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Installing Sakai from binary distributions is the fastest way to get started for production deployments.

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Prerequisites

  • Java 17 (for Sakai 24+) or Java 11 (for Sakai 22-23)
  • Apache Tomcat 9 downloaded and extracted
  • MySQL/MariaDB database server running
See System Requirements for complete requirements.

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Download Binary Release

Sakai binary releases are available from the official release repository: 
http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/

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Current Supported Releases

Sakai 25.1 (Latest): 
wget http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/25.1/artifacts/sakai-bin-25.1.tar.gz
Sakai 23.4 (Maintenance): 
wget http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/23.4/artifacts/sakai-bin-23.4.tar.gz
Release information:

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Step 1: Extract Binary Package

Extract the downloaded binary package: 
tar -xzf sakai-bin-25.1.tar.gz
cd sakai-bin-25.1
The binary package contains:
  • components/ - Sakai component libraries
  • lib/ - Shared libraries
  • webapps/ - Web application archives (WAR files)

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Step 2: Configure Tomcat

Tomcat must be properly configured for Sakai. Default Tomcat settings are not sufficient.
See the Tomcat Configuration guide for detailed instructions.

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Required Configuration

  1. Set JVM memory and options in setenv.sh
  2. Configure database connection in sakai.properties
  3. Update server.xml for proper encoding and connectors
Refer to the official Sakai Install Guide for complete configuration steps.

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Step 3: Deploy Binary Files

Copy the binary files to your Tomcat installation: 
# Set Tomcat home directory
export TOMCAT_HOME=/path/to/your/tomcat

# Copy components
cp -r components/* $TOMCAT_HOME/components/

# Copy shared libraries
cp -r lib/* $TOMCAT_HOME/lib/

# Copy web applications
cp -r webapps/* $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps/
Ensure the target directories exist in your Tomcat installation. Create them if necessary:
mkdir -p $TOMCAT_HOME/components

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Step 4: Configure Database

Create the Sakai database and user: 
CREATE DATABASE sakai DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;
CREATE USER 'sakai'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON sakai.* TO 'sakai'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Update sakai.properties with your database credentials: 
vendor@org.sakaiproject.db.api.SqlService=mysql
driverClassName@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver
url@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=jdbc:mariadb://localhost:3306/sakai?useUnicode=true&characterEncoding=UTF-8
username@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=sakai
password@javax.sql.BaseDataSource=your_password

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Step 5: Start Tomcat

Start Tomcat and monitor the startup: 
cd $TOMCAT_HOME/bin
./startup.sh && tail -f ../logs/catalina.out
First startup may take several minutes as Sakai initializes the database schema.

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Step 6: Verify Installation

Access Sakai through your browser: 
http://localhost:8080/portal
Default credentials:
  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin
Change the default admin password immediately in a production environment.

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Upgrading from Previous Versions

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Backup First

Before upgrading, always backup:
  1. Database: 
    mysqldump -u sakai -p sakai > sakai_backup.sql
  2. Configuration files: 
    cp $TOMCAT_HOME/sakai/sakai.properties sakai.properties.backup
  3. Custom content in the content directory

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Upgrade Process

  1. Stop Tomcat
  2. Remove old webapps and components
  3. Deploy new binary files
  4. Review configuration changes in release notes
  5. Run any required database conversion scripts
  6. Start Tomcat and test

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Database Conversion Scripts

Conversion scripts for version upgrades are located in: 
http://source.sakaiproject.org/release/VERSION/conversion/
Apply scripts sequentially for your database type.

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Troubleshooting

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Deployment Issues

WAR files not expanding:
  • Check unpackWARs="true" in server.xml
  • Verify file permissions on webapps directory
  • Look for errors in catalina.out
Missing components: 
ls -la $TOMCAT_HOME/components/
Ensure all component JARs were copied correctly.

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Performance Issues

Slow startup:
  • Increase heap memory in setenv.sh
  • Check database connection performance
  • Review GC logs for memory issues
OutOfMemoryError:
  • Increase -Xmx setting in setenv.sh
  • Analyze heap dumps to identify memory leaks

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Production Considerations

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Security

  • Change default admin password
  • Configure SSL/TLS certificates
  • Restrict access to Tomcat manager
  • Review and configure firewall rules

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Performance

  • Tune JVM heap and GC settings
  • Configure database connection pooling
  • Enable HTTP/2 in Tomcat
  • Consider load balancing for high availability

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Monitoring

  • Enable JMX for monitoring
  • Configure access logs
  • Set up log rotation
  • Monitor database performance

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Next Steps

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