bbb-install.sh is a shell script that automates the step-by-step instructions for setting up a BigBlueButton 2.2 server.
With only a few parameters, bbb-install.sh can have your BigBlueButton server set up and ready for use in 30 minutes (depending on your server's internet speed to download and install packages).
For example, given an Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit server with a public IP address, to install/update to the latest build of BigBlueButton 2.2 first SSH into the server as root and run the following command:
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -w -v xenial-22 -a -w
The command will pull down the latest version of bbb-install.sh, send it to the BASH shell interpreter, and pass the parameters
-v xenial-22which specifies you want to install the latest build of BigBlueButton 2.2.N,-awhich specifies want to install the API demos (this makes it easy to do a few quick tests on the server), and-wwhich installs the uncomplicated firewall (UFW) to restrict access to TCP/IP ports 22, 80, and 443, and UDP ports in range 16384-32768.
Note: If your server is also behind an external firewall -- such as behind a corporate firewall or behind an AWS Security Group -- you will need to manually configure the external firewall to forward specific internet connections to the BigBlueButton server before you can launch the client.
When bbb-install.sh finishes, you'll see a message that gives you a test URL to launch the BigBlueButton client and join a meeting called 'Demo Meeting'.
# Warning: The API demos are installed and accessible from:
#
# http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
#
# and
#
# http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/demo/demo1.jsp
#
# These API demos allow anyone to access your server without authentication
# to create/manage meetings and recordings. They are for testing purposes only.
# If you are running a production system, remove them by running:
#
# sudo apt-get purge bbb-demo
When you open the URL, you should see a login to join the meeting Demo Meeting.
Enter your name and click Join. The BigBlueButton client should then load in your browser and prompt you to join the audio.
Click the '[x]' to skip joining the audio. Why? In this example BigBlueButton server is configured to use an IP address (HTTP not HTTPS) and, as such, the browser will block access to the webcam and microphone.
For a production setup of BigBlueButton, you need to configure transport level security (TLS) on the server. Only when web pages are servied via HTTPS will the browser prompt the user for access to the webcam, microphone, or screen (for screen sharing) using the built-in real-time communications (WebRTC) libraries.
The good news is bbb-install.sh can automatically request a TLS/SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt and configure BigBlueButton to use that certificate. The following sections show you how.
Before running bbb-install.sh, we strongly recommend that you:
- read through all the documentation in this page,
- ensure that your server meets the minimal server requirements, and
- configure a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), such as
bbb.example.com, that resolves to the external IP address of your server.
To set up a FQDN, you need to purchase a domain name from a domain name system (DNS) provider, such as GoDaddy or Network Solutions. Once purchased, you'll need to use steps provided by the DNS provider to create an A Record that resolves to the public IP address of your server. (Check the DNS provider's documentation for details on how to set up the A Record.)
With a FQDN domain name place, you can then pass a few additional parameters to bbb-install.sh to have it:
- request and install a 4096 bit TLS/SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt (we love Let's Encrypt) (recommended),
- install a firewall to restrict access only to neede ports (recommened),
- install and configure Greenlight to provide a simple front-end for users to enable them to set up rooms, hold online sessions, and manage recordings (optional).
If you install Greenlight, you'll have the ability to be the Greenlight administrator, giving you the ability manage user accounts.
The full source code for bbb-install.sh is here. To make it easy for anyone to run the script with a single command, we host the latest version of the script at https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh.
There are many hosting companies that can provide you virtual and dedicated servers to run BigBlueButton. We list a few popular choices below. Note: We are not making any recommendations here, just listing some of the more popular choices.
For quick setup, Digital Ocean offers both virtual servers with Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit and a single public IP address (no firewall). Hetzner offers dedicated servers with single IP address.
Other popular choices, such as ScaleWay (choose either Bare Metal or Pro servers) and Google Compute Engine, offer servers that are set up behind network address translation (NAT). That is, they have both an internal and external IP address. When installing on these servers, the bbb-install.sh will detect the internal/external addresses and configure BigBlueButton accordingly.
Another popular choice is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. We recommend a c5.xlarge (or larger) instance. All EC2 servers are, by default, is behind a firewall (which Amazon calls a security group). You will need to manually configure the security group before installing BigBlueButton on EC2 and, in a similar manner, on Azure and Google Compute Engine (GCE). (See screen shots in next section.)
