Installing DHIS2 using 41.1.0.war - no GUI by default?

Hello, I’m setting up DHIS2 for someone else in my organization, and this is my first time.

I’ve followed the tutorial here Installation - DHIS2 Documentation
Using the dhis2-stable-41.1.0.war from releases.dhis2.org
( I’ve also tried dhis2-stable-40.5.0-rc.war and dhis2-stable-2.39.6-rc.war )

Using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, OpenJDK 17, postgresql 16, libpostgresql-jdbc-java 42.7, and Tomcat 10, reverse proxied via apache web server.

Is it normal for the proxied site to have no index page or application? Images I’ve seen of DHIS2 all have a nice royal-blue GUI login page. Is there maybe an extra downloadable extension that provides the web front end?

[splitting post here because apparently new accounts can only use two links per post… ]

[continued from first post]
[host.dom used as example FQDN]
When I visit host.dom/ (reverse proxied to URL base instead of host.dom/dhis ), I get
" HTTP Status 404 – Not Found


Type Status Report

Message The requested resource [/] is not available

Description The origin server did not find a current representation for the target resource or is not willing to disclose that one exists.


Apache Tomcat/10.1.16 (Ubuntu)"

Which is really just tomcat saying there’s nothing to serve at the location.

So far I’ve tried:

  • Swapping other wars, including other dhis2 versions. Same result. sample.war from apache.org is served perfectly fine, and the jsp file worked.
  • Reverse proxying with /dhis or /dhis2, and even using 127.0.0.1:8080 from an ssh tunnel to host ; all same result.
  • browsing to host.dom/dhis-web-apps/ shows me a list of apps which appear to be half functional when clicking their links. Some like dhis-web-event-visualizer open and animate, but there’s no progress that I can tell.

I’m clearly missing some step that turns base tomcat 404 error into something that looks like:
https://play.im.dhis2.org/stable-2-41-1/dhis-web-login/

@DavidT
Welcome to the community and sorry to hear about you only adding 2 links only for the new account.

To make it all clear about what you are asking for help with is setting up DHIS2 on your server. Specifically, you have installed DHIS2 following the tutorial, but when you access the site through a reverse proxy, you are encountering a 404 error and not seeing the expected DHIS2 login page. And you are wondering if there is an additional step or extension needed to enable the DHIS2 web front-end, as your current setup only shows Tomcat’s default error message indicating that there’s no resource to serve.

You have already tried different versions of DHIS2 WAR files, alternative proxy settings, and even accessed specific DHIS2 web applications, but nothing leads to the full DHIS2 interface. You seeking advice on what they might be missing to get DHIS2 running properly with its login interface.

Is that right?

My first thoughts, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is not recommended to run dhis2 war files yet. We are testing it in the background, try for now maybe Ubuntu 22.04 LTS if you want less trouble because it has tomcat 9. Ubuntu 24.04 comes with Tomcat 10: Uses the jakarta package due to a shift in ownership of these specifications from Oracle to the Eclipse Foundation.
This is the most significant change between the two versions (tomcat 9 and 10).

Spring 6 adopts the Jakarta EE namespace (jakarta.) for functionalities previously under the javax. package (e.g., JPA, Servlet API) as well.

The Ubuntu 24.04 repository includes a migration script
tomcat-jakartaee-migration, which is the Apache Tomcat migration tool for Jakarta EE support.
This script requires a Java runtime to execute.
Read more here - GitHub - apache/tomcat-jakartaee-migration: Apache Tomcat migration tool for Jakarta EE

I know you have used the dhis2 documentation to setup this environment, there is a high chance you are using old documentation. But to make your life easier, have a look at this new automated way to deploy dhis2 instances easily with all the fixes I have shared with you - we call this Ansible - GitHub - dhis2/dhis2-server-tools: Tools to support installation and management of DHIS2 .

Let me know if you have further quesition @DavidT

Regards,
Moses

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