Install OpenERP with Four-Tier Architecture Guide

Installing OpenERP (now known as Odoo) as a four-tier architecture involves separating the application into four distinct layers: client interface, web server, application server, and database server. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up Odoo in this manner:

Four-Tier Architecture Overview

1. Client Interface: Users interact with the system through a web browser or mobile app.
2. Web Server: Handles HTTP requests and serves static content.
3. Application Server: Runs the Odoo application and business logic.
4. Database Server: Manages data storage and retrieval.

Step-by-Step Installation Guide

1. Database Server

a. Install PostgreSQL:
Odoo uses PostgreSQL as its database. Install it on a dedicated server.

# Update package list
sudo apt update

# Install PostgreSQL
sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-server-dev-all

b. Configure PostgreSQL:
Create a user and a database for Odoo.

sudo -i -u postgres
createuser --createdb --username postgres --no-createrole --no-superuser --pwprompt odoo_user
createdb --owner=odoo_user odoo_db

c. Allow remote connections:
Edit pg_hba.conf and postgresql.conf to allow connections from your application server.

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/12/main/pg_hba.conf
# Add the following line at the end of the file
host    all             all             192.168.1.0/24            md5

sudo nano /etc/postgresql/12/main/postgresql.conf
# Uncomment and set listen_addresses
listen_addresses = '*'

Restart PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

2. Application Server

a. Install Odoo:
Install Odoo on a separate server.

# Update package list
sudo apt update

# Install necessary packages
sudo apt install git python3-pip build-essential wget python3-dev python3-venv libxslt-dev libzip-dev libldap2-dev libsasl2-dev python3-setuptools node-less

# Clone Odoo from the GitHub repository
cd /opt
sudo git clone https://www.github.com/odoo/odoo --depth 1 --branch 14.0 --single-branch
sudo chown -R odoo:odoo /opt/odoo

# Install dependencies
cd /opt/odoo
sudo pip3 install -r requirements.txt

# Create a configuration file
sudo cp odoo/debian/odoo.conf /etc/odoo.conf
sudo nano /etc/odoo.conf

Configure the Odoo settings in odoo.conf:

[options]
   ; This is the password that allows database operations:
   admin_passwd = admin
   db_host = 192.168.1.X  # IP address of the database server
   db_port = 5432
   db_user = odoo_user
   db_password = your_password
   addons_path = /opt/odoo/addons
   logfile = /var/log/odoo/odoo.log

b. Start Odoo:

# Create a systemd service file for Odoo
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/odoo.service

# Add the following content
[Unit]
Description=Odoo
Documentation=http://www.odoo.com
[Service]
# Ubuntu/Debian convention:
Type=simple
User=odoo
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /opt/odoo/odoo-bin -c /etc/odoo.conf
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Reload systemd and start the Odoo service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start odoo
sudo systemctl enable odoo

3. Web Server

a. Install Nginx:
Use Nginx as a reverse proxy to handle web requests.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

b. Configure Nginx:

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

# Add the following configuration
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_domain_or_ip;

    access_log /var/log/nginx/odoo.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/odoo.error.log;

    proxy_buffers 16 64k;
    proxy_buffer_size 128k;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8069;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

    location ~* /web/static/ {
        proxy_cache_valid 200 90m;
        proxy_buffering on;
        expires 864000;
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8069;
    }
}

# Enable the configuration
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/odoo /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Test Nginx configuration
sudo nginx -t

# Restart Nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx

4. Client Interface

The client interface does not require specific installation steps. Users will access Odoo through their web browsers by navigating to the web server’s domain name or IP address.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you have set up Odoo in a four-tier architecture, distributing the load across multiple servers to improve performance, scalability, and security.