Install Linux

First get a server with already running Linux. This document is based on CentOS. The linux installation part is taken care of. Here is how to install the rest.

Login with SSH root privileges to your Linux server and follow the instructions below.

Install Apache

Apache is a free open source software which runs web servers.

  • To install apache — yum install httpd
  • To start Apache — service httpd start systemctl start httpd
  • Set Apache to automatically start on boot — chkconfig httpd on systemctl enable httpd

Install MySQL

MySQL is a database management system.

  • To install MySQL — yum install mysql-server
  • To start MySQL — service mysqld start systemctl start mysqld
  • To start MySQL automatically on system startup — chkconfig mysqld on systemctl enable mysqld
  • To set a password for the MySQL root user. — mysqladmin -u root password ‘new-password’
  • Or run wizard to set a MySQL root password. This will guide you through a wizard. Say Yes to all the options. — /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

Install PHP

PHP is an open source web scripting language that is widely used to build dynamic webpages.

  • To install PHP — yum install php php-mysql

PHP Modules

PHP also has a variety of useful libraries and modules that you can add onto your server.

  • Show the available libraries — yum search php-
  • For more information about a module — yum info name of the module
  • To install a module — yum install name of the module

You can install multiple libraries at once by separating the name of each module with a space.

PHP-info page on your Apache Server

Although LAMP is installed on your virtual server, we can still take a look and see the components online by creating a quick php info page.

  • To set this up, first create a new file — vi /var/www/html/info.php
  • Press Insert-key and type the following code — <?php phpinfo(); ?>
  • Save and exit by pressing the Escape-key — !q
  • Restart apache to take changes effect — service httpd restart
  • Finish up by visiting your php-info page — http://your_server_ip/info.php

To Install the LAMP stack at once

  • Run the following command — yum groupinstall “Web Server” “PHP Support” “MySQL Database server” “MySQL Database client”
  • Add PHP-MySQL support — yum install php-mysql

Configure iptables (firewall)

Make sure the firewall does not block access to port 80

  • Edit the iptables config file — vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables
  • Allow http traffic — Below the :OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0] line, add -A INPUT -m state –state NEW -p tcp –dport 80 -j ACCEPT
  • Restart firewall — service iptables restart

Install phpmyadmin (optional)

phpMyAdmin is a powerful tool for manipulating MySQL databases.

  • Change directory to your documentroot — cd /var/www/html
  • Download phpMyAdmin — wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/phpmyadmin/phpMyAdmin/4.0.1/phpMyAdmin-4.0.1-english.zip?r=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.phpmyadmin.net%2Fhome_page%2Fdownloads.php&ts=1369351562&use_mirror=heanet
  • Unzip phpMyAdmin — unzip phpMyAdmin-3.5.6-english.zip
  • Rename directory — mv phpMyAdmin-3.5.6-english phpmyadmin
  • Remove the zip-file — rm -f phpMyAdmin-3.5.6-english.zip
  • Now you can browse to: — http:///phpmyadmin
  • Add blowfish_secret for security — cd phpmyadmincp config.sample.inc.php config.inc.php vim config.inc.php Add a secret key to $cfg[‘blowfish_secret’] so it looks like below: $cfg[‘blowfish_secret’] = ‘your-secret-key’;

Add virtual hosts to Apache

Virtual hosts allow multiple web sites to be served from a single Apache installation.

The virtual hosts can be added to the end of the Apache configuration file (/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf).

Here is an example configuration with two web hosts:

# Ensure that Apache listens on port 80 and name-based virtual hosting is enabled.
Listen 80
NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /www/example1
ServerName www.domain1.com
# Other directives here
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /www/example2
ServerName www.domain2.org
# Other directives here
</VirtualHost>

Setting permissions for PHP sites

Secure your site by setting the correct permissions on your DocumentRoot:

  • Set Apache user as the owner for your DocumentRoot — chown -R apache:apache /var/www/html/yoursite
  • Modify permissions — chmod -R 400 /var/www/html/yoursite chmod -R a+X /var/www/html/yoursite

In some cases your PHP site requires write access in some folders. For example WordPress sites requires write access into the /wp-content folder to could install plugings, themes or updates.

  • Provide write permissions to WordPress — chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/yoursite/wp-content

Configure PHP (optional)

By default PHP is preconfigured, but you may customize some setttings.

  • Edit the PHP configuration file — vi /etc/php.ini
  • Increase the maximum upload file size — upload_max_filesize = 128M
  • post_max_size restriction — post_max_size = 128M
  • Increase the memory limit — memory_limit = 256M
  • Increase the maximum execution and input time — max_execution_time = 300
  • maximum time to wait for POST and GET data — max_input_time = 300
  • Restart httpd to activate the changes — service httpd restart