Easy!Appointments is an open-source appointment scheduling system that's user-friendly and straightforward to install. In this blog post, I'll guide you through the process of setting up Easy!Appointments on Debian 12. Let's get started!
Step 1: Update and Upgrade Your System
First, update your system packages to the latest versions:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
Step 2: Install Required Packages
Install Apache, MariaDB, and unzip:
sudo apt install -y apache2 mariadb-server unzip
Next, install PHP and the required PHP extensions:
sudo apt install -y php php-mysql php-curl php-json php-mbstring php-xml php-zip
Restart Apache to apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Step 3: Secure MariaDB
Secure your MariaDB installation by running:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Follow the prompts to set the root password and secure the database server.
Step 4: Create the Database and User
Log in to the MariaDB server:
sudo mysql -u root -p
Create a new database and user for Easy!Appointments:
CREATE DATABASE easyappointments;
CREATE USER 'eappuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'eappuser@123';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON easyappointments.* TO 'eappuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;
Step 5: Download and Configure Easy!Appointments
Navigate to the web root directory and download Easy!Appointments:
cd /var/www/html
sudo wget https://github.com/alextselegidis/easyappointments/releases/download/1.4.3/easyappointments-1.4.3.zip
sudo unzip easyappointments-1.4.3.zip -d easyappointments
Set the correct permissions:
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/easyappointments
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/easyappointments
Step 6: Configure Apache
Create a new virtual host configuration file for Easy!Appointments:
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/easyappointments.conf
Add the following content:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/easyappointments
ServerName appointments.example.com
<Directory /var/www/html/easyappointments/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/easyappointments_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/easyappointments_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Enable the new site and the rewrite module:
sudo a2ensite easyappointments.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Step 7: Configure Easy!Appointments
Navigate to the Easy!Appointments directory and copy the sample configuration file:
cd /var/www/html/easyappointments
sudo cp config-sample.php config.php
Edit the config.php file to update the URL and database configuration:
sudo vim config.php
Update the configuration section as follows:
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
// GENERAL SETTINGS
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
const BASE_URL = 'https://appointments.example.com';
const LANGUAGE = 'english';
const DEBUG_MODE = FALSE;
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
// DATABASE SETTINGS
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------
const DB_HOST = 'localhost';
const DB_NAME = 'easyappointments';
const DB_USERNAME = 'eappuser';
const DB_PASSWORD = 'eappuser@123';
Step 8: Enable HTTPS with Let's Encrypt
Install Certbot and configure SSL for your domain:
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache -y
sudo certbot --apache -d appointments.example.com
Follow the prompts to complete the SSL configuration.
Step 9: Access Easy!Appointments
Open your browser and navigate to:
http://appointments.example.com (if SSL is not configured)
https://appointments.example.com (if SSL is configured)
You should now see the Easy!Appointments setup screen. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.
