How to Install MongoDB with Nginx and PHP on Ubuntu Linux

This post shows students and new users steps to install MongoDB on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx and PHP support. MongoDB, a free open source, NoSQL, High-performance, and ema-free document-oriented database, can be a robust website and application.

For developers using Nginx and PHP with MongoDB database in the backend, MongoDB PHP drivers will be required to enable PHP support. PHP-based applications and MongoDB websites can interact with the database without the drivers.

MongoDB packages are included in Ubuntu default repositories. However, the versions in Ubuntu repositories aren’t the latest. To install the latest, you must install the MongoDB package repository on Ubuntu Linux, and this tutorial will show you how.

Also, for students and new users learning Linux, Ubuntu Linux is the most accessible place to start learning. Ubuntu is the modern, open-source Linux operating system for desktops, servers, and other devices.

When you’re ready to get MongoDB setup on Ubuntu with Nginx and PHP support, continue with the steps below:

How to install Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

To install Nginx HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below…

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used 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

To test the Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address, and you should see the Nginx default test page as shown below.

http://localhost

How to install MongoDB on Ubuntu Linux

We have written a great tutorial on installing and configuring MongoDB on Ubuntu Linux. To read that post, click on the link below:

How to install MongoDB on Ubuntu Linux

After reading the post above and installing MongoDB on Ubuntu, continue below with the setup.

How to install PHP on Ubuntu Linux

PHP 7.4 isn’t available on Ubuntu’s default repositories. So to install it, you must get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.4

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

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.4

sudo apt update

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

sudo apt install php7.4-fpm php7.4-common php7.4-mongodb php-pear php7.4-dev

After installing PHP 7.4-FPM, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Nginx…

How to install MongoDB PHP drivers

MongoDB PHP drivers provide exceptionally thin glue between MongoDB and PHP. Run the commands below to install it.

sudo pecl install mongodb

After that, run the commands below to enable the drivers

sudo bash
sudo echo "extension=mongodb.so" >> /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
sudo echo "extension=mongodb.so" >> /etc/php/7.4/cli/php.ini

Configure Nginx to enable PHP support

If you have a custom site file, edit it to enable Nginx PHP support. Or run the commands below to open Nginx’s default site configuration file.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Then uncomment or remove the # symbol on the highlighted lines below to enable Nginx PHP support.

Also, add the highlighted index.php to the index line.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;       
    }

  
     # pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
        #
        location ~ \.php$ {
               include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        #       # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
               fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        #       # With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
        #       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        }
}

Restart Nginx and PHP-FPM services

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
sudo systemctl restart php7.2-fpm.service

To verify the MongoDB PHP driver is installed and enabled, continue below.

Create a phpinfo.php file in the Nginx 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…

That’s it!

This post showed you how to use MongoDB with Nginx and PHP support. Please use the comment form below if you find any errors above or have something to add.