Debian 10 Buster with Zoneminder 1.36.x from ZM Repo

Notice: These procedure are for a new install of Zoneminder 1.36.x on Debian 10 (Buster). If you are doing an upgrade I strongly recommend you check the Zoneminder-1.36 Forum area for recommendations from others.

Debian, unlike Ubuntu, does not install sudo with the initial setup. While you can log in as root, a user with sudo authority is recommended.

To enable sudo: In a terminal,become root with su. Enter your root password. Install sudo with:

apt install sudo

Add the user account to the group sudo with:

/sbin/adduser username sudo 

where username is your user account. Exit root then log out and then log in with the same user.

Timezone: it is recommended you set your specific timesone with:

sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York

Of course use your timezone in place of America/New_York.

Mariadb additional settings The default values for the database are adequate for initial setup. However, I recommend you make these changes before installing Zoneminder: Edit the Mariadb config file:

sudo nano /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf

Add the following in the [mysql]area:

innodb_file_per_table = ON
innodb_buffer_pool_ size = 256M
innodb_log_file_size - 32M

CTRL+o then [Enter] to save

CTRL+x to exit

Reatart Mariadb:

sudo service mysql restart

I recommend you install mysqltuner and run it from time to time and adjust the database settings as the number of saved events grows.

Debian 10 Buster with Zoneminder 1.36.x from the ZM Release-1.36 Repo

This install procedure was developed to use the Debian package developed by iconnor. This is from the 1.36 release version of Zoneminder.

Note: This is an install procedure for new installations! Upgraders are encouraged to search the Zoneminder Forum for upgrade information!

This procedure will work on a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and possibly other devices.

To begin, install Debian 10 (Buster) along with Apache2, PHP and your favorite database (Mariadb recommended). A quick way to do this is:

sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql

Then secure Mariadb

sudo mysql_secure_installation

(If you want more detailed instrunctions for a LAMP server see: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-linux-apache-mariadb-php-lamp-stack-on-debian-10)

Add the repo

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following line to the end of the file

deb https://zmrepo.zoneminder.com/debian/release-1.36 buster/

CTRL+o then [Enter] to save

CTRL+x to exit

Install the following and retrieve the key from the repro

sudo apt install apt-transport-https gnupg

wget -O - https://zmrepo.zoneminder.com/debian/archive-keyring.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Important - Make sure the above "wget" process completes without error! If it does not complete you will not get the most recent Zoneminder version this procedure is written for.

sudo apt update

Install Zoneminder

sudo apt install zoneminder

Create a new user if you plan to use local (USB or capture card) cameras.

sudo adduser www-data video

Enable and start Zoneminder

sudo systemctl enable zoneminder.service
sudo systemctl start zoneminder 

Enable Apache Modules

sudo a2enconf zoneminder
sudo a2enmod rewrite

Restart Apache

sudo service apache2 reload

Remember to set your timezone in Zoneminder - Options

Zoneminder 1.36.x on Buster LEMP (NGNIX, Mariadb, PHP)

This procedure will work on a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and possibly other devices.

Thanks to "terdinglage" for the input to get this to work!

Start with a basic Buster install. You can use a server or desktop install. Do not install LAMP!

Install Ngnix, Mariadb and PHP components

sudo apt install nginx mariadb-server php-fpm php-mysql fcgiwrap

Secure the Mariadb server

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Restart Mariadb

sudo systemctl restart mysql

Edit the php.ini file

sudo nano /etc/php/7.3/fpm/php.ini

Locate (Ctrl+w) cgi.fix_pathinfo=1 and change to

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Remember to remove the leading ;

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Restart php-fpm

sudo systemctl restart php7.3-fpm

Add the repro

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following line to the end of the file

deb https://zmrepo.zoneminder.com/debian/release-1.34 buster/

CTRL+o then [Enter] to save

CTRL+x to exit

Install the following and retrieve the key from the repro

sudo apt install apt-transport-https gnupg

wget -O - https://zmrepo.zoneminder.com/debian/archive-keyring.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Important - Make sure the above "wget" process completes without error! If it does not complete you will not get the most recent Zoneminder version this procedure is written for.

sudo apt update

Install Zoneminder

sudo apt install zoneminder

Create a new user if you plan to use local (USB or capture card) cameras.

sudo adduser www-data video

Change the ZM_PATH_ZMS in the 01-system-paths.conf file to /cgi-bin/nph-zms by dropping the /zm/

sudo nano /etc/zm/conf.d/01-system-paths.conf

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Enable and start Zoneminder

sudo systemctl enable zoneminder

sudo service zoneminder start

Edit the Ngnix default configuration.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Locate the line "index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;" and add index.php

index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

In the "server" section after listen [::] :80 default_Server; add

include /etc/nginx/zoneminder.conf;

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Create a Zoneminder conf file

sudo nano /etc/nginx/zoneminder.conf

Enter the following into the zoneminder.conf file (This file was improved by databoy2k)

location /cgi-bin {
auth_basic off;
        alias /usr/lib/zoneminder/cgi-bin;     
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $request_filename;
        fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/fcgiwrap.socket;
}
location /zm/cache {
auth_basic off;
        alias /var/cache/zoneminder/cache;
}
location ~ /zm/api/(css|img|ico) {
auth_basic off;
        rewrite ^/zm/api(.+)$ /api/app/webroot/$1 break;
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
location /zm {
auth_basic off;
        alias /usr/share/zoneminder/www;
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args =404;    
        location /zm/api {
auth_basic off;
                rewrite ^/zm/api(.+)$ /zm/api/app/webroot/index.php?p=$1 last;
         }
                location ~ \.php$ {
                auth_basic off;
                        include fastcgi_params;
                        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $request_filename;
                        fastcgi_param HTTP_PROXY "";
                fastcgi_index index.php;
                        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.3-fpm.sock;
        }
    }

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

Restart Ngnix

sudo service nginx restart

Note: If Nginx gives you an error on restart go back one step and re-enter include /etc/ngnix/zoneminder.conf;

If it does not exist create

sudo nano /etc/default/fcgiwrap

and insert (with the number of children -c equal to the number of cameras) Note that you may need to have this value larger than the number if cameras. In my case I run "camera walls" from a custom web page that accesses the Zoneminder monitors. I have needed to increase the -c to include the number of cameras in the camera wall web pages.

DAEMON_OPTS=-c 10

Ctrl+o Enter to save

CTRL+x to exit

then restart the fcgiwrap service.

sudo systemctl restart fcgiwrap

Open Zoneminder and under Options set your timezone.