Finally, if bbb-install.sh is unable to configure your server behind NAT, we recommend going through the step-by-step for installing BigBlueButton. (Going through the steps is also a good way to understand more about how BigBlueButton works).
If you install BigBlueButton on a server behind a external firewall, such an Amazon's EC2 security group, you first need to configure the external firewall to forward incoming traffic on the following ports:
- TCP/IP port 22 (for SSH)
- TCP/IP ports 80/443 (for HTTP/HTTPS)
- UDP ports in the range 16384 - 32768 (for FreeSWITCH/HTML5 client RTP streams)
If you are using EC2, you should also assign the server an Elastic IP address to prevent it from getting a new IP address on reboot.
On Microsot Azure, when you create an instance you need to add the following inbound port rules to enable incoming connections on ports 80, 443, and UDP port range 16384-32768:
On Google Compute Engine, when you create an instance you need to enable traffic on port 80 and 443.
After the instance is created, you need to add a firewall rule to allow incoming UDP traffic on the port range 16384-32768.
We make a disction here between the firewall installed with -w and the external firewall on a separate server. Even with an external firewall, its good practice to still install the UFW firewall on the BigBlueButton server.
Using Digital Ocean as an example, we put together this video to get you going quickly: Using bbb-install.sh to set up BigBlueButton on Digital Ocean.
Using Amazon EC2, see Install using bbb-install.sh on EC2.
You can get help by passing the -h option.
Script for installing a BigBlueButton 2.2 (or later) server in about 15 minutes.
This script also supports installation of a coturn (TURN) server on a separate server.
USAGE:
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS (install BigBlueButton):
-v <version> Install given version of BigBlueButton (e.g. 'xenial-22') (required)
-s <hostname> Configure server with <hostname>
-e <email> Email for Let's Encrypt certbot
-x Use Let's Encrypt certbot with manual dns challenges
-a Install BBB API demos
-g Install Greenlight
-c <hostname>:<secret> Configure with coturn server at <hostname> using <secret>
-m <link_path> Create a Symbolic link from /var/bigbluebutton to <link_path>
-p <host> Use apt-get proxy at <host>
-r <host> Use alternative apt repository (such as packages-eu.bigbluebutton.org)
-d Skip SSL certificates request (use provided certificates from mounted volume)
-w Install UFW firewall
-h Print help
OPTIONS (install coturn only):
-c <hostname>:<secret> Setup a coturn server with <hostname> and <secret> (required)
-e <email> Configure email for Let's Encrypt certbot (required)
OPTIONS (install Let's Encrypt certificate only):
-s <hostname> Configure server with <hostname> (required)
-e <email> Configure email for Let's Encrypt certbot (required)
-l Install Let's Encrypt certificate (required)
-x Use Let's Encrypt certbot with manual dns challenges (optional)
EXAMPLES:
Sample options for setup a BigBlueButton server
-v xenial-22
-v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w
-v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w -g
-v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w -g -c turn.example.com:1234324
Sample options for setup of a coturn server (on a different server)
-c turn.example.com:1234324 -e [email protected]
SUPPORT:
Community: https://bigbluebutton.org/support
Docs: https://github.com/bigbluebutton/bbb-install
To install BigBlueButton 2.2 (no hostname or TLS/SSL certificate):
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -w
That's it. The installation should finish in under 30 minutes (depending on the server's internet connection) with the following message:
** Potential problems described below **
......
# Warning: The API demos are installed and accessible from:
#
# http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/demo/demo1.jsp
#
# These API demos allow anyone to access your server without authentication
# to create/manage meetings and recordings. They are for testing purposes only.
# If you are running a production system, remove them by running:
#
# sudo apt-get purge bbb-demo
The script also installs the bbb-demo package so you can immediately test out the install. If you want to remove the API demos, use the command
sudo apt-get purge bbb-demo
If you want to use this server with a third-party integration, such as Moodle, you can get the BigBlueButton server's hostname and shared secret with the command sudo bbb-conf --secret.
