Live Helper Chat is a free, open-source chat software for websites developed in PHP. With Live Helper Chat, you can install or embed it on your websites and provide live chat service with unlimited operators, chats at the same time, multiple departments, multiple locations, and more. Whether you’re creating a personal or company chat support platform, Live Helper Chat can help you with customer support chat on your sites and works across every device with its intuitive and powerful user and admin dashboard. For more on Live Helper Chat, please visit its home page To get started with installing Live Helper Chat, follow the steps below:

Install Apache2 HTTP

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. so install it since Live Helper Chat needs it. To install Apache2 HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below. After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots. To find out if the Apache2 HTTP server is installed, simply open your web browser and type in the server’s IP or hostname. When you see a page similar to the one below, then Apache2 is installed and working.

Install MariaDB Database Server

Live Helper Chat also needs a database server to store its content. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Live Helper Chat. To install MariaDB run the commands below. After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service always to start up when the server boots. Run these on Ubuntu After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access. When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter Set root password? [Y/n]: Y New password: Enter password Re-enter new password: Repeat password Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Restart MariaDB server To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon into the MariaDB server Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories. Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2 Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2 Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules. After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2. Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is a great setting to apply in your environment. After making the change above, save the file and close it. To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in the Apache2 root directory by running the commands below Then type the content below and save the file. Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php You should see the PHP default test page.

Create Live Helper Chat Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a Live Helper Chat database. Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above. Then create a database called livehelperchat Create a database user called livehelperchatuser with a new password Then grant the user full access to the livehelperchat database. Finally, save your changes and exit.

Download Live Helper Chat Latest Release

To get Live Helper Chat’s latest release you may want to use the GitHub repository. Install wget if you don’t already have it and continue. Then change into the /tmp directory, download Live Helper Chat and extract it into its root directory. Since you just ran the web server as root, you should make sure any newly created files are owned by the www-data user and group. To do that, run the commands below:

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Live Helper Chat. This file will control how users access Live Helper Chat content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called livehelperchat.conf Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location. Save the file and exit.

Enable the Live Helper Chat and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name or hostname. This is often localhost but can be a hostname or IP address. Your server admin or hosting company will have this information available. Continue with the installation wizard and validate that all requirements are met and continue. Next, enter the database username, password, and the database created above. After that, create an admin account to manage the platform. After installing, log in and start to begin managing your platform. Conclusion: You have learned how to install Live Helper Chat on Ubuntu with an Apache2 HTTP server. If you find any errors above, please leave a comment below Thanks,