Installing CouchDB 1.6.1 and Apache2 on Ubuntu 14.04

Installing CouchDB 1.6.1 and Apache2 on Ubuntu 14.04

# Steps to install CouchDB 1.6.1 and Apache2 on Ubuntu 14.04

# On AWS, select the Ubuntu 14.04 standard box (ami-2d39803a)
# edit security groups to add the "HTTP" rule, which exposes port 80 to traffic from 0.0.0.0
# then add a "Custom TCP rule", exposing port 5984 to traffic from 0.0.0.0
# launch and ssh to the instance

# become root
sudo -s

# update apt-get and install dependencies
apt-get update
apt-get install -y erlang-dev erlang-manpages erlang-base-hipe erlang-eunit erlang-nox erlang-xmerl erlang-inets build-essential curl git apache2
apt-get install -y libmozjs185-dev libicu-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libtool python-software-properties python g++ make python-pip

# make an install directory for couchdb
mkdir couchdb;cd couchdb

# obtain and unzip couchdb source code
wget http://apache.mirrors.tds.net/couchdb/source/1.6.1/apache-couchdb-1.6.1.tar.gz
tar -zxf apache-couchdb-1.6.1.tar.gz

# enter the couchdb directory and install the source code
cd apache-couchdb-1.6.1/
./configure;make
make install

# create a couchdb user and change file permissions for that user
useradd -d /var/lib/couchdb couchdb
chown -R couchdb:couchdb /usr/local/var/lib/couchdb/
chown -R couchdb:couchdb /usr/local/var/log/couchdb/
chown -R couchdb:couchdb /usr/local/var/run/couchdb/

# make couchdb run as a service
ln -s /usr/local/etc/init.d/couchdb /etc/init.d

# make couchdb start at runtime
update-rc.d couchdb defaults
update-rc.d couchdb enable

# verify the service will start at runtime by running rcconf or sysv-rc-conf
aptitude install rcconf sysv-rc-conf -y

# run the rcfonf tool (select couchdb)
rcconf

# change the bind_address (under httpd) for CouchDB configuration to 0.0.0.0
vim /usr/local/etc/couchdb/default.ini

# restart couchdb
/etc/init.d/couchdb restart

# test the install
curl localhost:5984

# test whether port 5984 is exposed to external traffic. If not (and you want to expose that port), go to next section
curl {{public ip of box}}:5984

########
# CORS #
########

# verify there is a service (couchdb) listening on port 5984
netstat -a  grep 5984

# add CORS support to apache2. first, enable headers
a2enmod headers

# then add CORS headers
vim /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
-> under <Directory /var/www/>, add:
`Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"`

# add CORS support to couchdb
vim /usr/local/etc/couchdb/default.ini
-> under[httpd] add:
`enable_cors = true`

-> at the end of the file, add:
[cors]
origins = *
credentials = true
methods = GET, PUT, POST, HEAD, DELETE
headers = accept, authorization, content-type, origin, referer, x-csrf-token

# restart apache2 and couchdb
service apache2 restart
/etc/init.d/couchdb restart

# validate that port 5984 is exposed to external traffic. Navigate in a browser to:
{{your instance's public ip}}:5984

# from here, restrict access to port 5984 as you see fit by updating your security settings for the instance