BigBlueButton 0.

8
We've made a lot of improvements in the upcoming release of BigBlueButton 0.8. If you'd like to try installing it instead of 0.71a, see Install BigBlueButton 0.8-beta on Ubuntu.

Prerequisites
This document contains instructions for installing/upgrading BigBlueButton 0.71a on a Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit or 64-bit server (earlier or later versions of Ubuntu are not supported). If you want to upgrade from BigBlueButton 0.70, please see the section Upgrading later in this document. Before you install BigBlueButton 0.71a, you'll need: 1. An Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit or 64-bit server 2. 2 GB of memory 3. Root access to the server 4. 5G of free disk space 5. Port 80 is not in use by other applications Note: BigBlueButton uses nginx, which listens on port 80 for http access and tunneling. If you have apache already running on your server, then you'll need to configure apache to listen on a different port. To do this, edit /etc/apache2/ports.conf and change the entry for 80 to another number, such as 8081. Avoid using 8080 in apache as BigBlueButton uses tomcat6 which binds to that port. We recommend you install BigBlueButton on a dedicated server.

Installation of BigBlueButton 0.71a

1. Install the BigBlueButton apt-get repository key
First, install the BigBlueButton apt-get repository key and URL (note: The URL has changed from 0.70).
# Install the package key wget http://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bigbluebutton.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add # Add the BigBlueButton repository URL and ensure the multiverse is enabled echo "deb http://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/lucid/ bigbluebutton-lucid main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bigbluebutton.list echo "deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid multiverse" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Install a Voice Conference Server

BigBlueButton now lets you choose to use either Asterisk or FreeSWITCH for voice conferencing. We provide configuration packages for both, so it's easy to install either one. We recommend FreeSWITCH. To install FreeSWITCH:
sudo sudo sudo sudo apt-get install python-software-properties add-apt-repository ppa:freeswitch-drivers/freeswitch-nightly-drivers apt-get update apt-get install bbb-freeswitch-config

Or, instead, to install Asterisk (WARNING: Do not install both):

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install bbb-voice-conference

Again, install only one of the above

3. Install BigBlueButton
We're now ready to install BigBlueButton. Type:
sudo apt-get install bigbluebutton

This single command is where all the magic happens. This command will install all of BigBlueButton components with their dependencies. Here's a screen shot of the packages it will install.

Type 'y' and press Enter. Then sit back. After a few moments, if you don't have mysql installed, the mysql package script will ask to specify a password for the mysql 'root' user.

Enter a password for mysql's 'root' user (you'll need to enter it twice). Almost immediately, the package script for bbb-web will prompt you for that mysql root password (shown below). BigBlueButton needs to access the mysql to create a database. Enter the the same password your did a moment ago for mysql. Note: The mysql password should not contain the following characters as ! # [ ^ $ ] ( ) as they will cause the bbb-web install script to break.

Finally, you'll be prompted to access an End User License Agreement (EULA) for the installation of the Microsoft TrueType Fonts. These fonts help OpenOffice to convert Microsoft Office documents into PDF files.

4. Do a Clean Restart
To ensure BigBlueButton has started cleanly, enter the following commands:

sudo bbb-conf --clean sudo bbb-conf --check

The output from sudo bbb-conf --check will display your current settings and, after the text, " Potential problems described below ", print any configuration or startup problems it has detected. Normally, there is no text following this message.

Trying out your server (14:42 minutes later)

You've got a full BigBlueButton server up and running (don't you just love the power of Ubuntu/Debian packages). Open a web browser to the URL of your server. You should see the BigBlueButton welcome screen.

To start using your BigBlueButton server, enter your name and click the 'Join' button. You'll join the Demo Meeting.

If this is your first time using BigBlueButton, take a moment and watch these overview videos. Also check out our Frequently Asked Questions. For example, a common question is How do I setup multiple virtual classrooms?

Upgrading to BigBlueButton 0.71a

If you are running BigBlueButton 0.70 or 0.71 on Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit or 64-bit, you can upgrade your server by entering the following commands. First, change the URL for the BigBlueButton apt-get repository.
echo "deb http://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/lucid/ bigbluebutton-lucid main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bigbluebutton.list

Next, update your packages

sudo /etc/init.d/red5 stop sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Finally, do a clean restart of your BigBlueButton server and use bbb-conf to check that everything is running smoothly.
sudo bbb-conf --clean sudo bbb-conf --check

You should now be running 0.71a.

