SonarQube

Learn how to install and configure SonarQube for continuous code quality inspection

What is SonarQube?

SonarQube is an open-source platform developed by SonarSource for continuous inspection of code quality. It performs automatic code reviews using static code analysis to detect bugs, vulnerabilities, and code smells across 29 programming languages.

By integrating SonarQube into your development workflow, teams can ensure cleaner, more maintainable code while improving overall software security and reliability. It is widely used in DevOps pipelines to enforce coding standards and best practices.

Prerequisites

Virtual Machine running Ubuntu 22.04 or newer

Update Package Repository and Packages

Bash

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Install PostgreSQL

Bash

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'
wget -qO- https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/pgdg.asc &>/dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get -y install postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo systemctl enable postgresql
sudo systemctl status postgresql

Create SonarQube database

Bash

sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE USER sonar WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'sonar';"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE DATABASE sonarqube OWNER sonar;"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE sonarqube TO sonar;"

Install Java

Bash

sudo apt install -y fontconfig openjdk-17-jdk
sudo update-alternatives --config java

Increase system limits

Bash

sudo tee -a /etc/security/limits.conf <<EOF
sonarqube   -   nofile   65536
sonarqube   -   nproc    4096
EOF

Bash

sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf <<EOF
vm.max_map_count = 262144
EOF
sudo sysctl -p

Download and extract SonarQube

Bash

sudo wget https://binaries.sonarsource.com/Distribution/sonarqube/sonarqube-10.7.0.96327.zip

Bash

sudo unzip sonarqube-10.7.0.96327.zip -d /opt
sudo mv /opt/sonarqube-10.7.0.96327 /opt/sonarqube

Create SonarQube user and set permissions

Bash

sudo groupadd sonar
sudo useradd -c "user to run SonarQube" -d /opt/sonarqube -g sonar sonar
sudo chown sonar:sonar /opt/sonarqube -R

Configure SonarQube

Bash

sudo -u sonar vim /opt/sonarqube/conf/sonar.properties

Update the following properties:

Properties

sonar.jdbc.username=sonar
sonar.jdbc.password=sonar
sonar.jdbc.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/sonarqube

Create SonarQube service

Bash

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/sonar.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=SonarQube service
After=syslog.target network.target
[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/opt/sonarqube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh start
ExecStop=/opt/sonarqube/bin/linux-x86-64/sonar.sh stop
User=sonar
Group=sonar
Restart=always
LimitNOFILE=65536
LimitNPROC=4096
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Start and enable SonarQube service

Bash

sudo systemctl enable sonar
sudo systemctl start sonar
sudo systemctl status sonar

Set up Nginx reverse proxy and TLS

TLS Configuration

Install Nginx:

Bash

sudo apt install -y nginx

Bash

sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl status nginx

Create Nginx config file:

Bash

sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/sonarqube.conf

Paste the contents below and be sure to update the domain name:

NGINX

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name sonarqube.devopsfoundry.com;
    access_log /var/log/nginx/sonar.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/sonar.error.log;
    proxy_buffers 16 64k;
    proxy_buffer_size 128k;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9000;
        proxy_next_upstream error timeout invalid_header http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504;
        proxy_redirect off;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto http;
    }
}

Next, activate the server block configuration 'sonarqube.conf' by creating a symlink of that file to the '/etc/nginx/sites-enabled' directory. Then, verify your Nginx configuration files.

Bash

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/sonarqube.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Install Certbot and obtain SSL certificate:

Bash

sudo apt install -y python3-certbot-nginx

Bash

sudo certbot --nginx -d sonarqube.devopsfoundry.com

SonarQube

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