# bbb-conf --secret
URL: http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/bigbluebutton/
Secret: yyy
Link to the API-Mate:
http://mconf.github.io/api-mate/#server=http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/bigbluebutton/&sharedSecret=yyy
Since this default use of bbb-install.sh does not configure a SSL/TLS certificate, while you can login to the server, you won't be able to share audio/video as WebRTC requires a SSL/TLS certificate.
Before bbb-install.sh can install a SSL/TLS certificate, you will need to provide two pieces of information:
- A fully qualified domain name (FQDN), such as
bbb.example.com, that resolves to the public IP address of your server - An e-mail address
When you have set up the FQDN, check that it correctly resolves to the external IP address of the server using the dig command.
dig bbb.example.com @8.8.8.8
Note: we're using bbb.example.com as an example hostname. You would substitute your real hostname for the check (and for the commands below).
With just these two pieces of information -- FQDN and e-mail address -- you can use bbb-install.sh to automate the configuration of the BigBlueButton server with a TLS/SSL certificate. For example, to install BigBlueButton 2.2 with a TLS/SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt using bbb.example.com and [email protected], enter the command
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w
(again, you would substitute bbb.example.com and [email protected] with your server's FQDN and your e-mail address).
The bbb-install.sh script will also install a cron job that automatically renews the Let's Encrypt certificate so it doesn't expire. Cool.
The default installation is meant to be for servers that are publicly available. This is because Let's Encrypt requires to access nginx in order to automatically validate the FQDN provided.
When installing BigBlueButton in a private network, it is possible to validate the FQDN manually, by adding the option -x to the command line. As in:
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w -x
Confirm the use of the email account.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Would you be willing to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit
organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about our work
encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(Y)es/(N)o:
Confirm the use of the IP address
Are you OK with your IP being logged?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(Y)es/(N)o:
A challenge will be generated and shown in the console.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please deploy a DNS TXT record under the name
_acme-challenge.bbb.example.com with the following value:
0bIA-3-RqbRo2EfbYTkuKk7xq2mzszUgVlr6l1OWjW8
Before continuing, verify the record is deployed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Press Enter to Continue
Before hitting Eneter, create a TXT record in the DNS with the challenge that was generated.
_acme-challenge.bbb.example.com. TXT "0bIA-3-RqbRo2EfbYTkuKk7xq2mzszUgVlr6l1OWjW8" 60
The downside of this is that because Let's Encrypt SSL certificates expire after 90 days, it will be necessary to manually update the certificates. In that case an email is sent a few days before the expiration and the next command has to be executed through the console.
certbot --email [email protected] --agree-tos -d bbb.example.com --deploy-hook 'systemctl restart nginx' --no-bootstrap --manual-public-ip-logging-ok --manual --preferred-challenges dns --server https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory certonly
You can install the API demos by adding the -a option.
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w -a
Warning: These API demos allow anyone to access your server without authentication to create/manage meetings and recordings. They are for testing purposes only. Once you are finished testing, you can remove the API demos with sudo apt-get purge bbb-demo.
Greenlight is a simple front-end for BigBlueButton written in Ruby on Rails. It lets users create accounts, have permanent rooms, and manage their recordings. It also lets you, as the administrator, manage the user accounts (such as approve or deny users).
You can install Greenlight by adding the -g option.
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w -g
Once Greenlight is installed, it redirects the default home page to Greenlight. You can also configure GreenLight to use OAuth2 authentication.
To launch Greenlight, simply open the URL of your server, such as https://bbb.example.com/. You should see the Greenlight landing page.
To set up an administrator account for Greenlight (so you can approve/deny signups), enter the following commands
cd greenlight/
docker exec greenlight-v2 bundle exec rake admin:create
This command will create an admin account and set a default password. After running this command, login using the given username/password and change the default password. Next, select 'Administrator' and choose 'Organization'.
You can then select 'Site Settings' on the left-hand side and change the Registration Method to 'Approve/Decline'.
You can now contol who creates accounts on your BigBlueButton server. For more information see Greenlight administration.
The install script allows you to pass a path which will be used to create a symbolic link with /var/bigbluebutton
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -w -m /mnt/test
This allows users to store the contents of /var/bigbluebutton, which can get quite large in a seperate volume
If you want to set up BigBlueButton 2.2 with a TLS/SSL certificate and GreenLight, you can do this all with a single command:
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -w -g
Furthermore, you can re-run the same command later to update your server to the latest version of BigBlueButton 2.2. We announce updates to BigBlueButton to the bigbluebutton-dev mailing list.
