How to Install Froxlor with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install Froxlor Host Control Panel on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04.

For students or new users looking for a Linux system to start learning on, the easiest place to start is Ubuntu Linux OS. It’s a great Linux operating system for beginners.

Ubuntu is an open-source Linux operating system that runs on desktops, laptops, servers, and other devices.

Back to Froxlor.

Froxlor is free, simple, and lightweight server control software that you can use to manage your servers in a web hosting environment from which you can manage and control domains, SSL, MySQL databases, and other web hosting features from a simple web interface.

Froxlor also runs on low-resource servers right out of the box. With its auto-installer, you’re able to install multiple apps with one click.

If you need a next-generation hosting control platform built for speed, security, and stability, then you may want to try the Froxlor host control platform.

These are some of the features that come with Froxlor: WEB domains, DNS domains, MAIL domains, Databases, CRON, User Directories, and more.

For more about Froxlor, please visit its homepage. When you’re ready to install Froxlor, continue with the steps below:

Configure Ubuntu Local Host Domain

Before installing Froxlor, you will want to set up Ubuntu local domain on the server. To do that, run the commands below to open the Ubuntu local hosts file.

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Then type in the server address to domain mapping. You can use your public IP address instead of the local one.

127.0.0.1            froxlor.example.com

It should look like the lines below:

127.0.0.1              localhost
127.0.1.1              ubuntu1804
127.0.0.1              froxlor.example.com

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

Save the file and exit

Install Apache2

Froxlor is PHP-based and requires a webserver. The most popular open-source web server in use today is Apache2. To install Apache2, run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install apache2

After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
sudo systemctl start apache2.service
sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

To test the Apache2 setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see the Apache2 default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Froxlor. To install MariaDB run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start and enable the MariaDB service to start up when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu

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

After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Restart MariaDB server

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon into the MariaDB server

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2

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

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-curl php7.2-posix php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-pgsql php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-imagick php7.2-bcmath php7.2-gmp php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini

Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is a great setting to apply in your environment.

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

After making the change above, save the file and close it.

To restart Apache2, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in the Apache2 root directory by running the commands below

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

Then type the content below and save the file.

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php

http://localhost/phpinfo.php

You should see the PHP default test page.

Create Froxlor Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a Froxlor database.

Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called froxlor

CREATE DATABASE froxlor;

Create a database user called froxloruser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the froxloruser database.

GRANT ALL ON froxlor.* TO 'froxloruser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Froxlor Latest Release

Next, continue below to download the Froxlor package. To download, go to the link below and download the latest version.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into the Apache2 root directory.

wget https://files.froxlor.org/releases/froxlor-latest.tar.gz
tar -xvzf froxlor-latest.tar.gz
sudo mv froxlor /var/www/froxlor

Change or modify the directory permission to fit the Apache2 configuration.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/froxlor
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/froxlor

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Froxlor. This file will control how users access Froxlor content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called froxlor.conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/froxlor.conf

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location.

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin admin@example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/froxlor
     ServerName froxlor.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/froxlor/>
          Options FollowSymlinks
          AllowOverride All
          Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
    
</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Enable the Froxlor and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite froxlor.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the Froxlor setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://froxlor.example.com

Click Start Install to continue

Validate that all requirements are met. then continue to the next page.

On the database configuration page,  type in the database name, username, and password. You’ll also need to type in the database root user account and password.

All others can stay default.

When you click Next and get an error that the connection is denied for the root@localhost user, follow the steps below to fix it:

Login to the MySQL server by running the commands below

sudo mysql -u root

Type in the current root password from above.

That should get you into the database server. After that, run the commands below to disable plugin authentication for the root user

USE mysql;
UPDATE user SET plugin='mysql_native_password' WHERE User='root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

Restart and run the commands below to set a new password.

sudo systemctl restart mysql.service

Try again and this time it should work.

After that, log in and begin setting up your environment.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Froxlor on Ubuntu

You may also like the post below: