Installation¶

TRAPPER is provided as Docker container and can be deployed on both Linux- and Windows-based servers. However, we recommend a Linux distribution based on Debian e.g. Ubuntu Server. TRAPPER uses Docker composer, a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. With this technology all basic services needed to run TRAPPER (including database and FTP server) can be automatically deployed and configured on a dedicated server with a possibility left open to configure particular services manually (e.g. a scenario with an external database server).

Installing Docker Community Edition (CE) & Docker Compose¶

Follow the steps from the official Docker documentation:
- Ubuntu: https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu/
- Windows: https://hub.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-windows
Install Docker Compose: https://docs.docker.com/compose/

Note

To learn more about Docker technology including the management of Docker images and containers please read the official Docker documentation.

Getting the source code of TRAPPER¶

First, clone the source code of TRAPPER to your local repository:
```
$ git clone https://gitlab.com/trapper-project/trapper.git
```
To get the most up-to-date version of TRAPPER switch to a branch development:
```
$ git checkout development
```

Note

It is much easier to use Git Bash for cloning git repositories on Windows instead of using a standard Windows command line: https://git-scm.com/download/win

Running TRAPPER¶

Note

If you need a custom configuration of TRAPPER (e.g. external database, ftp and email services) please check the Configuration section for details.

Copy the trapper.env file to the .env file, you can do it using the command:
```
$ cp trapper.env .env
```
Adjust the variables in the .env file if you use a non-standard installation, e.g. the external postgresql database.
Run TRAPPER with the following command:
- Production
```
$ ./start.sh -pb prod
```
- Development
```
$ ./start.sh -pb dev
```

Note

Flags -p and -b tell the script to pull all required docker images and to build the trapper image locally. To learn more about all possible running options simply type ./start.sh. For example, to run TRAPPER with an external postgresql database you can use flag -d (but first check the Using an external database section).

Warning

The process of pulling, building & starting all docker containers can take a while!

Now your TRAPPER instance should be up!

Creating the admin (superuser) account¶

Enter the trapper docker container and create the superuser:

$ docker exec -it trapper bash
$ python /app/trapper/trapper-project/manage.py createsuperuser

After providing a username, email and password you should be able to login to TRAPPER.

SSL certificates¶

If you already have the SSL certificates for your TRAPPER website you can use them by providing proper paths in the .env configuration file. See the SSL certificates section for details. These certificates will be used to configure the HTTPS nginx proxy-server within a dedicated container. When there is no SSL certificates provided they will be generated automatically using the openssl toolkit.

Note

For example, you can get free SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt.