Step 1: Update Your System

Before installing SonarQube, ensure your system is up to date. Run the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Keeping your system updated is crucial for security and performance, whether you're setting up SonarQube locally or on a VPS Windows Servers platform.

Step 2: Install Java

SonarQube requires Java to run. You can install OpenJDK 11 using the following command:

sudo apt install openjdk-11-jdk -y

After the installation, verify the Java installation by checking the version:

java -version

Step 3: Create a SonarQube User

For security reasons, it is recommended to run SonarQube as a dedicated user. Create a user for SonarQube with the following command:

sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false sonarqube

Step 4: Download SonarQube

Navigate to the SonarQube downloads page and copy the link to the latest version of SonarQube. Then, use wget to download it:

cd /opt
sudo wget https://binaries.sonarsource.com/Distribution/sonarqube/sonarqube-9.8.0.zip
            

After downloading, unzip the package:

sudo unzip sonarqube-9.8.0.zip

Rename the extracted directory for easier access:

sudo mv sonarqube-9.8.0 sonarqube

Step 5: Configure SonarQube

Change the ownership of the SonarQube directory to the sonarqube user:

sudo chown -R sonarqube:sonarqube /opt/sonarqube

Edit the configuration file to set the database connection and other settings. Open the configuration file:

sudo nano /opt/sonarqube/conf/sonar.properties

Uncomment and set the database connection parameters according to your database configuration. For example:

sonar.jdbc.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/sonar?useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=utf8&rewriteBatchedStatements=true
sonar.jdbc.username=your_db_username
sonar.jdbc.password=your_db_password
            

Step 6: Start SonarQube

To start SonarQube, switch to the sonarqube user and execute the startup script:

sudo -u sonarqube /opt/sonarqube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh start
            

You can check the logs to see if SonarQube started successfully:

sudo -u sonarqube tail -f /opt/sonarqube/logs/sonar.log

Step 7: Access SonarQube

Open your web browser and navigate to http://your-server-ip:9000. The default login credentials are:

• Username: admin
• Password: admin

After logging in, you can change the default password and start using SonarQube to monitor your projects.

Step 8: Secure SonarQube with Let's Encrypt SSL

To secure your SonarQube instance, it's advisable to set up SSL using Let's Encrypt. Install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot -y

Obtain and install the SSL certificate with the following command:

sudo certbot --apache -d your-domain.com

Certbot will automatically configure SSL for your SonarQube instance, ensuring secure access to the platform, whether it is on a local server or hosted on a Windows VPS hosting UK.