Guides - Deploying Joplin through the Linode Marketplace

Joplin is an open source application designed to take notes using the Markdown format. It is available on many different platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. To synchronize your notes across multiple devices, you need to enable synchronization. Synchronization can be facilitated through a service like Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, the Joplin Cloud, or the Joplin Server software. Our Joplin Marketplace App installs the Joplin Server software, enabling you to securely take control of your own data and enable synchronization between all of your devices.

Deploying a Marketplace App

The Linode Marketplace allows you to easily deploy software on a Compute Instance using the Cloud Manager. See Get Started with Marketplace Apps for complete steps.

1. Log in to the Cloud Manager and select the Marketplace link from the left navigation menu. This displays the Linode Create page with the Marketplace tab pre-selected.

2. Under the Select App section, select the app you would like to deploy.

3. Complete the form by following the steps and advice within the Creating a Compute Instance guide. Depending on the Marketplace App you selected, there may be additional configuration options available. See the Configuration Options section below for compatible distributions, recommended plans, and any additional configuration options available for this Marketplace App.

4. Click the Create Linode button. Once the Compute Instance has been provisioned and has fully powered on, wait for the software installation to complete. If the instance is powered off or restarted before this time, the software installation will likely fail.

To verify that the app has been fully installed, see Get Started with Marketplace Apps > Verify Installation. Once installed, follow the instructions within the Getting Started After Deployment section to access the application and start using it.

Note

Estimated deployment time: Joplin should be fully installed within 10-15 minutes after the Compute Instance has finished provisioning.

Configuration Options

• Supported distributions: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• Recommended plan: All plan types and sizes can be used.

Joplin Options

• Email address (required): Enter the email address to use for generating the SSL certificates.
• Password for the postgres database (required): Enter the password you wish to use for the joplin database user.

Limited User (Optional)

You can optionally fill out the following fields to automatically create a limited user for your new Compute Instance. This is recommended for most deployments as an additional security measure. This account will be assigned to the sudo group, which provides elevated permission when running commands with the sudo prefix.

• Limited sudo user: Enter your preferred username for the limited user.
• Password for the limited user: Enter a strong password for the new user.
• SSH public key for the limited user: If you wish to login as the limited user through public key authentication (without entering a password), enter your public key here. See Creating an SSH Key Pair and Configuring Public Key Authentication on a Server for instructions on generating a key pair.
• Disable root access over SSH: To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes (recommended). You can still switch to the root user once logged in and you can also log in as root through Lish.

Custom Domain (Optional)

If you wish to access your application using a custom domain, fill out the following fields.

• Linode API Token: If you wish to use the Linode’s DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain, create a Linode API Personal Access Token on your account with Read/Write access to Domains. If this is provided along with the subdomain and domain fields (outlined below), the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. See Get an API Access Token. If you do not provide this field, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
• Subdomain: The subdomain you wish to use, such as www for www.example.com.
• Domain: The domain name you wish to use, such as example.com.

Getting Started after Deployment

Accessing the Joplin Server

The Joplin server dashboard allows you to manage your account, add other users, and perform various administration tasks. Before using your new Joplin instance to take notes, you should first log in to the admin dashboard and update your profile using the instructions below.

1. Open your web browser and navigate to the custom domain you entered during deployment or your Compute Instance’s rDNS domain (such as 192-0-2-1.ip.linodeusercontent.com). You can also use your IPv4 address, though your connection will not be encrypted. See the Managing IP Addresses guide for information on viewing IP addresses and rDNS.

2. In the login prompt that appears, enter admin@localhost as the Email and admin as the Password. Click Login to continue.

3. Once logged in, the Joplin Admin page appears. Since the default login credentials are insecure, you should immediately update the email and password for the admin user. Click the Change it now link in the warning banner or navigate to http://[domain]/users/me.

4. The Your Profile page appears. Enter your full name, the email address you wish to use, and a new secure password. Then click Update profile to make the changes.

5. To confirm your new email address, navigate to http://[domain]/admin/emails or click on the Admin menu item and select Emails. Select the email with the subject “Confirm your new Joplin Server account email”. Click on the Confirm email link within the email.

Using the Joplin App

To start using Joplin to take notes, download the Joplin application for your device and configure the synchronization settings.

1. Download and install the Joplin application on the device you wish to use. See the Joplin Download page.

2. Open Joplin. You should see a few example notes.

3. Click the Synchronise button or navigate to Preferences and select Synchronisation. If the Sync Wizard screen appears, close it as you will configure custom settings for your new server.

4. Under the Syncronisation target dropdown, select Joplin Server (Beta).

5. Fill out the new configuration options that appear:

   • Joplin Server URL: Enter the custom domain you specified when deploying the new Compute Instance. If you did not use a custom domain, enter the rDNS value for the instance (such as https://192-0-2-1.ip.linodeusercontent.com). Be sure to format this as a full URL with the https protocol.

   • Joplin Server email: Enter the email address specified when updating your profile in the Accessing the Joplin Server section.

   • Joplin Server password: Enter the password specified when updating your profile in the Accessing the Joplin Server section.

6. Click the Check synchronisation configuration button to verify that you have the correct settings.

7. If your settings are correct, you should see a success message. Click the Apply button to save your settings.

Now you can start taking notes and your changes will automatically be stored on your new Joplin Server instance and synchronized between all of your devices. Check out the official Joplin documentation to learn how to further utilize your Joplin instance.

Note

Currently, Linode does not manage software and systems updates for Marketplace Apps. It is up to the user to perform routine maintenance on software deployed in this fashion.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• Joplin