erpnext

ERPNext can be secured with a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate using the built-in bench command. Certificates are valid for 90 days and can be renewed automatically.

Prerequisites

• A valid domain name pointing to the server's IP
• Root or sudo access
• ERPNext installed with Nginx
• Port 80 open in the firewall

Steps

# Run the Let's Encrypt setup for a site
sudo -H bench setup lets-encrypt [site-name]

# For a custom domain
sudo -H bench setup lets-encrypt [site-name] --custom-domain [custom-domain]

Follow the interactive prompts. The command registers the site with Let's Encrypt, downloads the certificate, configures Nginx, and adds a monthly cron job for renewal.

Renew Manually

sudo bench renew-lets-encrypt

Notes

• Certificates expire every 90 days — automatic renewal via cron is set up by the command.
• Ensure your DNS record resolves correctly before running the command.
• For production, always run bench as a non-root user with appropriate sudo rights.

ERPNext is an open-source ERP platform covering manufacturing, distribution, retail, HR, and accounting. This guide walks through installing ERPNext on Ubuntu 16.04 or 18.04 LTS using Nginx and MariaDB.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 16.04 or 18.04 LTS server with at least 4 GB RAM
• A non-root sudo user
• A domain name (optional but recommended for SSL)

Steps

# Update system
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

# Install dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y python3-minimal build-essential python3-setuptools \
  libffi-dev libssl-dev wkhtmltopdf git redis-server nodejs npm

# Install pip and frappe-bench
sudo pip3 install frappe-bench

# Initialize bench in a directory
bench init /home/frappe/frappe-bench --frappe-branch version-13
cd /home/frappe/frappe-bench

# Create a new site
bench new-site yoursite.example.com

# Install ERPNext app
bench get-app erpnext https://github.com/frappe/erpnext --branch version-13
bench --site yoursite.example.com install-app erpnext

# Set up for production (Nginx + Supervisor)
sudo bench setup production frappe
sudo service nginx restart

Verify

Open http://yoursite.example.com in a browser. You should see the ERPNext setup wizard.

Notes

• Use bench version-13 or later branch for Moodle 16.04/18.04 compatibility.
• Run ERPNext under the frappe system user for security.
• After going to production, set up Let's Encrypt with bench setup lets-encrypt.

Frappe Bench supports hosting multiple ERPNext sites on the same server. Sites can be served on different ports or resolved by DNS hostname. This guide covers both methods.

Prerequisites

• ERPNext already installed and running in production mode
• Nginx configured (bench setup production completed)

Method 1: Port-Based Multitenancy

# Create a second site
bench new-site site2.local

# Assign it a different port
bench set-nginx-port site2.local 82

# Regenerate Nginx config
bench setup nginx

# Reload Nginx
sudo service nginx reload

Method 2: DNS-Based Multitenancy

# Enable multitenancy
bench config dns_multitenant on

# Create a site named as its hostname
bench new-site site2.example.com

# Regenerate config and reload
bench setup nginx
sudo service nginx reload

Switch Default Site

bench use site2.local

Notes

• For DNS-based multitenancy, each site name must match the DNS hostname that resolves to the server.
• After adding a new site, run bench setup lets-encrypt site2.example.com to add SSL.

When running bench start, you may see an error like 127.0.0.1:11000: bind: Address already in use. This happens when a Redis or other Frappe process from a previous session is still bound to the port.

Identify the Process

# Find what is using the port (e.g. 11000 or 12000)
sudo lsof -i :11000
sudo lsof -i :12000

Steps

# Kill the process using the port
sudo kill -9 <PID>

# Or kill all Redis instances
sudo pkill redis-server

# Then restart bench
bench start

Verify

bench start

Bench should start cleanly with all workers running.

Notes

• In production mode, use sudo supervisorctl restart all instead of bench start.
• Port numbers (11000, 12000) vary — check Procfile in the bench directory for the exact ports.
• If running as root with sudo bench start, try switching to the frappe user: sudo su - frappe -c 'cd frappe-bench && bench start'.