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SonarQube Installation Guide for Ubuntu

What You'll Learn

  • The hardware, Java, and database prerequisites
  • How to prepare PostgreSQL for SonarQube
  • How to install SonarQube under a dedicated system user

This page walks through a practical SonarQube installation using PostgreSQL on Ubuntu.

Before You Start

  • Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04
  • At least 4 GB RAM, with 8 GB preferred
  • Java 21 (Java 17 is deprecated in SonarQube Server 2025.x and removed from 2026.4)

Install Java:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-21-jdk -y
java -version

Step 1: Install PostgreSQL

sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib -y

Create the database and user:

sudo -u postgres psql

CREATE USER sonar WITH PASSWORD 'sonar';
CREATE DATABASE sonar OWNER sonar;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE sonar TO sonar;
\q

Step 2: Download and Install SonarQube

Download the current package from the official downloads page.

wget https://binaries.sonarsource.com/Distribution/sonarqube/sonarqube-2026.1.2.zip
sudo apt install unzip -y
unzip sonarqube-*.zip
sudo mv sonarqube-* /opt/sonarqube

Step 3: Create a Dedicated User

sudo useradd -r -m -U -d /opt/sonarqube -s /bin/false sonar
sudo chown -R sonar:sonar /opt/sonarqube

Common Mistakes

  • Skipping the kernel settings SonarQube's embedded Elasticsearch needs (vm.max_map_count=524288, fs.file-max=131072, and higher open-file limits), so the service won't start.
  • Running SonarQube as root — Elasticsearch refuses to start as root.
  • Keeping the example database password sonar on a real server.
  • Using an unsupported Java version for your SonarQube release.

Interview Questions

  • What does SonarQube need from the operating system before it starts?
  • Why does SonarQube use an external database?
  • How would you run SonarQube in production differently from this guide?

Next

Continue to SonarQube Configuration for database settings, starting the service, and first login.