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Installing Signer on Ubuntu Server

To install an instance on premises from Signer on Ubuntu Server, follow the steps below. For other plataforms, click here.

Prerequisites

  • Ubuntu Server (any version currently in support by vendor, latest LTS version recommended)

Install the ASP.NET Core Runtime 6.0

Important

These instructions assume you are logged in as root. If you are not, run sudo su - before continuing!

Follow the instructions below depending on your Ubuntu version to:

  1. Register the Microsoft key and add the product repository (this only needs to be done on versions prior to 22 and once per machine)
  2. Install the package aspnetcore-runtime-6.0

Ubuntu 22.04 (LTS)

apt-get update
apt-get install aspnetcore-runtime-6.0

Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS)

curl -O https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb
dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb

apt-get update
apt-get install aspnetcore-runtime-6.0

Ubuntu 18.04 (LTS)

curl -O https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb
dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb

apt-get update
apt-get install aspnetcore-runtime-6.0

Ubuntu 16.04 (LTS)

curl -O https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb
dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb

apt-get update
apt-get install aspnetcore-runtime-6.0

Test the installation

To test the installation, run:

dotnet --list-runtimes

The expected output is similar to:

Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 6.0.* [*/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
Microsoft.NETCore.App 6.0.* [*/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]
Tip

For other operating system versions and alternative ways to install the ASP.NET Core Runtime, see this page

Install additional required packages

Install additional dependencies:

apt-get install libc6-dev libgdiplus

Install Signer

Create a local user to run the Signer application server:

mkdir /var/lacuna-signer
useradd --system --home-dir /var/lacuna-signer lacuna-signer
chown lacuna-signer:lacuna-signer /var/lacuna-signer

Create the site folder, download and extract the binaries:

mkdir /usr/share/lacuna-signer
curl -O https://cdn.lacunasoftware.com/signer/signer-1.76.0.tar.gz
tar xzf signer-1.76.0.tar.gz -C /usr/share/lacuna-signer
chmod -R a=,u+rwX,go+rX /usr/share/lacuna-signer
Note

The site files can be read by any user but can only be changed by users with high permissions. This means that the application user (signer) you can read the files but you cannot change them (this is intentional).

Create the Signer configuration file from the template provided:

mkdir /etc/lacuna-signer
cp /usr/share/lacuna-signer/config-templates/appsettings.linux.json /etc/lacuna-signer/
chown -R root:lacuna-signer /etc/lacuna-signer
chmod -R a=,u+rwX,g+rX /etc/lacuna-signer
Note

Configuration files can only be read by members of the * signer * group and can only be changed by users with elevated permissions. This is important to protect information confidential information stored in the configuration file of other users of the machine.

Configure Signer

Edit the configuration file to configure your Signer instance:

nano /etc/lacuna-signer/appsettings.linux.json

Database connection string

Under section ConnectionStrings:

  • DefaultConnection: set the connection string to the database. A typical connection string looks like this:
Data Source=SERVER;Initial Catalog=DATABASE;User ID=USERNAME;Password=PASSWORD
Note

If you created the database using advanced features such as log shipping or mirroring, your connection string may be different

General settings

Generate a 256-bit key to encrypt secrets stored in the database:

openssl rand -base64 32

Then, under section General:

  • SiteName: the name of this instance. It will be used in generated documents and emails
  • SiteUrl: publicly accessible URL of the website (e.g.: https://signer.patorum.com/). This address is used to compose emails with links back to the website
  • AutoUpdateDatabase: by default, the application tries to perform model changes to the database after an update (when needed). Set to false if the application does not have owner permissions over the database
  • SupportEmailAddress: the support email address (used on the footer of outgoing emails)

Bindings

Under section Bindings:

  • HttpsMode: by default, both the dashboard and the REST APIs can only be accessed through HTTPS, which is the recommended behavior if you have a valid SSL certificate.
    • If you do not have a valid SSL certificate, set this setting to Optional. Users accessing the dashboard will not be redirected to HTTPS and REST APIs will be accessible through HTTP.
    • If you have a valid SSL certificate but some legacy client applications do not recognize it, set this setting to RedirectPages. REST APIs will still be accessible through HTTP (like in Optional mode), but users accessing the dashboard will be redirected to HTTPS.
  • SslPort: by default, users accessing the dashboard through HTTP are redirected to HTTPS on the standard TCP port 443. If the site is using HTTPS on a non-standard port, set it here.

