How to Install OpenCart with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

This article describes the steps to install and use OpenCart on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

OpenCart is a popular open-source eCommerce and business management system based on PHP.

There are many popular open-source eCommerce platforms for Linux systems based on PHP. However, if you’re looking for a trustworthy open-source eCommerce platform for Ubuntu, you might want to look at OpenCart.

This post covers installing the latest version of OpenCart, which at the time of writing is version 3.0.2.

How to install OpenCart on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support

As described above, OpenCart is a popular and widely used open-source eCommerce, accounting, and business management system based on PHP.

Below is how to install it on Ubuntu Linux.

Install Nginx

OpenCart requires a web server, 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 update
sudo apt install nginx

After installing Nginx, the commands below can stop, start and enable Nginx to startup every time your computer starts up.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

Install MariaDB

OpenCart also requires a database server, and MariaDB is a great place to start when looking for an open-source database server.

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 mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.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

Install PHP-FPM and Related Modules

PHP 7.1 isn’t available on Ubuntu’s default repositories. So 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 7.1

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

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.1

sudo apt update

Run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 FPM and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.1-fpm php7.1-common php7.1-mbstring php7.1-xmlrpc php7.1-soap php7.1-gd php7.1-xml php7.1-intl php7.1-mysql php7.1-cli php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-ldap php7.1-zip php7.1-curl

Create OpenCart Database

Now that you’ve installed all the required packages continue below to start configuring the servers.

First, run the commands below to create an OpenCart 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 opencart

CREATE DATABASE opencart;

Create a database user called opencartuser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON opencart.* TO 'opencartuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download OpenCart Latest Release

Next, visit the OpenCart site and register for a free account. You must register before you’re allowed to download a copy. The community edition is what you’ll want to download.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into the Nginx root directory.

cd /tmp && wget https://github.com/opencart/opencart/releases/download/3.0.2.0/3.0.2.0-OpenCart.zip
unzip 3.0.2.0-OpenCart.zip
sudo mv upload/ /var/www/html/opencart

Run the commands below to configure OpenCart.

sudo cp /var/www/html/opencart/config-dist.php /var/www/html/opencart/config.php
sudo cp /var/www/html/opencart/admin/config-dist.php /var/www/html/opencart/admin/config.php

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for OpenCart to function.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/opencart/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/opencart/

Configure Nginx

Finally, configure the Nginx server block configuration file for OpenCart. This file will control how users access OpenCart content.

Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called opencart

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

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/opencart;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

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

    location ~ [^/]\.php(/|$) {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

}

Save the file and exit.

Enable the OpenCart server block

After configuring the server block above, please enable it by running the commands below.

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/opencart /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Restart Nginx by running the commands below to load all the settings above.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Next, open your browser and browse to the server domain name, followed by install. Finally, you should see the OpenCart setup wizard complete.

Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com/opencart/install/

Then enter the database information as well as the site administrator login credentials.

Wait, and OpenCart should install successfully. Then, log in and begin using your program.

Enjoy!

Run the commands below after the installation.

sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/opencart/install/