setup and access CouchDB on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Apache CouchDB is a document oriented NoSQL database. This post describes how to install CouchDB on a Ubuntu 18.04 LTS via snap.

Tested with:

OS/Software	Version
Ubuntu	18.04 LTS
CouchDB	2.3.1

Use following command to install the CouchDB server on your system:

$ sudo snap install couchdb

Use following command to check if the server is running:

$ curl http://127.0.0.1:5984/

If the CouchDB server is running, you would get a response similar to this:

{"couchdb":"Welcome","version":"2.3.1","git_sha":"ababababa","uuid":"abababababababababababababababab","features":["pluggable-storage-engines","scheduler"],"vendor":{"name":"The Apache Software Foundation"}}

Or use snap info to get informations about the service:

$ sudo snap info "couchdb"

If the CouchDB server is running, you would get a response containing this line:

...
services: 
    couchdb.server: simple, enabled, active
...

Or you use:

$ sudo snap services

Which shows you all running snap services:

Service         Startup    Current  Notes
couchdb.server  aktiviert  aktiv    -

You can start/stop/restart the CouchDB server with the following commands:

$ sudo snap start couchdb
$ sudo snap stop couchdb
$ sudo snap restart couchdb

You can enable/disable automatic starting of the service at boot time. Use following commands:

sudo snap start --enable couchdb.server
sudo snap stop --disable couchdb.server

You reach the servers Fauxton Web UI with your browser under the following URL:

http://127.0.0.1:5984/_utils/