LAMP (software bundle)

How to setup a lamp stack using Ubuntu.
Linux, Apache, MariaDB, PHP

Setup

Install Ubuntu

Download and install the latest Ubuntu LTS.

If you need VNC, I recommend downloading Ubuntu Desktop and installing x11vnc, lightdm, and cinnamon.
If you don't need a desktop or are low on storage, you can just install Ubuntu Server.

Note

• Other popular linux distros for servers are Debian and CentOS.
  • See Linux distributions for more info.
  • I do not have much experience with these RHEL distros: Fedora, CentOS.

Install Apache

See [1]

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

# Enable some basic modules
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo a2enmod ssl
sudo a2enmod headers
sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_wstunnel
sudo a2enmod deflate

Installing PHP

Installing php 7.4 on 20.04

sudo apt update
sudo apt install php7.4 php7.4-fpm

# Install some common extensions
sudo apt install php7.4-{common,mysql,xml,xmlrpc,curl,gd,imagick,cli,dev,imap,mbstring,opcache,soap,zip,intl} -y

# Setup Apache to use php7.4-fpm
sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif
sudo a2enconf php7.4-fpm
sudo a2dismod php7.4
sudo a2dismod mpm_prefork
sudo a2enmod mpm_event
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Important Notes

• Always use a version when installing things if you don't want things to break when you do updates
  • E.g. php7.4-common instead of php-common

Installing PHP 7.3 on Ubuntu 18.04

Reference

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update
sudo apt install php7.3

# Install php-fpm
sudo apt install php7.3-fpm

# Install some common extensions
sudo apt install php7.3-common php7.3-mysql php7.3-xml php7.3-xmlrpc php7.3-curl php7.3-gd php7.3-imagick php7.3-cli php7.3-dev php7.3-imap php7.3-mbstring php7.3-opcache php7.3-soap php7.3-zip php7.3-intl -y

# Setup Apache to use php7.3-fpm
sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi php7.3-fpm
sudo a2dismod mpm_prefork
sudo a2enmod mpm_event
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Installing MariaDB

See https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo apt-key adv --fetch-keys 'https://mariadb.org/mariadb_release_signing_key.asc'
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb [arch=amd64,arm64,ppc64el] http://sfo1.mirrors.digitalocean.com/mariadb/repo/10.4/ubuntu bionic main'

sudo apt update
sudo apt install mariadb-server

Securing for Production

MariaDB and MySQL provide a bash command mysql_secure_installation.
This command does the following:

• Sets a root password
• Remove anonymous users
• Disallow root login remotely
• Removes test databases

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Misc

• Install nodejs via nvm

Firewall

Main article: Uncomplicated Firewall

If you're using a VPS or computer connected directly to the internet, you will want to install a firewall.
See UbuntuWiki: UncomplicatedFirewall
See Digital ocean ufw essentials

sudo ufw allow ssh/tcp
sudo ufw logging on
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

You should get an output like:

Status: active

To                         Action      From
--                         ------      ----
22/tcp                     ALLOW       Anywhere
22/tcp (v6)                ALLOW       Anywhere (v6)

To enable certain ports:

ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp