phpBB is a free flat-forum bulletin board software written in PHP. It enables individuals and webmasters to set up community bulletin boards in minutes to stay in touch with groups of people or ideas.
phpBB requires the LAMP / LEMP stack to function. However, it is easy to set up and maintain and completely free. Many reputable online forum communities use this software to run their bulletin boards.
If you’re looking for a feature-rich, efficient, free community bulletin board, you may want to consider phpBB.
To get started with installing phpBB, follow the steps below:
Install Apache2
phpBB is PHP-based and requires a webserver. So, go and install Apache2 on Ubuntu by running the commands below:
sudo apt-get install apache2
After installing Apache2, run the commands below to disable the Apache2 directory listing.
sudo sed -i "s/Options Indexes FollowSymLinks/Options FollowSymLinks/" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
Next, run the commands below 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
Install MariaDB
phpBB 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 and Related Modules
phpBB, a PHP-based software, will require the below PHP modules. To install PHP and related modules, run the commands below
sudo apt-get install php libapache2-mod-php 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
After installing PHP, run the commands below to open the Apache2 PHP default file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/apache2/php.ini # Ubuntu 17.10 sudo nano /etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini # Ubuntu 17.04
Then change the following lines below in the file and save. You may increase the value to suit your environment.
max_execution_time = 180 max_input_time = 60 memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 64M
Create phpBB Database
Now that you’ve installed all the required packages continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a phpBB 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 phpbb
CREATE DATABASE phpbb;
Create a database user called phpbbuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'phpbbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON phpbb.* TO 'phpbbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download phpBB Latest Release
Next, continue below to download the phpBB package. To download, run the commands below.
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into the Apache2 root directory.
cd /tmp && wget https://www.phpbb.com/files/release/phpBB-3.2.1.zip unzip phpBB-3.2.1.zip sudo mv phpBB3 /var/www/html/phpbb
Change or modify the directory permission to fit the Apache2 configuration.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/phpbb sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/phpbb
Configure Apache2
Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for phpBB. This file will control how users access phpBB content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called phpbb.conf.
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/phpbb.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@myexample.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/phpbb/
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/html/phpbb/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Enable the phpBB and Rewrite the Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.
sudo a2ensite phpbb.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite
Restart Apache2 by running the commands below to load all the settings above.
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name, followed by install. Finally, you should see the phpBB setup wizard complete.
Please follow the wizard carefully.
http://example.com/install
You should see the phpBB setup wizard.
Create an admin account by typing a username and password.
Enter the database connection details and continue
Accept the server configuration settings and continue.
If you do have a mail server, configure it on this page. If not, ignore it and continue
Enjoy!
Run the commands below to delete the install directory
sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/phpbb/install
Congratulation! You have successfully installed the phpBB bulletin board.
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