Requirements before installing Lizmap Web Client

Note

If you want to quickly install and test Lizmap Web Client in a few steps, you can follow those instructions.

QGIS Server

Warning

Before installing the QGIS Server part, it is very highly recommended to use the same version between QGIS Desktop and QGIS Server.

Even if some functions might work, there is a probability that some configuration won’t work if these two versions are different.

The reason is QGIS Server version X might not be able to a QGIS project made with a QGIS Desktop version Y.

Follow the QGIS Documentation how to install QGIS Server : https://docs.qgis.org/latest/en/docs/server_manual/

Using a webserver (Apache or Nginx), you must install QGIS Server. With Nginx, the preferred way is to use spawn-fcgi. Do not use the fcgiwrap, this solution is not efficient.

In the Nginx configuration, it’s good to use the QGIS_OPTIONS_PATH variable for a folder with write permissions for www-data. These is explained in the QGIS Server documentation.

You should also install and configure XVFB mentioned in the QGIS Documentation. This is useful for printing PDF. You can only skip this section if you don’t plan to print PDF on the server side.

After you have setup your web server with QGIS-Server, check that the URL of QGIS Server is working. You probably get a XML like:

<ServerException>Project file error</ServerException>

Keep this URL, we will use it later in the Lizmap admin panel.

Warning

We strongly encourage you to set up QGIS Server on a different virtual host than Lizmap Web Client. QGIS Server URL should stay private, accessible by the Lizmap PHP application only.

Otherwise, especially after the Lizmap plugin on QGIS Server is installed, your user might be able to access private data if they by-pass Lizmap, by using straight QGIS Server URL.

QGIS Server plugins

Some plugins can be added to QGIS Server. This will enable some features in Lizmap. It’s not compulsory but in some situations, it’s better.

Either you should setup the QGIS_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable during the installation of QGIS Server or use the default one provided by QGIS. https://docs.qgis.org/latest/en/docs/server_manual/config.html#environment-variables

Tip

To manage QGIS Server plugins, we encourage you to use qgis-plugin-manager, a CLI tool to install and upgrade plugins. https://pypi.org/project/qgis-plugin-manager/

• AtlasPrint

  • To enable the PDF based on a QGIS Layout Atlas

  • https://github.com/3liz/qgis-atlasprint

• Cadastre

  • French use-case only

  • Needed for the Lizmap Cadastre module

  • https://docs.3liz.org/QgisCadastrePlugin/module-lizmap/

• Lizmap

  • Lizmap is not only a PHP application, there is also Python plugin for QGIS Server to

    • evaluate QGIS Expressions in forms about :

      • constraints

      • default value

      • group visibility

      • Read Advanced form.

    • check User Access Rights (ACL) for features and layers :

      • filter by polygon

      • by attribute

    • enable @lizmap_user and lizmap_user_groups variables

  • https://github.com/3liz/qgis-lizmap-server-plugin

  • The plugin is not required, but a few features won’t work as expected if the plugin is not installed or not upgraded

  • The name of the plugin is Lizmap server. Do not install the Lizmap plugin which is the desktop Python plugin.

• WfsOutputExtension

  • To add new format when exporting vector data

  • https://github.com/3liz/qgis-wfsOutputExtension

• Logging

  • To log QGIS Servers log and to flush the cache on QGIS Server

  • https://github.com/3liz/qgis-logging-plugin.

  • This plugin is deprecated.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL can be used for two different purposes in Lizmap :

• To store GIS data. No configuration is needed on the Lizmap Web Client server side, only the PostgreSQL server must be accessible from the Lizmap Web Client server. It’s possible to edit layers with Lizmap, but the layer must be stored in PostgreSQL. See Prerequisites.

• To store Lizmap Web Client users and user actions. Lizmap uses tables. This setting must be done when installing Lizmap.