Ubuntu

Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy)

These instructions are for a brand new ubuntu 22.04 LTS system which does not have ZM installed.

Step 1: Update system

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Update repositories (Optional)

ZoneMinder is part of the current standard Ubuntu repository, but sometimes the official repository can lag behind. To find out check our releases page for the latest release.

Alternatively, the ZoneMinder project team maintains a PPA, which is updated immediately following a new release of ZoneMinder. To use this repository instead of the official Ubuntu repository, enter the following commands:

sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-1.36
sudo apt update

Step 3: Install Zoneminder

sudo apt install -y zoneminder

Step 4: Configure Apache correctly:

sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo a2enconf zoneminder
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 5: Enable and start zoneminder

sudo systemctl enable zoneminder
sudo systemctl start zoneminder

Step 6: Open Zoneminder

Open up a browser and go to http://hostname_or_ip/zm to open the ZoneMinder Console.

Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic)

These instructions are for a brand new ubuntu 18.04 system which does not have ZM installed.

It is recommended that you use an Ubuntu Server install and select the LAMP option during install to install Apache, MySQL and PHP. If you failed to do this you can achieve the same result by running:

sudo apt-get install tasksel
sudo tasksel install lamp-server

Installing LAMP is not ZoneMinder specific so you will find plenty of resources to guide you with a quick search.

Step 1: Either run commands in this install using sudo or use the below to become root

sudo -i

Step 2: Update Repos

Latest Release

ZoneMinder is now part of the current standard Ubuntu repository, but sometimes the official repository can lag behind. To find out check our releases page for the latest release.

Alternatively, the ZoneMinder project team maintains a PPA, which is updated immediately following a new release of ZoneMinder. To use this repository instead of the official Ubuntu repository, enter the following from the command line:

add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-1.36

Update repo and upgrade.

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade

Step 3: Configure MySQL

Note

The MySQL default configuration file (/etc/mysql/mysql.cnf) is read through several symbolic links beginning with /etc/mysql/my.cnf as follows:

/etc/mysql/my.cnf -> /etc/alternatives/my.cnf
/etc/alternatives/my.cnf -> /etc/mysql/mysql.cnf
/etc/mysql/mysql.cnf is a basic file

Certain new defaults in MySQL 5.7 cause some issues with ZoneMinder < 1.32.0, the workaround is to modify the sql_mode setting of MySQL. Please note that these changes are NOT required for ZoneMinder 1.32+ and some people have reported them causing problems in 1.32.0.

To better manage the MySQL server it is recommended to copy the sample config file and replace the default my.cnf symbolic link.

rm /etc/mysql/my.cnf  (this removes the current symbolic link)
cp /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf

To change MySQL settings:

nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf

In the [mysqld] section add the following

sql_mode = NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION

CTRL+o then [Enter] to save

CTRL+x to exit

Restart MySQL

systemctl restart mysql

Step 4: Install ZoneMinder

apt-get install zoneminder

Step 5: Configure the ZoneMinder Database

This step should not be required on ZoneMinder 1.32.0.

mysql -uroot -p < /usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql
mysql -uroot -p -e "grant lock tables,alter,drop,select,insert,update,delete,create,index,alter routine,create routine, trigger,execute,references on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';"

Step 6: Set permissions

Set /etc/zm/zm.conf to root:www-data 740 and www-data access to content

chmod 740 /etc/zm/zm.conf
chown root:www-data /etc/zm/zm.conf
chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/zoneminder/

Step 7: Configure Apache correctly:

a2enmod cgi
a2enmod rewrite
a2enconf zoneminder

You may also want to enable to following modules to improve caching performance

a2enmod expires
a2enmod headers

Step 8: Enable and start Zoneminder

systemctl enable zoneminder
systemctl start zoneminder

CTRL+o then [Enter] to save

CTRL+x to exit

Step 10: Reload Apache service

systemctl reload apache2

Step 11: Making sure ZoneMinder works

  1. Open up a browser and go to http://hostname_or_ip/zm - should bring up ZoneMinder Console

  2. (Optional API Check)Open up a tab in the same browser and go to http://hostname_or_ip/zm/api/host/getVersion.json