PKI Suite

Under section PkiSuite:

  • SdkLicense: your license for the PKI SDK, in Base64 format (required)
  • WebLicense: your license for the Web PKI component in binary (Base64) format. Only required if users will issue certificates on their computers (web issuing procedure)
  • WebBrand: if you have a custom setup brand on Web PKI, set it here

Email sending

Under section Email:

  • Enabled: by default, email sending is enabled. To disable it, set this setting to false and ignore the remainder of this section
  • ServerHost: hostname of the SMTP server
  • EnableSsl: by default, the SMTP conversation is performed over SSL. To disable SSL, set this setting to false
  • ServerPort: by default, the SMTP conversation is performed over port 587. Set this setting to use a different port
  • Username and Password: if the SMTP server requires authentication, set these settings
  • SenderAddress: email address to be used as sender (from field)
  • SenderName: name to be used as the sender name (optional)

Open ID Connect configuration

The section Oidc configures the OpenID Connect server, required for user management. A GrantID subscription is required.

You can either use a SaaS subscription on grantid.com or run your own instance of GrantID.

  • Authority: the OIDC authority (e.g. https://patorum.grantid.com)
  • ApiEndpoint: the API endpoint of the OIDC server (e.g. https://api.grantid.com)
  • ApiName: the API scope that will be required on access tokens
  • ClientAppId: the client id of the dashboard app
  • AppId: the client id of the backend app
  • AppSecret: the client secret of the backend app
  • RequireHttps (optional): set to false if the OIDC server does not use HTTPS

See Configuring a SPA Application page for instructions on how to obtain these values.

Configure a daemon

Create the service definition file:

touch /etc/systemd/system/lacuna-signer.service
nano /etc/systemd/system/lacuna-signer.service

Type the following:

[Unit]
Description=Lacuna Signer

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/usr/share/lacuna-signer
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet Lacuna.Signer.Site.dll
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
KillSignal=SIGINT
SyslogIdentifier=lacuna-signer
User=lacuna-signer
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Linux
Environment=ASPNETCORE_URLS=http://+:5001
Environment=DOTNET_PRINT_TELEMETRY_MESSAGE=false

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save the file, enable the service and start it:

systemctl enable lacuna-signer
systemctl start lacuna-signer
systemctl status lacuna-signer

The expected output is similar to:

* lacuna-signer.service - Lacuna Signer
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/lacuna-signer.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-04-15 22:17:50 UTC; 30s ago
 Main PID: 2831 (dotnet)
    Tasks: 36 (limit: 2319)
   CGroup: /system.slice/lacuna-signer.service
           └─2831 /usr/bin/dotnet Lacuna.Signer.Site.dll

Apr 15 22:17:50 server.patorum.com systemd[1]: Started Lacuna Signer.
Apr 15 22:17:55 server.patorum.com lacuna-signer[2831]: info: Lacuna.Signer.Site.Startup.RecurringJobsInit[0]
Apr 15 22:17:55 server.patorum.com lacuna-signer[2831]:       Initializing recurring jobs

If necessary, restart the service: systemctl restart signer

To test whether the Signer server is running, run:

curl http://localhost:5001/api/system/info

The expected output is something like:

{"productName":"Lacuna.Signer.Site","productVersion":"1.x.x","timestamp":"..."}

Set up a reverse proxy server

Note

If you prefer to use Apache instead of Nginx, see this article.

Install Nginx (if not already installed):

apt-get install nginx

Test that Nginx is running:

curl -I http://localhost/

Check the first lines of the output, which should be similar to:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/...
...

Disable the default Nginx site:

rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Create a configuration file for the Signer website:

touch /etc/nginx/sites-available/lacuna-signer
nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/lacuna-signer

Enter the following, replacing the item's value server_name by the domain of access to the site:

server {
    listen        80;
    server_name   localhost signer.patorum.com;
    client_max_body_size 11000000;
    location / {
        proxy_pass         http://localhost:5001;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   Connection keep-alive;
        proxy_set_header   Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}
Tip

Ideally, the site configuration should contain the entries ssl_certificate and ssl_certificate_key with the valid SSL certificate. This configuration is outside the scope of these instructions.

Activate the site:

ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/lacuna-signer /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/lacuna-signer

Test the Nginx configuration and reload it:

nginx -t
nginx -s reload

Test the site:

curl http://localhost/api/system/info

See too