d/zoneminder. Choose "Y"

The database should update but to be sure run:

/usr/bin/zmupdate.pl

Start Zoneminder

service zoneminder start

Restart Apache

service apache restart

Ubuntu 15.04 - ZM 1.26.5 to 1.28.107 or the latest PPA Master version

Thanks to "asker" for this procedure. Original posted at: https://github.com/pliablepixels/zmNinja/wiki/Easy-Way:-Upgrading-from-non-API-package-to-API-package

Become root

sudo su

Remove old repository if you used it

add-apt-repository -r ppa:iconnor/zoneminder

Add Repository

add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-master

apt-get update

Stop Zoneminder

systemctl stop zoneminder.service

Upgrade the installation

apt-get install zoneminder

The database will not automatically update. Replace "abc123" with your MySQL root password.

Change permissions in your "ZM database to allow the creation of a table

mysql -uroot -pabc123 -e "grant create,select,insert,update,delete on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';"

Run the database upgrade

/usr/bin/zmupdate.pl 

Configure Apache

rm /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/zoneminder.conf 

a2enmod rewrite

a2enmod cgi

a2enconf zoneminder

Fix Permissions

chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/zoneminder/

Restart Services

service apache2 reload

systemctl start zoneminder.service

Open Zoneminder in a browser. Click on Options - Paths

Change PATH_ZMS to /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms

If Zoneminder does not start when you boot your server, run these commands:

systemctl stop zoneminder.service

systemctl disable zoneminder.service

systemctl enable zoneminder.service

systemctl start zoneminder.service

Reboot your server and check that Zoneminder started.