    If it is working correctly you should get version information similar to the example below:

    {
    "version": "1.34.0",
    "apiversion": "1.34.0.1"
}

Congratulations Your installation is complete

PPA install may need some tweaking of ZMS_PATH in ZoneMinder options. Socket_sendto or no live streaming

Harder Way: Build Package From Source (Discouraged)

Historically, installing ZoneMinder onto your system required building from source code by issuing the traditional configure, make, make install commands. To get ZoneMinder to build, all of its dependencies had to be determined and installed beforehand. Init and logrotate scripts had to be manually copied into place following the build. Optional packages such as jscalendar and Cambozola had to be manually installed. Uninstalls could leave stale files around, which could cause problems during an upgrade. Speaking of upgrades, when it comes time to upgrade all these manual steps must be repeated again.

Better methods exist today that do much of this for you. The current development team, along with other volunteers, have taken great strides in providing the resources necessary to avoid building from source.

(These instructions assume installation from source on a ubuntu 15.x+ system)

Step 1: Grab the package installer script

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ZoneMinder/ZoneMinder/master/utils/do_debian_package.sh
chmod a+x do_debian_package.sh

Step 2: Update the system

sudo apt-get update

Step 3 Create the package

To build the latest master snapshot:

./do_debian_package.sh --snapshot=NOW --branch=master --type=local

To build the latest stable release:

./do_debian_package.sh --snapshot=stable --type=local

Note that the distribution will be guessed using lsb_release -a 2>/dev/null | grep Codename | awk '{print $2}' which simply extracts your distribution name - like “bionic”, “hirsute” etc. You can always specify it using –distro=your distro name if you know it. As far as the script goes, it checks if your distro is “trusty” in which case it pulls in pre-systemd release configurations and if its not “trusty” it assumes its based on systemd and pulls in systemd related config files.

(At the end the script will ask if you want to retain the checked out version of ZoneMinder. If you are a developer and are making local changes, make sure you select “y” so that the next time you do the build process mentioned here, it keeps your changes. Selecting any other value than “y” or “Y” will delete the checked out code and only retain the package)

This should now create a bunch of .deb files

Step 4: Install the package

sudo gdebi zoneminder_<version>_<arch>.deb
(example sudo gdebi zoneminder_1.34.0-bionic-2021020801_amd64.deb)

This will report DB errors - ignore - you need to configure the DB and some other stuff

Step 5: Post install configuration

Now that you have installed from your own package you can resume following the standard install guide for your version, start at the step after Install Zoneminder.

Hints

Make sure ZoneMinder and APIs work with security

  1. Enable OPT_AUTH in ZoneMinder
  2. Log out of ZoneMinder in browser
  3. Open a new tab in the same browser (important) and go to http://localhost/zm/api/host/getVersion.json - should give you “Unauthorized” along with a lot more of text
  4. Go to another tab in the SAME BROWSER (important) and log into ZM
  5. Repeat step 3 and it should give you the ZM and API version

Socket_sendto or no live streaming

After you have setup your camera make sure you can view Monitor streams, if not check some of the common causes:

  • Check Apache cgi module is enabled.

  • Check Apache /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/zoneminder.conf ScriptAlias matches PATH_ZMS.

    ScriptAlias /zm/cgi-bin /usr/lib/zoneminder/cgi-bin

    From console go to Options->Path and make sure PATH_ZMS is set to /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms.

Changed Default DB User

If you have changed your DB login/password from zmuser/zmpass, you need to update these values in zm.conf.

  1. Edit zm.conf to change ZM_DB_USER and ZM_DB_PASS to the values you used.