Appendix F – Installing Activation Pro on Oracle Linux 8

This appendix walks through installing RLM Activation Pro on a native LAMP stack (Apache, MySQL, PHP) running on Oracle Linux 8, including the SELinux configuration Oracle Linux enforces by default. This is a production-suitable install; for a quick, disposable test environment instead, see Appendix H.

Install Updates

sudo dnf check-update
sudo dnf upgrade -y

Install a LAMP Stack

Apache:

sudo dnf install -y httpd
sudo systemctl enable --now httpd

MySQL:

sudo dnf install -y mysql-server
sudo systemctl enable --now mysqld

Note

The steps below assume you will add your own MySQL user and create their credentials. Alternatively, you can use the following:

sudo mysql
CREATE USER 'actprouser'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'actprouserpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'actprouser'@'%' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

PHP:

sudo dnf install -y php php-mysqlnd php-fpm php-opcache php-gd php-curl php-mbstring
sudo systemctl restart httpd

Open the firewall:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Verify everything is running:

sudo systemctl status httpd
sudo systemctl status mysqld
php -v

Activation Pro Prep

Copy the v17.1 Activation Pro kit to /var/www/html, using whatever file-transfer method fits your environment (scp, sftp, etc.). Then extract the Activation Pro kit:

cd /var/www/html/
sudo tar -xvzf actpro.v17.1BL1-x64_l1.tar.gz

Copy the setup folder to /var/www/html:

sudo cp -r /var/www/html/actpro.x64_l1/actpro_setup /var/www/html/actpro_setup

Set ownership of /var/www so Apache can read and write all files:

sudo chown -R apache:apache /var/www/

SELinux Configuration for Activation Pro on Oracle Linux 8

By default, SELinux restricts what Apache (httpd) is permitted to do. The configuration is split across two phases: steps that must be done before the browser-based setup, and one step that must be done after.

Phase 1: Before browser setup

1. Allow Apache to write to the cgi-bin and html directories during setup

sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t "/var/www/cgi-bin(/.*)?"
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t "/var/www/html(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /var/www/cgi-bin
sudo restorecon -Rv /var/www/html

The setup wizard runs as Apache and copies the license generator binary, database descriptor, license file, and generator settings into /var/www/cgi-bin/. The directory must be writable by Apache at setup time or those copies will fail silently and license generation will not work.

2. Allow Apache to make outbound HTTP connections

sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

When a license is requested, PHP makes an HTTP call to http://<server>/cgi-bin/actpro_mklic to generate the license. SELinux blocks outbound network connections from Apache by default.

3. Allow Apache to connect to the MySQL database

sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect_db on

Activation Pro uses MySQL to store keys, fulfillments, and configuration. SELinux blocks Apache from making database connections unless this boolean is explicitly enabled.

Activation Pro Installation

  1. In a browser navigate to: http://[IP address or domain name]/actpro_setup/setup.php

    ../_images/actpro-setup-form.png

    Note: Be sure to update the database user/password, and the Admin account name/password to the correct values for your environment.

  2. Click “Setup Activation database”.

    You can ignore this warning: WARNING: chmod 0444 of RLM_Activation_Pro.pdf failed. Please change permission by hand.

  3. Click “Next - Clean up Installation Files”

  4. Click “Done - Start RLC”

Post-Setup SELinux Configuration

Phase 2: After browser setup

4. Label the license generator binary for CGI execution

sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_script_exec_t "/var/www/cgi-bin/[^/]+_mklic"
sudo restorecon -Rv /var/www/cgi-bin

actpro_mklic is a CGI binary that Apache must execute at license generation time. SELinux requires it to be explicitly labelled httpd_sys_script_exec_t before Apache’s cgid module is permitted to run it. The pattern [^/]+_mklic matches the binary regardless of ISV name (e.g. demo_mklic, mycompany_mklic).

This rule targets only the binary, leaving the rest of cgi-bin as httpd_sys_rw_content_t (set in Phase 1). SELinux applies the most specific matching rule, so the binary gets the exec context while .lic, .gen, and any future uploaded files remain writable by Apache. This means annual license file and generator settings uploads through the web UI will continue to work without any SELinux changes.

Activation Pro Configuration

  1. Log into Activation Pro

  2. Navigate to Admin > ActPro License

  3. Choose and upload your Activation Pro license file

  4. Navigate to Admin > Generator Settings

  5. Choose and upload your generator settings file (.gen)