How to Install Pimcore with Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04
Installing Pimcore with Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04 gives you a fast web server for managing product data and digital shops. Pimcore is a free software platform that brings your business content and customer files together in one dashboard.
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is a stable base, and Nginx handles incoming web traffic quickly. The stack has four parts: Nginx, MariaDB, PHP and Pimcore itself, installed with Composer. You need root or sudo access to the server and a terminal window. A domain name pointed at the server is optional, but you need one if you want a Let’s Encrypt certificate at the end.
Install Pimcore with Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04 by running sudo apt update, then sudo apt install nginx, then sudo apt install mariadb-server, and starting each service with sudo systemctl start and sudo systemctl enable. Then create a MariaDB database and user for Pimcore before installing Pimcore itself with Composer.
Install Nginx HTTP server on Ubuntu
Nginx serves Pimcore pages to visitors, so it has to be installed before Pimcore. Update your package list first, then install Nginx with the package manager. Use the commands in the code block below.
Follow these steps to install the Nginx web server.
- Open the Ubuntu terminal.
- Run the commands below. They refresh the package list and install Nginx. If the terminal asks for confirmation, type Y and press Enter.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx
Once Nginx is installed, use the commands below to start it, stop it, and enable it so it starts automatically when the server boots.
- Run the start command. Nginx begins serving the default page.
- Run the enable command so Nginx comes back after a reboot.
- Use the stop command only when you need to take the web server offline. Start it again afterwards.
sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
To test Nginx, open a web browser and browse to the server’s localhost or IP address. If you are working on the server itself, use localhost. If it is a remote machine, use its IP address.
http://localhost
If the page does not load, check that the service is running. If the server sits behind a firewall, make sure port 80 is open.
Additional help on installing Nginx on Ubuntu is in the link below.
Install the MariaDB database server on Ubuntu
MariaDB stores the text, settings and user data for your Pimcore site. Install it on Ubuntu before you install Pimcore, because the Pimcore installer needs a working database. Update the package list, then install the database server from the terminal.
To install and use the MariaDB database server, use the instructions below.
Open the Ubuntu terminal and run the commands below to install the MariaDB database server.
sudo apt update sudo apt install mariadb-server
Once MariaDB is installed, use the commands below to stop, start and enable it so it starts automatically at boot. On Ubuntu the service often starts by itself after installation, so the start command is mainly useful after a stop.
sudo systemctl stop mariadb sudo systemctl start mariadb sudo systemctl enable mariadb
Run the following commands to check that MariaDB installed correctly.
sudo mariadb
These commands log you onto the MariaDB console and show a message similar to the one below. If you get a permission error instead, make sure you ran the command with sudo.
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or g. Your MariaDB connection id is 32 Server version: 10.11.2-MariaDB-1 Ubuntu 23.04 Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle, MariaDB Corporation Ab and others. Type 'help;' or 'h' for help. Type 'c' to clear the current input statement. MariaDB [(none)]>
The message tells you the server is installed and running. Type exit to leave the console if you are not continuing straight to the next section.
Additional help on installing MariaDB.
- How to install MariaDB on Ubuntu Linux
- MariaDB without password prompt
Create a Pimcore database
Pimcore needs its own database so it can read and write its data without touching anything else on the server. You create it by logging into MariaDB, adding a new database, and creating a user account with full access to that database only.
In this guide we create a database called pimcoredb and a user account called pimcoredbuser.
Finally, we grant pimcoredbuser full access to the pimcoredb database.
All of these database steps use the commands below.
First, log on to the MariaDB database server:
sudo mariadb
Then run the commands below to create the database, the user and the permissions. Each command should answer with a short confirmation such as "Query OK".
CREATE DATABASE pimcoredb CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;
CREATE USER pimcoredbuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'type_your_password_here';
GRANT ALL ON pimcoredb.* TO pimcoredbuser@localhost WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit
Replace type_your_password_here with a strong password of your own, and keep it. The Pimcore installer asks for the database name, user and password later.
Install PHP on Ubuntu Linux
PHP runs the code that makes Pimcore work. Install PHP on Ubuntu together with the extensions Pimcore needs and PHP-FPM, which is how Nginx hands PHP requests to PHP. Ubuntu 24.04 ships PHP 8.3 in its default repositories.
Run the commands below to install PHP and its extensions.
sudo apt install php-fpm php-intl php-mysql php-curl php-cli php-zip php-xml php-gd php-common php-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-bcmath php-json php-sqlite3 php-soap php-zip
Additional help on installing PHP:
Get Pimcore files
Composer downloads and sets up the core application files for Pimcore. You get the files onto your server by installing Git and Composer, then running the package installation command.
There are several ways to install Pimcore. For the free community version, the Composer installer is the right choice.
First, install Git, Composer and the other dependencies.
sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
Next, change to the Nginx web directory and download the Pimcore files. The last command in the block gives the Nginx web server ownership of the files. Nginx can then read and write them, and nothing else on the system needs access. Run the commands in order and wait for Composer to finish. The download is large and can take a few minutes.
cd /var/www/
sudo COMPOSER_MEMORY_LIMIT=-1 composer create-project pimcore/demo pimcore
sudo chown www-data:www-data -R /var/www/pimcore/
Alternatively, install the skeleton copy if you do not want Pimcore with demo content. Use the skeleton for a real project. Use the demo only if you want sample data to explore.
sudo COMPOSER_MEMORY_LIMIT=-1 composer --ignore-platform-req=ext-amqp create-project pimcore/skeleton pimcore
After that, run the command below to install Pimcore.
cd /var/www/pimcore
sudo -u www-data ./vendor/bin/pimcore-install
Once you have finished the steps above, configure Nginx to serve the Pimcore content, as shown below.
