How To Install LEMP Stack On Ubuntu 15.04

Nginx (pronounced as engine-x) is a free, open-source, high-performance HTTP server and reverse proxy, as well as an IMAP/POP3 proxy server written by Igor Sysoev.

To install Nginx enter the following command in your terminal:

Note: If another web server like apache2 was installed in your system, remove it first to avoid conflicts. To uninstall apache, run the following commands:

sudo service apache2 stop
sudo apt-get remove --purge apache2 apache2-utils apache2.2-bin apache2-common -y
sudo apt-get autoremove -y
sudo apt-get autoclean -y

Find the apache2 configuration directories and files using command:

whereis apache2

Then, permanently delete them with command:

sudo rm -Rf /etc/apache2 /usr/lib/apache2 /usr/include/apache2

Now, install nginx using command:

sudo apt-get install nginx

Start Nginx service using the following command.

On Ubuntu 15.04:

sudo systemctl start nginx

On Ubuntu 14.10 and previous versions:

sudo service nginx start

To check whether nginx service is started, run:

sudo systemctl status nginx

Or

sudo service nginx status

Sample output:

● nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2015-05-01 16:18:40 IST; 45s ago
 Main PID: 1510 (nginx)
   CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
           ├─1510 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_...
           ├─1511 nginx: worker process
           ├─1512 nginx: worker process
           ├─1513 nginx: worker process
           └─1514 nginx: worker process

May 01 16:18:39 server systemd[1]: Starting A high performance web server a.....
May 01 16:18:40 server systemd[1]: Failed to read PID from file /run/nginx....nt
May 01 16:18:40 server systemd[1]: Started A high performance web server an...r.
May 01 16:19:17 server systemd[1]: Started A high performance web server an...r.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

2. Test nginx

Open up your web browser and navigate to http://ip-address/ or http://localhost/. You will see a screen something like below.

3. Configure Nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

worker_processes 1;

sudo systemctl restart nginx

sudo service nginx restart

The default vhost(server block) is defined in the /etc/nginx/sites-available/default file.

Open the file /etc/nginx/sites-available/default in any editor.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Under the Server section, set the server FQDN or IP address as shown below. Make sure you’ve added a index.php line.

[...]
server {
      listen 80 default_server;
      listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on;
      root /usr/share/nginx/html;
      index index.php index.html index.htm;
      # Make site accessible from http://localhost/
      server_name server.unixmen.local;
[...]

Here,

• listen 80; –> listen for ipv4
• listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on; –> listen for ipv6
• root /usr/share/nginx/html; –> document root directory.
• server_name server.unixmen.local; –> Server FQDN.

Now, scroll down further and find the section #location ~ \.php$. Uncomment and modify the following lines as shown below.

 location ~ \.php$ {
         try_files $uri =404;   ---------> Add this line
         fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
         #       # NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
         #
         #       # With php5-cgi alone:
         #       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
         #       # With php5-fpm:
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_index index.php;
         include fastcgi.conf;
    }

Here, I added an extra line ‘try_files $uri =404;’ to prevent zero day exploits.

Save and exit the file.

4. Test nginx configuration

Test the nginx configuration for any syntax errors using command:

sudo nginx -t

Sample output:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Restart nginx service.

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Or

sudo service nginx restart

5. Install MySQL

MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases, though SQLite probably has more total embedded deployments

sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

During installation, you’ll be asked to setup the MySQL “root” user password. Enter the password and click Ok.

Re-enter the password.

MySQL is installed now.

You can verify the MySQL server status using command:

On Ubuntu 15.04:

sudo systemctl status mysql

On Ubuntu 14.10 and previous versions:

sudo service mysql status

Sample output:

● mysql.service - MySQL Community Server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mysql.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2015-05-01 16:34:32 IST; 11s ago
 Main PID: 3235 (mysqld_safe)
   CGroup: /system.slice/mysql.service
           ├─3235 /bin/sh /usr/bin/mysqld_safe
           └─3582 /usr/sbin/mysqld --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --...

May 01 16:34:31 server systemd[1]: Starting MySQL Community Server...
May 01 16:34:31 server mysqld_safe[3235]: 150501 16:34:31 mysqld_safe Can't ....
May 01 16:34:31 server mysqld_safe[3235]: 150501 16:34:31 mysqld_safe Loggin....
May 01 16:34:32 server mysqld_safe[3235]: 150501 16:34:31 mysqld_safe Starti...l
May 01 16:34:32 server systemd[1]: Started MySQL Community Server.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

6. Install MariaDB

In case you want to use MariaDB instead of MySQL community edition, follow the steps given below.

MariaDB is a drop in replacement for MySQL. It is a robust, scalable and reliable SQL server that comes rich set of enhancements.

First you have to remove existing MySQL packages if any. To completely uninstall MySQL along with its configuration files, enter the following commands one by one:

sudo systemctl stop mysql
sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common -y
sudo apt-get autoremove -y
sudo apt-get autoclean -y
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql/
sudo rm -rf /etc/mysql/

After removing MySQL, run the following command to install MariaDB.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server

Alternatively, you can install it using MariaDB repository if you want to try most recent version of MariaDB. Run the following commands to add PPA. As of writing this, MariaDB PPA is not yet updated to Ubuntu 15.04. However, we can use the repository of Ubuntu 14.10 instead.

