How to Install Drupal with Nginx and Cloudflare on Ubuntu

Setting up Cloudflare

Setting up Cloudflare for your Drupal site protects your website from attacks and speeds up page loading times. Log into your Cloudflare dashboard, add your domain name, select the free plan, and let Cloudflare scan your existing DNS records to route your traffic securely.

If you already have an account, log in. Click the button to add a new site. https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up

Type in your domain name.

Cloudflare will look for your domain settings.

Select the free plan option.

Cloudflare will give you two "nameservers." You must go to the website where you bought your domain name (like Google Domains) and replace their current nameservers with the ones Cloudflare provided.

Wait for the changes to take effect. This can take up to an hour.

Once your status says "Active," go to the "Crypto" tab. Turn on "Full (strict) SSL" to keep your connection secure.

Scroll down to "Origin Certificates" and create a certificate.

Follow the steps to generate a private key and certificate.

You will need admin privileges to create these files on your server. Run these commands on your Ubuntu server to create the files:

sudo nano /etc/ssl/private/cloudflare_key_example.com.pem

sudo nano /etc/ssl/certs/cloudflare_example.com.pem

Download the Cloudflare Origin Pull certificate from this link: Set up authenticated Origin pulls · Cloudflare SSL docs

Run these commands to create the final security file:

sudo nano /etc/ssl/certs/origin-pull-ca.pem

You should now have three files on your server. Make sure "Always Use HTTPS" is turned on in your Cloudflare settings.

Installing Drupal and Nginx

Installing Nginx on your Ubuntu server provides the web server environment needed to run Drupal with Nginx and Cloudflare. You can install the Nginx web server using the Ubuntu package manager in your terminal, then set it to start automatically when your server boots.

First, install the Nginx web server:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

Use these commands to manage the service:

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

Test if it works by visiting your server's address in a web browser.

Installing the Database

Installing the MariaDB database gives your Drupal site a secure place to store user accounts, content, and settings. You can install the database server package through your Ubuntu terminal and enable the service to run continuously in the background.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

Enable the service:

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

Secure the database with a password:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts to set a password and remove test settings. Test the connection:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Installing PHP

Installing PHP and its required modules allows your Ubuntu server to process Drupal Nginx Cloudflare requests properly. You need to add a specialized software repository to your system sources and install the specific PHP version that Drupal requires to function.

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

sudo apt update

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

Open the configuration file to make sure it works well with Drupal:

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Restart Nginx to apply changes:

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Create a test file to verify PHP is working:

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Visit your site in a browser to see the test page.

Creating the Drupal Database

Log into your database and create a space for Drupal:

sudo mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE drupal;

CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

GRANT ALL ON drupal.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Downloading Drupal

Downloading Drupal using Composer lets you automatically manage all necessary project files and dependencies. You install the Composer dependency manager on your Ubuntu server first, and then run its commands to pull the latest version of Drupal directly into your web directory.

sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Download the latest version and set file permissions:

cd /var/www/html
sudo git clone --branch 8.6.0 https://git.drupal.org/project/drupal.git example.com
cd /var/www/html/example.com
sudo composer install

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/example.com/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/example.com/

Configuring Nginx and Finishing Up

Configuring Nginx for your Drupal Nginx Cloudflare setup tells the web server how to handle incoming visitor requests, locate your website files, and process secure HTTPS connections. You create a custom server block configuration file in your Nginx sites-available directory to finish launching your site.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;

    server_name  example.com www.example.com;
    root   /var/www/html/example.com;
    index  index.php;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/cloudflare_example.com.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/cloudflare_key_example.com.pem;
    ssl_client_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/origin-pull-ca.pem;
    ssl_verify_client on;

    client_max_body_size 100M;
  
    autoindex off;

    location / {
    try_files $uri /index.php?$query_string;        
    }

    location @rewrite {
               rewrite ^/(.*)$ /index.php?q=$1;
        }

    location ~ [^/].php(/|$) {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
         include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ ^/sites/.*/files/styles/ {
               try_files $uri @rewrite;
        }

    location ~ ^(/+)?/system/files/ {
        try_files $uri /index.php?$query_string;
        }
}

Enable the site and restart Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Visit your domain in your browser to start the Drupal setup wizard. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish.

Don't forget to install the Cloudflare module: https://www.drupal.org/project/cloudflare

To upgrade in the future, use this command:

sudo composer update /var/www/html/example.com/core --with-dependencies
cd /var/www/html/example.com
sudo composer require drush/example.com
cd /var/www/html/example.com/vendor/drush/drush
./drush updatedb
./drush cr

Summary

This guide has walked you through installing Drupal with Nginx and Cloudflare on Ubuntu, covering everything from securing your site with Cloudflare to setting up Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP. Your Drupal site is now ready to go live.

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