[For Ubuntu/Debian] How To Install Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) Stack

Lawrence

Introduction

A "LAMP" stack is a group of open source software that is typically installed together to enable a server to host dynamic websites and web apps. This term is actually an acronym which represents the Linux operating system, with the Apache web server. The site data is stored in a MySQL database, and dynamic content is processed by PHP.

In this quick and easy guide, you will learn how to install and download LAMP on an Ubuntu 14.04 LTS server.


Step 1: Install Apache

The Apache web server is currently the most popular web server in the world, which makes it a great default choice for hosting a website.

We can install Apache easily using Ubuntu's package manager, apt. A package manager allows us to install most software pain-free from a repository maintained by Ubuntu. You can learn more about how to use apt here.

For our purposes, we can get started by typing these commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apache2 -y

Afterwards, your web server is installed.

You can do a spot check right away to verify that everything went as planned by visiting your server's public IP address in your web browser:

http://your_server_IP_address

You will see the default Ubuntu 14.04 Apache web page, which is there for informational and testing purposes.


Step 2: Install MySQL

Now that we have our web server up and running, it is time to install MySQL. MySQL is a database management system. Basically, it will organize and provide access to databases where our site can store information.

Again, we can use apt to acquire and install our software. This time, we'll also install some other "helper" packages that will assist us in getting our components to communicate with each other:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server php5-mysql -y

During the installation, your server will ask you to select and confirm a password for the MySQL "root" user. This is an administrative account in MySQL that has increased privileges.

When the installation is complete, we need to run some additional commands to get our MySQL environment set up securely.

First, we need to tell MySQL to create its database directory structure where it will store its information. You can do this by typing:

sudo mysql_install_db

Afterwards, we want to run a simple security script that will remove some dangerous defaults and lock down access to our database system a little bit. Start the interactive script by running:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

You will be asked to enter the password you set for the MySQL root account. Next, it will ask you if you want to change that password. If you are happy with your current password, type "n" for "no" at the prompt.

For the rest of the questions, you should simply hit the "ENTER" key through each prompt to accept the default values. This will remove some sample users and databases, disable remote root logins, and load these new rules so that MySQL immediately respects the changes we have made.

At this point, your database system is now set up and we can move on.


Step 3: Install PHP

PHP is the component of our setup that will process code to display dynamic content. It can run scripts, connect to our MySQL databases to get information, and hand the processed content over to our web server to display.

We can once again leverage the apt system to install our components. We’re going to include some helper packages as well:

sudo apt-get install php5 php5-mysql php-pear php5-gd php5-mcrypt php5-curl -y

This should install PHP without any problems. We’ll test this in a moment.


Step 4: Testing PHP5

In order to test PHP script you need to create simple PHP script in directory /var/www/html. in this case I’ll create phpinfo.php:

sudo touch /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
sudo apt-get install nano
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Add the following line:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Save and exit ( Ctrl + O, Ctrl + X).

Test the php script you have made from web browser by typing in address bar:

http://ip_address/phpinfo.php

This page basically gives you information about your server from the perspective of PHP. It is useful for debugging and to ensure that your settings are being applied correctly.


At this point you are pretty much finished with the installation, you can begin testing out some webpages, scripts etc.

rabol

sudo apt-get install mysql-server php5-mysql -y

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

Package php5-mysql is not available, but is referred to by another package.

This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or

is only available from another source

E: Package 'php5-mysql' has no installation candidate

Lawrence

Hi, try to use this command for installing MySQL:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

And this for installing PHP:

sudo apt-get install php libapache2-mod-php php-mcrypt php-mysql

johnibingham653

Could you please write a post how to install free ssl let's encrypt on ubuntu ? 

Regina

Hey,

thank you for your suggestion. We will try to create the tutorial just for Ubuntu. For now you can use the official Ubuntu documentation:

https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/serverguide/certificates-and-security.html

Also, we have a tutorial on how to install Let's Encrypt on Ubuntu 16.04 with Nginx:

https://community.time4vps.com/discussion/261/ubuntu-16-04-lets-encrypt-for-nginx-including-ipv6-http-2