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 0xcbcb082a1bb943db
sudo add-apt-repository 'deb http://ftp.kaist.ac.kr/mariadb/repo/10.0/ubuntu utopic main'

Update the software sources list and install MariaDB using following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server

During installation you will be asked to set mysql ‘root’ user password. Enter the password twice, and complete the installation.

Note: In Ubuntu 15.04, MariaDB won’t ask you to set root user password during installation.

Also, you can’t set password using command:

mysql_secure_installation

It will throw the following error.

ERROR 1698 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'

To fix this error, log in to mysql prompt without password as root user:

sudo mysql -u root

Then, run the following commands one by one in the mysql prompt:

use mysql;

update user set plugin='' where User='root';

flush privileges;

\q

That’s it. Now, set database administrative “root” user password using command. Press Enter and go with the default settings.

mysql_secure_installation

Sample output:

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
      SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE!  PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user.  If you've just installed MariaDB, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): 
OK, successfully used password, moving on...

Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MariaDB
root user without the proper authorisation.

Set root password? [Y/n] y
New password: 
Re-enter new password: 
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
 ... Success!

By default, a MariaDB installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MariaDB without having to have a user account created for
them.  This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother.  You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.

Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] 
 ... Success!

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'.  This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.

Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] 
 ... Success!

By default, MariaDB comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access.  This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.

Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] 
 - Dropping test database...
ERROR 1008 (HY000) at line 1: Can't drop database 'test'; database doesn't exist
 ... Failed!  Not critical, keep moving...
 - Removing privileges on test database...
 ... Success!

Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.

Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] 
 ... Success!

Cleaning up...

All done!  If you've completed all of the above steps, your MariaDB
installation should now be secure.

Thanks for using MariaDB!

Check if mariadb is running or not, using the following command:

sudo service mysql status

Sample output:

● mysql.service - LSB: Start and stop the mysql database server daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/mysql)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2015-04-29 13:57:57 IST; 15min ago
     Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
   CGroup: /system.slice/mysql.service
           ├─2527 /bin/bash /usr/bin/mysqld_safe
           ├─2528 logger -p daemon.err -t /etc/init.d/mysql -i
           └─2684 /usr/sbin/mysqld --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --...

Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.servers          ...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.table_stats      ...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.tables_priv      ...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.time_zone        ...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.time_zone_leap_se...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.time_zone_name   ...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.time_zone_transit...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.time_zone_transit...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2735]: mysql.user             ...
Apr 29 13:57:58 server /etc/mysql/debian-start[2790]: Triggering myisam-recov...
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

7. Install PHP

PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely used open-source general purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML.

Install PHP with following command:

sudo apt-get install php5 php5-fpm php5-mysql

8. Configure PHP

Open php.ini file in any editor:

sudo nano /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini

Find the line ‘cgi.fix_pathinfo=1′, uncomment it and change the value 1 to 0.

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Now restart php-fpm service.

sudo systemctl restart php5-fpm

Or

sudo service php5-fpm restart

To check whether php5-fpm is running or not using command:

sudo systemctl status php5-fpm

Or

sudo service php5-fpm status

Sample output:

● php5-fpm.service - The PHP FastCGI Process Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/php5-fpm.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2015-05-01 16:39:59 IST; 4s ago
  Process: 9023 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/php5/php5-fpm-checkconf (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 9028 (php5-fpm)
   Status: "Ready to handle connections"
   CGroup: /system.slice/php5-fpm.service
           ├─9028 php-fpm: master process (/etc/php5/fpm/php-fpm.conf)
           ├─9031 php-fpm: pool www
           └─9032 php-fpm: pool www

May 01 16:39:59 server systemd[1]: Stopping The PHP FastCGI Process Manager...
May 01 16:39:59 server systemd[1]: Starting The PHP FastCGI Process Manager...
May 01 16:39:59 server systemd[1]: Started The PHP FastCGI Process Manager.

9. Test PHP

Create a sample “testphp.php” file in nginx document root folder.

sudo nano /usr/share/nginx/html/testphp.php

Add the following lines in it.

<?php
 phpinfo();
?>

Save and exit the file.

Navigate to  http://server-ip-address/testphp.php. It will display all the details about php such as version, build date and commands etc.

PHP-FPM listens on the socket /var/run/php5-fpm.sock by default. If you want to make PHP-FPM use a TCP connection, open the file /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf,

sudo nano /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Find the line listen = /var/run/php5-fpm.sock,

listen = /var/run/php5-fpm.sock

and modify it to listen = 127.0.0.1:9000.

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Save and exit the file. Restart php5-fpm service.

sudo systemctl restart php5-fpm

Or

sudo service php5-fpm restart

Now open the nginx configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Find the line fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock; and change it to fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000; as shown below.

location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        #       # NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
        #
        #       # With php5-cgi alone:
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        #       # With php5-fpm:
        #        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi.conf;
   }

Save and exit the file. Finally restart nginx service.

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Or

sudo service nginx restart

10. Manage MySQL Databases Using phpMyAdmin (Optional)

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

sudo ln -s /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ /usr/share/nginx/html

sudo systemctl restart nginx

sudo service nginx restart