Switching between Asterisk and FreeSWITCH

The BigBlueButton packages let you switch back and forth between using Asterisk and FreeSWITCH. To switch from FreeSWITCH to Asterisk, do
sudo sudo sudo sudo apt-get purge bbb-freeswitch-config apt-get purge freeswitch apt-get install bbb-voice-conference bbb-conf --clean

To switch from Asterisk to FreeSWTICH, do

sudo sudo sudo sudo apt-get purge bbb-voice-conference apt-get purge asterisk apt-get install bbb-freeswitch-config bbb-conf --clean

Note: When you switch back to FreeSWITCH, it seems the FreeSWITCH package will not re-install the sounds. To install them manually, do the following command:
sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/freeswitch-sounds-music-16000*

Troubleshooting
I'm running BigBlueButton 0.70 on Ubuntu 9.04
BigBlueButton 0.71a requires Ubuntu 10.04 (32-bit or 64-bit). First upgrade your server to 10.04 before installing 0.71a.

Dependencies are not met

For some VPS installations of Ubuntu 10.04, the hosting provider does not give a full /etc/apt/source.list. If you are finding your are unable to install a package, try replacing your /etc/apt/sources.list with the following
# # # deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 10.04 LTS _Lucid Lynx_ - Release amd64 (20100427)]/ lucid main restricted # deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 10.04 LTS _Lucid Lynx_ - Release amd64 (20100427)]/ lucid main restricted # See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to # newer versions of the distribution.

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted ## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the ## distribution. deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates main restricted deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates main restricted ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any ## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team. deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid universe deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid universe deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates universe deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates universe ## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu ## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to ## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in ## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu ## security team. deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid multiverse deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid multiverse deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates multiverse deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates multiverse ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports' ## repository. ## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as ## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes ## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features. ## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review ## or updates from the Ubuntu security team. # deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse # deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse ## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's ## 'partner' repository. ## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the ## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users. # deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner # deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu lucid partner deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security main restricted deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security main restricted deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security universe deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security universe deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security multiverse deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu lucid-security multiverse

then do
sudo apt-get update

and try installing BigBlueButton again.

Run bbb-conf
We've built in a BigBlueButton configuration utility, called bbb-conf, to help you configure your BigBlueButton server and trouble shoot your setup if something doesn't work right.

If you think something isn't working correctly, the first step is enter the following command.
bbb-conf --check

This will check your setup to ensure the correct processes are running, the BigBlueButton components have correctly started, and look for common configuration problems that might prevent BigBlueButton from working properly. For example, here's the output on one of our internal servers:

If you see text after the line ** Potential problems described below **, then bbbconf detected something wrong with your setup.

Change the BigBlueButton Server's IP

A common problem is the default install scripts in for BigBlueButton configure it to list for an IP address, but if you are accessing your server via a DNS hostname, you'll see the 'Welcome to Nginx' message. To change all of BigBlueButton's configuration files to use a different IP address or hostname, enter
sudo bbb-conf --setip <ip_address_or_hostname>

For example
sudo bbb-conf --setip 192.168.0.200

or
sudo bbb-conf --setip bbb.myhostname.com

For more information see bbb-conf options.

Address already in use

If you have apache2 already running on the server, you'll likely see the following error messages from nginx when it starts.
Restarting nginx: [emerg]: bind() to 0.0.0.0:80 failed (98: Address already in use)

If you see these errors, it means that nginx is unable to bind to port 80 on the local server. To find out what's binding to port 80, do the following
sudo apt-get install lsof lsof -i :80

If you see apache2 listed, then stop apache2 and start nginx
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 stop sudo /etc/init.d/nginx start

Errors in shutting down red5

The red5 server will start without issues, but on occasion it will throw an exception when shutting down.
Doing a clean restart of BigBlueButton ... * Stopping Red5 Server red5 Waiting for BigBlueButton to finish starting up before shutting down: . Running on Linux Starting Red5 Attempting to connect to RMI port: 9999 Red5 Tomcat loader was found Calling shutdown java.util.ConcurrentModificationException at java.util.HashMap$HashIterator.nextEntry(HashMap.java:810) at java.util.HashMap$EntryIterator.next(HashMap.java:851) at java.util.HashMap$EntryIterator.next(HashMap.java:849) at java.util.HashMap.putAllForCreate(HashMap.java:452) at java.util.HashMap.clone(HashMap.java:686) at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.clearReferencesStaticFinal(WebappCla ssLoader.java:1799) at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.clearReferences(WebappClassLoader.ja va:1718)

at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.stop(WebappClassLoader.java:1622)

You can ignore this error as the /etc/init.d/red5 script will automatically kill the red5 process if this occurs.

Getting Help
If you have any problems not answered by this document, or you have questions/feedback/bugs, please post to bigbluebutton-setup.