LimeSurvey/Technical documentation
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⚙️ fabulaBrief documentation for system administrators of the LimeSurvey instance in Wikimedia Italia.
Server access
ssh fabula.wikimedia.it
To request access:
Overview
┌─────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐
│Alice│ │Apache (:80 :443)│ │PHP-FPM (:9002)│
└──┬──┘ └────────┬────────┘ └───────┬───────┘
│ request │ │
│<────────────────────>│ │
│ │ │
│ │ request │
│ │<─────────────────────────>│
┌──┴──┐ ┌────────┴────────┐ ┌───────┴───────┐
│Alice│ │Apache (:80 :443)│ │PHP-FPM (:9002)│
└─────┘ └─────────────────┘ └───────────────┘
(refresh)
Filesystem
The whole application is in read-only (writable only by root) apart from some temporary locations and the upload directory.
The while application is world-readable apart from the file config-secret.php and the directory for PHP sessions.
Here an overview of the filesystem:
# ls -l /var/www/limesurvey total 44 -rw-r----- 1 apache-limesurvey apache-limesurvey 79 22 feb 00.04 config-secret.php drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4096 22 feb 01.34 limesurvey-3.25.13 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 16 feb 18.17 production -> limesurvey-3.25.13 drwxrwx--- 2 apache-limesurvey apache-limesurvey 32768 22 feb 03.01 session
Here an overview of the application directory.
# ls -l /var/www/limesurvey/production total 84 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 admin drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4096 21 feb 19.45 application drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 assets -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1131 16 feb 10.50 composer.json -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3273 16 feb 10.50 CONTRIBUTING.md drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 docs drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 framework -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6621 16 feb 10.50 index.php drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 installer drwxr-xr-x 110 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 locale -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 80 16 feb 10.50 manifest.yml -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1140 16 feb 10.50 phpci.yml -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 984 16 feb 10.50 phpunit.xml drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 plugins -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2595 16 feb 10.50 README.md drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 tests drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 themes drwxr-xr-x 37 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 third_party drwxrwxr-x 5 apache-limesurvey apache-limesurvey 4096 17 feb 10.24 tmp drwxrwxr-x 7 apache-limesurvey apache-limesurvey 4096 16 feb 10.50 uploadtotal 84 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 admin drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 4096 21 feb 19.45 application drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 assets -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1131 16 feb 10.50 composer.json -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3273 16 feb 10.50 CONTRIBUTING.md drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 docs drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 framework -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6621 16 feb 10.50 index.php drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 installer drwxr-xr-x 110 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 locale -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 80 16 feb 10.50 manifest.yml -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1140 16 feb 10.50 phpci.yml -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 984 16 feb 10.50 phpunit.xml drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 plugins -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2595 16 feb 10.50 README.md drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 tests drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 themes drwxr-xr-x 37 root root 4096 16 feb 10.50 third_party drwxrwxr-x 5 apache-limesurvey apache-limesurvey 4096 17 feb 10.24 tmp drwxrwxr-x 7 apache-limesurvey apache-limesurvey 4096 16 feb 10.50 upload
This is the configuration directory:
# ls -l /var/www/limesurvey/production/application/config total 156 ... lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 77 21 feb 19.44 config.php -> /etc/wmit-infrastructure/servers/fabula/projects/limesurvey/public-config.php ...
Admin
This is the admin panel:
The enabled users are listed in:
Configuration
LimeSurvey configuration:
nano /var/www/limesurvey/production/application/config/config.php
Apache configuration:
nano /etc/httpd/sites-enabled/it-wikimedia-survey-ssl.conf nano /etc/httpd/sites-enabled/it-wikimedia-survey-txt.conf
PHP-FPM configuration:
nano /etc/opt/rh/rh-php73/php-fpm.d/9002-limesurvey.conf
To publish whatever change in Wikimedia Phabricator please run this:
/root/scripts/commit.sh
Log
Application error log:
tail -f /var/log/php-fpm/limesurvey-error.log
Generic Apache error log:
tail -f /var/log/httpd/error_log
Generic Apache access log:
tail -f /var/log/httpd/access_log
Service
To apply your changes you need to restart the services.
Service of the apache frontend webserver:
apache2ctl configtest apache2ctl graceful
Service of the PHP-FPM backend webserver:
systemctl status rh-php73-php-fpm systemctl restart rh-php73-php-fpm
Database
$ mysql limesurvey > SHOW TABLES; +-----------------------------------------------+ | Tables_in_limesurvey | +-----------------------------------------------+ | lime_answers | | lime_assessments | | lime_asset_version | | lime_boxes | | lime_conditions | | lime_defaultvalues | | lime_expression_errors | | lime_failed_login_attempts | | lime_groups | | lime_labels | | lime_labelsets | | lime_map_tutorial_users | | lime_notifications | | lime_old_survey_272925_20210218220912 | | lime_old_survey_272925_20210218222604 | | lime_old_survey_272925_20210218232807 | | lime_old_survey_272925_20210219171305 | | lime_old_survey_272925_timings_20210218220912 | | lime_old_survey_272925_timings_20210218222604 | | lime_old_survey_272925_timings_20210218232807 | | lime_old_survey_272925_timings_20210219171305 | | lime_participant_attribute | | lime_participant_attribute_names | | lime_participant_attribute_names_lang | | lime_participant_attribute_values | | lime_participant_shares | | lime_participants | | lime_permissions | | lime_plugin_settings | | lime_plugins | | lime_question_attributes | | lime_questions | | lime_quota | | lime_quota_languagesettings | | lime_quota_members | | lime_saved_control | | lime_sessions | | lime_settings_global | | lime_settings_user | | lime_survey_272925 | | lime_survey_272925_timings | | lime_survey_856642 | | lime_survey_856642_timings | | lime_survey_links | | lime_survey_url_parameters | | lime_surveymenu | | lime_surveymenu_entries | | lime_surveys | | lime_surveys_groups | | lime_surveys_languagesettings | | lime_template_configuration | | lime_templates | | lime_tutorial_entries | | lime_tutorial_entry_relation | | lime_tutorials | | lime_user_groups | | lime_user_in_groups | | lime_users | +-----------------------------------------------+ 58 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Unix
There is a dedicated Unix user able to read secret configurations and write some logs.
# id apache-limesurvey uid=1438(apache-limesurvey) gid=1438(apache-limesurvey) groups=1438(apache-limesurvey),48(apache)
TODO: Actually this user is not in use because I don't want to experiment in production and now I don't have time to do otherwise. But please update the PHP-FPM #Configuration to adopt this separated user.
This application uses an SMTP account @wikimedia.it with username noreply.
See #Configuration.
See technical addresses.
Update
During an update try to do not use the web interface (because the application is in read-only on the filesystem) but download instead the new version in /var/www/limesurvey.
To see the new version online you can just replace the /var/www/limesurvey/production symbolic link.
Remember to copy the /application/config inside your new version.
Then follow the official guide.
https://manual.limesurvey.org/upgrading_from_a_previous_version
Security
Some initiatives to improve the security of LimeSurvey itself:
Phabricator
- phabricator:search - search recent activity
- phabricator:diffusion/WIIN/browse/master/servers/fabula/projects/limesurvey/ - public configuration