You can use bbb-install.sh to automate the steps to set up a TURN server for BigBlueButton.
Note: This step is optional, but recommended if your BigBlueButton server is publically available on the internet and will be accessed by users who may be behind restrictive firewalls.
BigBlueButton normally requires a wide range of UDP ports to be available for WebRTC communication. In some network restricted sites or development environments, such as those behind NAT or a firewall that restricts outgoing UDP connections, users may be unable to make outgoing UDP connections to your BigBlueButton server.
The TURN protocol is designed to allow UDP-based communication flows like WebRTC to bypass NAT or firewalls by having the client connect to the TURN server, and then have the TURN server connect to the destination on their behalf.
You need a separate server (not the BigBlueButton server) to set up as a TURN server. Specifically you need:
- An Ubuntu 18.04 server with a public IP address
On the TURN server, you need to have the following ports (in additon port 22) availalbe for BigBlueButton to connect (port 3478 and 443) and for the coturn to connect to your BigBlueButton server (49152 - 65535).
| Ports | Protocol | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 3478 | TCP/UDP | coturn listening port |
| 443 | TCP/UDP | TLS listening port |
| 49152-65535 | UDP | relay ports range |
We recommend Ubuntu 18.04 as it has a later version of coturn than Ubuntu 16.04. Also, this TURN server does not need to be very powerful as it will only relay communications from the BigBlueButton client to the BigBlueButton server when necessary. A dual core server on Digital Ocean, for example, which offers servers with public IP addresses, is a good choice.
Next, to configure the TURN server you need:
- A fully qualified domain name (FQDN) with a DNS entry that resolves to the external public IP address of the TURN server
- An e-mail address for Let's Encrypt
- A secret key (it can be an 8 to 16 character random string that you create).
With the above information, you can set up a TURN server for BigBlueButton using bbb-install.sh as follows
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -c <FQDN>:<SECRET> -e <EMAIL>
Note, we've omitted the -v option, which causes bbb-install.sh to just install and configure coturn. For example, using turn.example.com as the FQDN, 1234abcd as the shared secret, and [email protected] as the email address, you can set up a TURN server for BigBlueButton using the command
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -c turn.example.com:1234abcd -e [email protected]
bbb-install.sh uses Let's Encrypt to configure coturn to use a SSL certificate. With a SSL certificate in place, coturn can relay access to your BigBlueButton server via TCP/IP on port 443. This means if a user is behind a restrictive firewall that blocks all outgoing UDP connections, the TURN server can accept connections from the user via TCP/IP on port 443 and relay the data to your BigBlueButton server via UDP.
With the TURN server in place, you can configure your BigBlueButton server to use the TURN server by running the bbb-install.sh command again and adding the same -c <FQDN>:<SECRET>. For example,
wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -s bbb.example.com -e [email protected] -g -c turn.example.com:1234abcd
You can re-use a single TURN server for multiple BigBlueButton installations.
If you intend to use this server for production you should uninstall the API demos using the command
apt-get purge bbb-demo
You can also do a number of customizations to your server as well.
We are currently hosting the packaging on a Digital Ocean servlet, but recently the IP range for some Digital Ocean servers has been blocked in some countries.
If you're having troubles installing, try running the bbb-install.sh command but change the value
https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh
to
https://packages-eu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh
If on first install Greenlight gives you a 500 error when accessing it, you can restart Greenlight.
If on the initial install you see
# Not running: tomcat7 or grails LibreOffice
just run sudo bbb-conf --check again. Tomcat7 may take a bit longer to start up and isn't running the first time you run sudo bbb-conf --check.
If you have feedback on the script, or need help using it, please post to the BigBlueButton Setup mailing list with details of the issue (and include related information such as steps to reproduce the error).
If you encounter an error with the script (such as it not completing or throwing an error), please open GitHub issue and provide steps to reproduce the issue.
If you are running your BigBlueButton behind a firewall, such as on EC2, this script will not configure your firewall. You'll need to configure the firewall manually.