Set Up And Start GeoServer On An Ubuntu Server

To set up and start GeoServer on an Ubuntu Server for deployment, follow this step-by-step guide. This setup assumes you're deploying GeoServer as a service with production-readiness in mind.

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✅ 1. Install Java

GeoServer requires Java (Java 8 or 11 preferred).

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-11-jre -y

Verify Java version:

java -version

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✅ 2. Create a geoserver User (Optional but Recommended)

sudo useradd -m -d /opt/geoserver -s /bin/bash geoserver

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✅ 3. Download and Extract GeoServer

Go to: https://geoserver.org/download/ and get the Platform Independent Binary (.zip or .tar.gz).

Example using wget (replace version with latest):

cd /opt
sudo wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.25.0/geoserver-2.25.0-bin.zip
sudo apt install unzip -y
sudo unzip geoserver-2.25.0-bin.zip
sudo mv geoserver-2.25.0 geoserver
sudo chown -R geoserver:geoserver /opt/geoserver

To unzip geoserver-2.25.0-bin.zip into another folder, you can use the -d (destination) option of unzip.
✅ Example:
sudo unzip geoserver-2.25.0-bin.zip -d /opt/geoserver
This will extract all contents of the zip into /opt/geoserver/geoserver-2.25.0/.

Then fix the ownership (if you’re using a geoserver user):
sudo chown -R geoserver:geoserver /opt/geoserver

✅ Step 4: Manually try to run GeoServer

Before debugging systemd, test if it starts manually:

cd /opt/geoserver
java -Xms512m -Xmx1024m -DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/opt/geoserver/data_dir -jar start.jar

Watch the output carefully. If it fails, you'll get a clear error message, such as:
No such file or directory
java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError
Permission denied
GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR not found

✅ 5. Create a Systemd Service for GeoServer
Create a systemd service file:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/geoserver.service

Replace its content with this working and clean version:
[Unit]
Description=GeoServer
After=network.target

[Service]
User=geoserver
Group=geoserver
WorkingDirectory=/opt/geoserver
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xms512m -Xmx1024m -DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/opt/geoserver/data_dir -jar start.jar
SuccessExitStatus=143
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Make sure:
/opt/geoserver is the folder where start.jar exist
GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/opt/geoserver/data_dir is valid
User=geoserver must be changed to User=root if you're not using a separate geoserver us

✅ 6. Access GeoServer
Default port is 8080. If your server's IP is 192.168.1.100, open:
http://192.168.1.100:8080/geoserver