Install

    Overview

    Greenlight is an open-source, LGPL-3.0 licensed web application that allows organizations to quickly set up a complete web conferencing platform using their existing BigBlueButton server. It is user-friendly for both regular and advanced users.

    Greenlight v3, the latest version, is constructed with the cutting-edge versions of Ruby on Rails and React - a robust technology stack adopted by millions of projects and trusted by major corporations worldwide.

    Greenlight v3 is equipped with local authentication by default. This means that authentication is managed internally within the platform and does not require any external servers or services. For those who need additional authentication options, Greenlight v3 can be configured to connect to external authentication servers through OpenID Connect. For more information see External Authentication.

    There are 2 ways to install Greenlight v3:

    1. Installing alongside a BigBlueButton Server
    2. Installing on a Standalone Server

    Installing alongside a BigBlueButton Server

    bbb-install Script

    If your server already contains a BigBlueButton server, or you would like to install a new BigBlueButton server along with Greenlight, please refer to bbb-install script.

    To install Greenlight, simply run the bbb-install command with your chosen configurations, while ensuring that you include -g option to include Greenlight.

    Creating an Admin Account

    Once installation is complete, you will need to create an Administrator account to access the administrator panel.

    You can do that by running the following command:

    docker exec -it greenlight-v3 bundle exec rake admin:create['name','email','password']

    You can also run it without any arguments to create the default admin account, which you can then either change the password to, or promote your own account to Administrator and then delete the default account.

    docker exec -it greenlight-v3 bundle exec rake admin:create

    Installing on a Standalone Server

    Greenlight Install Script

    If you’re installing Greenlight on a standalone server (ie a server that doesn’t include BigBlueButton), we’ve created an install script to simplify the steps required to get Greenlight up and running.

    First, create the Greenlight directory for its configuration to live in.

    mkdir ~/greenlight && cd ~/greenlight

    The Greenlight Install Script provides you with a variety of options to suit whatever needs you have. Before running the install script, you must choose which options you would like. Here are the current supported options:

    -s <hostname>            Configure server with <hostname> (Required)

-b <hostname>:<secret>   The BigBlueButton server credentials (bbb-conf --secret) (Required)

-k                       Install Keycloak - needed for external authentication (Optional)

-d                       Skip SSL certificates generation (Required, if -e is omitted).
                         * Certificate files(fullchain.pem, privkey.pem) to be used must be placed in /local/certs/
                         * Cannot be used when -e is used.
                         
-e <email>               Email for Let's Encrypt certbot (Required, if -d is omitted)
                         * Cannot be used when -d is used.

    Sample Configurations

    • Sample options to setup a Greenlight 3.x server with a publicly signed SSL certificate for a FQDN of www.example.com and an email of info@example.com that uses a BigBlueButton server at bbb.example.com with secret SECRET:

      -s www.example.com -e info@example.com -b bbb.example.com:SECRET

    • Sample options to setup a Greenlight 3.x server with pre-owned SSL certificates for a FQDN of www.example.com that uses a BigBlueButton server at bbb.example.com with secret SECRET:

      -s www.example.com -b bbb.example.com:SECRET -d

    Running the Script

    To run the script, simply run the command below, replacing [OPTIONS], with the values from above.

    wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bigbluebutton/greenlight/master/gl-install.sh | bash -s -- [OPTIONS]

    After the script finishes running, a success message will appear in the console, confirming that Greenlight v3 is now accessible at the URL specified during installation.

    Creating an Admin Account

    Once installation is complete, you will need to create an Administrator account to access the administrator panel.

    You can do that by running the following command:

    docker exec -it greenlight-v3 bundle exec rake admin:create['name','email','password']

    You can also run it without any arguments to create the default admin account, which you can then either change the password to, or promote your own account to Administrator and then delete the default account.

    docker exec -it greenlight-v3 bundle exec rake admin:create

    Optional .env Configurations

    Default Locale Setup

    Variable Name Description Default Value
    DEFAULT_LOCALE The default language for all newly created users. Users will still have the ability to change their language through their profile. en

    Email Setup

    SMTP configuration requires following the guidelines provided by your SMTP server’s documentation. The specific configuration details will vary based on the SMTP server you are using. It is important to refer to the relevant documentation in order to properly set up SMTP for your needs.

    Variable Name Description Default Value
    SMTP_SERVER The address of the remote mailing server having an open SMTP service. -
    SMTP_PORT The port on which the SMTP service is accessible through on the remote SMTP_SERVER. Usually, it’s 25 TCP for SMTP and 465 TCP for SMTPS. -
    SMTP_USERNAME The username of the account to use when authenticating to the SMTP_SERVER. -
    SMTP_PASSWORD The password of the account to use when authenticating to the SMTP_SERVER. -
    SMTP_AUTH The authentication type to use to authenticate to the SMTP_SERVER: (plain, login, cram_md5). -
    SMTP_DOMAIN The domain_name of the SMTP client. Usually, it’s the domain name portion of the SMTP_SENDER_EMAIL FQDN. -
    SMTP_SENDER_EMAIL The email sender address that will appear in the FROM section of the emails. -
    SMTP_SENDER_NAME The email sender name that will appear in the FROM section of the emails. -
    SMTP_STARTTLS_AUTO Automatically chooses between STARTTLS and plain SMTP depending on your SMTP server true
    SMTP_STARTTLS Checks if the SMTP_SERVER supports STARTTLS protocol command and uses it to negotiate an upgrade to SMTPS over the initiated unencrypted connection. false
    SMTP_TLS Use SMTPS when connecting to the SMTP_SERVER. false
    SMTP_SSL_VERIFY Defines whether or not to enable SSL verification on the certificate of the SMTP_SERVER when connecting through SMTPS. true

    OpenID Connect Setup

    Variable Name Description Default Value
    OPENID_CONNECT_CLIENT_ID The client ID of the OpenID issuer -
    OPENID_CONNECT_CLIENT_SECRET The secret to use to authenticate to the OpenID issuer -
    OPENID_CONNECT_ISSUER The URL for the OpenID issuer. It is required to be HTTPS URL using the default HTTPS port (TCP 443) -
    OPENID_CONNECT_REDIRECT The Redirect URI after successful authentication. It should be the URL to Greenlight -

    HCaptcha Setup

    Variable Name Description Default Value
    HCAPTCHA_SITE_KEY The site key that links to your hCaptcha site -
    HCAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY The secret to use to authenticate with hCaptcha -