• Table of contents
• Prepare the Environment
• Install MySQL Server
  • Create MySQL Databases and Users
• Install Nginx
• Install Matomo

This is a guide on setting up Matomo with nginx on FreeBSD 12.

Prepare the Environment¶

• Before installation of the components, make sure everything is up to date using the following command:
  

  pkg update && pkg upgrade
  

• Create the matomo user:
  

  pw user add -n matomo -m -s /sbin/nologin -c "Matomo" 
  

---

Install MySQL Server¶

• Install mariadb105-server and mariadb105-client:
  

  pkg install mariadb105-{server,client}
  

• Enable and start mariadb at boot:
  

  sysrc mysql_enable=YES
  service mysql-server start
  

• Prepare the database for use by running the secure installation:
  

  mysql_secure_installation
  

  • NOTE: Choose a strong root password and answer yes to all questions.

Create MySQL Databases and Users¶

• Login to MySQL and create appropriate databases and users.
  

  mysql -u root -p
  

  • and run the following SQL queries to create the matomodb database and matomouser user:
    

    CREATE DATABASE matomodb;
    
    CREATE USER 'matomouser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'SuperSecretPassword';
    
    GRANT GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, INDEX, DROP, ALTER, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, LOCK TABLES ON matomodb.* TO 'matomouser'@'localhost';
    
    GRANT FILE ON *.* TO 'matomouser'@'localhost';
    
    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
    
    quit
    

---

Install Nginx¶

• Install Nginx
  

  pkg install nginx
  

• Start and enable nginx at boot:
  

  sysrc nginx_enable=YES
  service nginx start
  

• Create a configuration directory to make managing individual server blocks easier
  

  mkdir /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d
  

• Edit the main nginx config file:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
  

  • And strip down the config file and add the include statement at the end to make it easier to handle various server blocks:
    

    worker_processes  1;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx-error.log;
    
    events {
        worker_connections  1024;
    }
    
    http {
        include       mime.types;
        default_type  application/octet-stream;
        sendfile        on;
        keepalive_timeout  65;
    
        # Load config files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory
        include /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    }
    

---

Install Matomo¶

• Install Matomo:
  

  pkg install php74-matomo
  

• Create the matomo php-fpm pool config file:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/matomo.conf
  

  • And add the following:
    

    [matomo]
    user = matomo
    group = www
    listen = /var/run/matomo.sock
    listen.owner = matomo
    listen.group = www
    pm = dynamic
    pm.max_children = 5
    pm.start_servers = 2
    pm.min_spare_servers = 1
    pm.max_spare_servers = 3
    php_admin_value[session.save_path] = "/usr/local/www/matomo/tmp" 
    php_admin_value[always_populate_raw_post_data] = "-1" 
    

• Create a matomo server block:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d/matomo.conf
  

  • Add the following:
    

    upstream matomo-php-handler {
      server unix:/var/run/matomo.sock;
    }
    
    server {
      listen 80;
      server_name matomo.example.com;
      root /usr/local/www/matomo/;
      index index.php;
    
      location = /robots.txt {
        allow all;
        log_not_found off;
        access_log off;
      }
    
      location ~ ^/(?:CHANGELOG\.md|config|README.md){
        deny all;
      }
    
      location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
      }
    
      location ~ \.php(?:$|/) {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
        fastcgi_pass matomo-php-handler;
        fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
      }
    }
    

• Change the ownership of the matomo directory:
  

  chown -R matomo:www /usr/local/www/matomo
  

• Restart nginx and start php-fpm:
  

  sysrc php_fpm_enable=YES
  service php-fpm start
  service nginx restart
  

• Now open up a web browser and go to http://matomo.example.com to finish the setup process.