Install problems; fresh install with Lubuntu 18.04

[shu246]

Desire to install ZM 1.32 and Pi-hole on Lubuntu 18.04. Several attempts, often from clean reformat. Some get as far as installing cameras then "404 error";, other attempts work not at all.

Am totally new to ZM, little knowledge of Apache, SQL, PHP. Knowledge of Linux not deep but reaches back to Xenix and Coherent. Was running 7 cameras on Win 7 machine using iSpy when Hard drive crashed. Raspberry running Pi-hole ad blocker crashed about same time. Now have new 1Tb drive in old Windows machine (AMD Athlon II X2, 3.0 GHz, 8Gb) to run ZM and Pi-hole on Lubuntu.

On the 1Tb drive I have a 120Gb physical partition for the Lubuntu. Then a large extended partition with 18Gb swap and a large expandable "/zm_data" partition which Lubuntu finds and mounts.

Been thrashing at this past three days. Any help greatly appreciated.

1. Is there any problems using Lubuntu 18.04 plus "tasksel install lamp-server"? Would be willing to use Ubuntu Server, but the install gets past partitioning questions, asks my name, then crashes . Prefer to use Lubuntu rather than the bloated Ubuntu desktop.

2. Have seen reports of problems running Pi-hole with ZoneMinder Early install attempts, Pi-hole's web interface "//localhost/admin" seemed to be blocking "//localhost/zm." Install of Pi-hole without web interface seemed to fix that.

3. Is "date.timezone = UTC" in php.ini a problem? Everything else in the LAN runs on UTC.

4. Have used mostly the ZM wiki "cut, paste, and run shell script" install methold for ZM. Latest attempt, after manual uninstall and purge of ZM, followed the zm Documentation "1.2.1 Easy Way: Ubuntu 18.04" method. Apache seems not to have started at all. I would send logs, but /var/log/zm is empty

======== ZONEMINDER REMOVE (Ubuntu 16.04) ========
To remove just zoneminder package from Ubuntu 16.04
sudo apt-get remove zoneminder
To remove zoneminder and dependent packages
sudo apt-get remove --auto-remove zoneminder
To delete configuration and/or data files of zoneminder work
sudo apt-get purge zoneminder
o delete configuration, data files, dependencies
sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove zoneminder
======== ZONEMINDER REMOVE END ========

======== ZONEMINDER INSTALL (from Documentation) ========
https://zoneminder.readthedocs.io/en/la ... untu-18-04
..become native root
sudo -i
..install LAMP
apt-get install tasksel
tasksel install lamp-server
..add dedicated ppa for zoneminder v1.32
add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-1.32
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
suco apt-get dist-upgrade
..configure MySQL (step 3.) I interpret as not required for zoneminder v1.32 in lubuntu 18.04
..install zoneminder
apt-get install zoneminder
..set permissions
chmod 740 /etc/zm/zm.conf
chown root:www-data /etc/zm/zm.conf
chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/zoneminder/
..configure Apache correctly:
a2enmod cgi
a2enmod rewrite
a2enconf zoneminder
enable the following modules to improve caching performance
a2enmod expires
a2enmod headers
..enable and start Zoneminder
systemctl enable zoneminder
systemctl start zoneminder
..edit Timezone in PHP file /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini
[search for ";date.timezone"]
[remove leading ";"]
[append correct timezone; e.g. "date.timezone = America/Chicago"]
..reload Apache service
sudo systemctl reload apache2
---- ERROR MSG
root@charlie:~# systemctl reload apache2
apache2.service is not active, cannot reload.
----
..check ZoneMinder working
[browse to http://hostname_or_ip/zm should bring up ZoneMinder Console]
(Optional API Check)Open up a tab in the same browser and go to http://hostname_or_ip/zm/api/host/getVersion.json
If working correctly you should get version information similar to:
{
"version": "1.29.0",
"apiversion": "1.29.0.1"
}
===== ZONEMINDER INSTALL (from Documentation) END =====

[bbunge]

Reinstall Lubuntu 18.04. Use the entire 1 TB drive. Trying to partition in smaller chunks will get you in trouble. 64 BIT version is recommended.

Once Lubuntu is installed and updated, create and run the "Install Apache2, Mariadb, PHP and Zoneminder on Ubuntu 18.04 with shell script" as shown here: https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Ubuntu_Serv ... ell_script
You will be prompted to create a Mariadb password and press enter a couple of times. When the script is finished you will have a running Zoneminder on your Lubuntu.

[shu246]

Thank you. Will do that when I can get back to the camera project. Had built a separate partition for ZM data after seeing note that ZM data, if unconstrained, could fill the hard drive.

Presently have Ubuntu 18.04 on the machine. tamed with LXDE desktop environment. Might be Lubuntu lacks some vital component needed by ZM. The native Ubuntu desktop, available colors, fonts, gedit, terminal, etc were unworkable with 75 yr old eyes. -shu

[bbunge]

Thank you. Will do that when I can get back to the camera project. Had built a separate partition for ZM data after seeing note that ZM data, if unconstrained, could fill the hard drive.

Presently have Ubuntu 18.04 on the machine. tamed with LXDE desktop environment. Might be Lubuntu lacks some vital component needed by ZM. The native Ubuntu desktop, available colors, fonts, gedit, terminal, etc were unworkable with 75 yr old eyes. -shu

Nope, Lubuntu desktop and Ubuntu desktop can both run zoneminder just fine. I have a 10 camera system on an old Dell Core2 dual core with 8 GB RAM and a 1 TB HD running under Lubuntu 18.04. Works well.

The issue is to get the prerequisites set up right. The install script I wrote will do that for you. Just follow the steps.

[shu246]

Off to a good start. Many thanks. - shu

[bbunge]

Ah, you can teach an old dog new tricks! (and I should talk as I'm past the three score and ten also)