The installer prompts you to create an admin account. Enter an admin username and password of your choice. When it asks for database details, enter the database name, user and password you created earlier (pimcoredb, pimcoredbuser and the password you set).
Admin username:
> superadmin
Admin password (input will be hidden):
>
MySQL username:
> pimcoredbuser
MySQL password (input will be hidden):
>
MySQL database:
> pimcoredb
This will install Pimcore with the given settings. Do you want to continue? (yes/no) [yes]:
>
Running installation. You can find a detailed install log in var/installer/log/dev.log
Install complete!
11/11 [============================] 100%
Trying to install assets as relative symbolic links.
--- ------------------------------------------ ------------------
Bundle Method / Error
--- ------------------------------------------ ------------------
✔ FOSJsRoutingBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreAdminBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreCustomReportsBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcorePersonalizationBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreEcommerceFrameworkBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreApplicationLoggerBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreGoogleMarketingBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreCustomerManagementFrameworkBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreNewsletterBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreGlossaryBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreSeoBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreSimpleBackendSearchBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreDataHubBundle relative symlink
✔ OutputDataConfigToolkitBundle relative symlink
✔ Web2PrintToolsBundle relative symlink
✔ ObjectMergerBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreWebToPrintBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreTinymceBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreStaticRoutesBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreWordExportBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreXliffBundle relative symlink
✔ PimcoreCoreBundle relative symlink
--- ------------------------------------------ ------------------
[OK] All assets were successfully installed.
[OK] Pimcore was successfully installed
After the Pimcore installation finishes, continue below to set up Nginx to serve Pimcore's content.
Run the commands below to create an Nginx virtual host file for Pimcore.
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pimcore.conf
Then copy and paste the content block below into the Nginx server block. Before you save, check three things: the server name matches your domain or IP address, the root path points to the Pimcore public folder you installed, and the PHP-FPM socket matches the PHP version you installed.
upstream php-pimcore {
server unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
}
map $args $static_page_root {
default /var/tmp/pages;
"~*(^|&)pimcore_editmode=true(&|$)" /var/nonexistent;
"~*(^|&)pimcore_preview=true(&|$)" /var/nonexistent;
"~*(^|&)pimcore_version=[^&]+(&|$)" /var/nonexistent;
}
map $uri $static_page_uri {
default $uri;
"/" /%home;
}
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name pimcore.example.com;
root /var/www/pimcore/public;
index index.php;
access_log /var/log/nginx/forums-access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/forums-error.log;
location ~* ^/admin/external {
rewrite .* /index.php$is_args$args last;
}
location / {
error_page 404 /meta/404;
try_files $static_page_root$static_page_uri.html $uri /index.php$is_args$args;
}
location ~ ^/index.php(/|$) {
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+.php)(/.+)$;
try_files $fastcgi_script_name =404;
include fastcgi.conf;
set $path_info $fastcgi_path_info;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_pass php-pimcore;
internal;
}
}Save the file.
To activate the Pimcore site on Ubuntu 24.04, enable the virtual host file and restart Nginx with the commands in the block below. Nginx does not use the Apache a2ensite helper, so use the commands shown below instead. Before you restart, it is worth asking Nginx to test its configuration, because a typo in the server block will stop Nginx from starting. The restart makes Pimcore reachable from your browser.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pimcore.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx
Setup Let’s Encrypt SSL/TLS for Pimcore
An SSL certificate encrypts the connection between your site and its visitors. You set up Let's Encrypt SSL/TLS for Pimcore by installing Certbot and letting it configure Nginx to use the certificate. This needs a real domain name that points at your server, so skip it for IP-only test installs. Certificates last 90 days, and Certbot normally sets up automatic renewal.
Please read the post below for more on installing and creating Let's Encrypt SSL certificates for Nginx.
How to set up Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for Nginx on Ubuntu Linux
Once you have restarted Nginx, open your browser and go to the server hostname or IP address defined in the Nginx server block.
http://pimcore.example.com/
A Pimcore web portal page should appear. If you see a 502 error, PHP-FPM is not running or the socket path in the server block is wrong. If you see a 403 or 404 error, check the root path and the file ownership.
To log on to the backend admin page, use the URL below and sign in with the admin account you created during installation.
http://pimcore.example.com/admin
That should do it!
Conclusion:
Setting up Pimcore on Ubuntu with Nginx gives businesses a powerful content management system. To summarize:
- Robust Platform: Pimcore integrates essential components like PIM, MDM, CMS, and eCommerce, offering a comprehensive solution for content management.
- High Performance with Nginx: Nginx handles many concurrent connections and uses resources efficiently.
- Easy Database Setup: Installing MariaDB and creating a dedicated database simplifies data management for Pimcore.
- PHP Compatibility: Installing a current PHP version with the required extensions gives Pimcore the support and performance it needs.
- Secure Hosting: A virtual host plus a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate protects the connection for your users.
Following these steps gives you a properly set up Pimcore installation on Ubuntu 24.04. From there you can manage your content and build out your online presence.
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About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
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