MODX is an open-source, lightweight, secure, fast content management system based on PHP. It is designed for ease of use to allow webmasters and owners to create powerful and dynamic content websites.
MODX with Nginx and Ubuntu can be a powerful combination.
If you’re looking for a simple content management platform to manage your websites or blogs and 100% free, you’ll find MODX to be helpful.
This brief tutorial will show students and new users how to install MODX CMS on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 with Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP support.
This post covers installing the latest version of MODX, which at the time of writing was 2.6.1
To get started with installing MODX, follow the steps below:
Install Nginx
MODX requires a webserver to function, and the second most popular web server in use today is Nginx. So, go and install Nginx on Ubuntu by running the commands below:
sudo apt install nginx
Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop nginx.service sudo systemctl start nginx.service sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
Install MariaDB
MODX also requires a database server to function. And MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it, run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service always to start up when the server boots.
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.
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
sudo systemctl restart mariadb.service
Install PHP-FPM and Related Modules
MODX is based on PHP., so you’ll need to install it. To install PHP-FPM and related modules, run the commands below.
sudo apt install php-fpm php-common php-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-soap php-gd php-xml php-intl php-mysql php-cli php-mcrypt php-ldap php-zip php-curl php-sqlite3
After installing PHP, run the commands below to open the PHP-FPM default file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/fpm/php.ini # Ubuntu 17.10 sudo nano /etc/php/7.0/fpm/php.ini # Ubuntu 17.04
Then change to the following lines below in the file and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 64M max_execution_time = 240 max_input_vars = 1500
Create MODX Database
Now that you’ve installed all the required packages continue below to start configuring the servers.
First, run the commands below to create the MODX database.
Run the commands below to log on to the database server. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called modx
CREATE DATABASE modx;
Create a database user called modxuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'modxuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON modx.* TO 'modxuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download MODX Latest Release
Next, visit the MODX site and download the latest version.
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into the Nginx root directory.
cd /tmp && wget https://modx.com/download/direct?id=modx-2.6.1-pl.zip unzip direct?id=modx-2.6.1-pl.zip sudo mv modx-2.6.1-pl /var/www/html/modx
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for MODX to function.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/modx/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/modx/
Configure Nginx
Finally, configure the Nginx site configuration file for MODX. This file will control how users access MODX content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called modx
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/modx
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.
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
root /var/www/html/modx;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
client_max_body_size 30M;
location / {
root /var/www/html/modx;
if (!-e $request_filename) {
rewrite ^/(.*)$ /index.php?q=$1 last;
}
}
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_index index.php;
# fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock; # for Ubuntu 17.04
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock; # for Ubuntu 17.10
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Enable the MODX and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/modx /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Restart Nginx by running the commands below to load all the settings above.
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the MODX setup wizard complete.
Please follow the wizard carefully.
http://example.com/setup
Then follow the on-screen instructions until you’ve successfully installed MODX.
Select your language and continue
Then choose new install and continue
Next, enter the database information you created above and continue
Then click the link to create or test the selection of your database. this will allow you to create the site admin account
Finally, install MODX
Enjoy!
Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed MODX CMS on Ubuntu with Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP.
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