How to Install Drupal with Nginx and Cloudflare on Ubuntu

This guide explains how to set up Drupal on an Ubuntu server using the Nginx web server and Cloudflare. Drupal is a powerful tool for building websites. Adding Cloudflare helps your site load faster, keeps it secure, and provides a free security certificate.

Why do this? Using these tools together makes your website faster for visitors and protects it from bad traffic. What happens when done? You will have a professional, secure, and high-performance Drupal website ready for content.

Setting up Cloudflare

First, you need a Cloudflare account. If you do not have one, visit the registered a domain name website to sign up.

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.

Note: 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

Now, let’s set up your server. You will need admin privileges for these steps.

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

Drupal needs a database to store information. We will use MariaDB:

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

Drupal uses PHP. Install it with these commands:

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

Install the necessary tools to download Drupal:

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

Create the configuration file for 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

By following this guide, you have secured your server with Cloudflare, installed the Nginx web server, set up a MariaDB database, and configured PHP. Your Drupal site is now running on a fast, secure foundation. You can now log in to your Drupal dashboard and begin creating your website content.

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