Openproject is a ready-to-use powerful software for managing projects which helps in teamwork during all the project life cycle.
Openproject is an open source project management system. It provides tools for planning, progress tracking, resource management and team communication throughout the project life cycle. The system is widely used in different businesses: from e-commerce to finance.
Openproject system includes the following functionality:
- tracking project activity;
- creation and assignment of tasks, milestones and phases;
- building a Gantt chart;
- creation of kanban boards;
- calculation of project time and costs;
- creation of meetings and conferences;
- maintenance of forums, wiki and documentation;
- flexible access control system which provides security, etc.
Moreover, OpenProject supports integrations with other project management tools and systems. For example, you can use Nextcloud as a file storage, connect Github to OpenProject, or set up needed integrations via webhooks.
OpenProject is one of the most common project management systems. For example, Jira is often compared to OpenProject because you can use both for managing docs, projects, costs and time tracking. However, we will not focus on the “OpenProject vs Jira” topic because the main goal of this article is to show you how to install and use the system.
OpenProject from Beget is a ready-to-use project management system, installed and configured on your VPS/VDS server with a selected domain and a free SSL certificate.
Application composition
- Ubuntu 22.04;
- Docker;
- OpenProject 15.2.1;
- Certbot.
Installing OpenProject
Before you install OpenProject, you have to specify the following data:
- A domain name where OpenProject will be available. You can either choose your own domain or register a new one. You can also use a free domain in the
.beget.appzone. A free SSL certificate will be installed on the selected domain. - Email of the administrator. This email will be used to access OpenProject.
- Password of the administrator. This password will be used to access OpenProject.
After creating the virtual server, we will automatically deploy and configure OpenProject. This usually takes up to 5 minutes. You will receive a notification after the installation is complete.
Getting Started with OpenProject
To get started, follow the link https://domain.beget.app/, where domain.beget.app is the selected domain.
To log in, use the login and password used when creating the server. They were also sent to the account contact email and are available in the information window about the installed application in the virtual server control panel.
Creating a project
To create a project, click the “Select a project” button on the top left. In the menu that opens, click the “+ Project” button.
A window pops up. Enter the project name and specify additional parameters if necessary.
You can also create a project from a ready-made template. After selecting a template, you will need to specify which parameters you want to copy to the new project.
To create a project, click the “Save” button.
Adding participants
New users can register on the login page https://domain.beget.app/ by selecting “Create a new account” (the administrator will need to activate the new user in the “Administration” > “Users and access rights” section). In addition, the administrator can send an invitation by email.
To create an invitation, go to the project and in the “Participants” section, click the “+ Participant” button. You can add existing users to the project or specify the participant’s email and send an invitation.
Creating tasks
In the project menu, select the “Workspace” section. By clicking the “+ Create” button, you can create a task, milestone or phase.
The created tasks will be reflected on the Gantt chart.
You can learn more about getting started with OpenProject in the official user guide.
FAQ
Therefore, before updating, we recommend checking for an up-to-date backup in the “Backup” section or making a snapshot of the VPS in the “Snapshots” section to be able to roll back changes.
To update the OpenProject project management system to the desired version, follow these steps:
- Connect to the server via SSH.
- Go to the OpenProject directory with the following command:
cd /opt/beget/openproject. - Open the
.envfile in any text editor. - Find the
TAG=13.X.Xline and change the OpenProject version to the desired one, save the changes and close the file. - Example of changes:
TAG=13.4.1 - Download the image of the new version with the following command:
docker compose pull. - Stop the current version of OpenProject with the following command:
docker compose down. - Start the new version of OpenProject with
docker compose up -d. - Wait 2–5 minutes for OpenProject to migrate to the new version and start.
- Test OpenProject on the new version.
In the section “Administration” > “Letters and notifications” select the section “Email notifications”.
Enter the following data:
- “Release email address” – your email
- “Email delivery method” –
SMTP - “SMTP server” –
smtp.beget.com - “SMTP port” –
465 - “SMTP HELO domain” – the domain name used to send emails from
- “SMTP authentication” – login
- “SMTP username” – your email
- “SMTP password” – the password for the mailbox
- “Use SSL connection” – check the box
Click the “Save” button.
To test, click the “Send test message” button.
OpenProject files are located in the following directory: /opt/beget/openproject:
- The
.envfile contains environment variables for all containers;
The container configuration is located in the following file: /opt/beget/openproject/docker-compose.yml.
To restart OpenProject you need to:
- Connect to your server via SSH.
- Go to the OpenProject directory with the following command:
cd /opt/beget/openproject.
Run the following command: docker-compose restart.
All logs are redirected to the standard output stream of service containers, you can view it using the docker-compose logs -f --tail 1000 command for all containers, where 1000 is the number of lines, or the docker logs -f --tail 1000 <container id> command for a specific container.
You can find out the container ID using the docker ps command.
