How to Install Quick.CMS with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

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This tutorial guides students and new users through installing Quick.CMS on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 using Apache2 HTTP server. Quick.CMS is a user-friendly content management system, ideal for building and managing websites and blogs. The tutorial includes step-by-step instructions on setting up Apache2 HTTP Server, installing MariaDB database server, installing PHP 7.2, creating a Quick.CMS…

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install Quick.CMS on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with Apache2 HTTP server.

Quick.CMS is a free (paid version) content management system (CMS) designed to be flexible and user-friendly that you’ll want to use to build your websites and blogs for yourself or your customers.

It is lightweight, responsive, HTML 5 compatible, and easy to install and manage. It will help you simplify the process of building and maintaining a website for businesses or individuals.

If you’re looking for a content management platform that is extensible and easy to use, then look no further than Quick CMS.

Quick.CMS also has built-in modules that extend its functionality, and the platform is actively being developed and maintained with support from users and developers.

For more about Quick.CMS, please check its homepage

To get started with installing Quick.CMS, follow the steps below:

Install Apache2 HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server, so install it since Quick.CMS needs it.

To install Apache2 HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used 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

To test the Apache2 setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address. You should see the Apache2 default test page, as shown below. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

Quick.CMS also needs a database server to store its content. The MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Quick.CMS.

To install MariaDB, run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start, and enable the MariaDB service to start up when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu

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 by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

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

To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, type the password you created above to sign on. If successful, you should see a MariaDB welcome message.

Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. 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 7.2

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

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2

sudo apt update

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

sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip php7.2-sqlite

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Apache2.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini

Then, save the changes on the following lines below in the file. The value below is an ideal setting to apply in your environment.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
max_input_vars = 1500
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, please save the file and close it.

Create Quick.CMS Database

Now that you’ve installed all the required packages continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a Quick.CMS 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 quickcms

CREATE DATABASE quickcms;

Create a database user called quickcmsuser with a new password

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

Then, grant the user full access to the quickcms database.

GRANT ALL ON quickcms.* TO 'quickcmsuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

After installing PHP and related modules, you must restart Apache2 to reload PHP configurations.

To restart Apache2, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in the Apache2 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.

Download Quick.CMS Latest Release

To download and install Quick.CMS, visit its download page here.

Or use the commands below to download and install via the command line. At the time of this writing, the latest version is 6.6.

cd /tmp
wget https://opensolution.org/download/home.html?sFile=Quick.Cms_v6.6-en.zip
unzip Quick.Cms_v6.6-en.zip
sudo unzip Quick.Cms_v6.6-en.zip -d /var/www/quickcms

After that, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Quick.CMS to function.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/quickcms/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/quickcms/

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Quick.CMS. This file will control how users access Quick.CMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called quickcms. conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/quickcms.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@example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/quickcms
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/quickcms/>
        Options +FollowSymlinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Enable the Quick.CMS and Rewrite Module

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

sudo a2ensite quickcms.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name, and the home page should display immediately without any configurations.

http://example.com/

To log to the admin panel, use the link below:

http://example.com/admin.php

Type in any username and password you’d like to use. It will accept anything but change after logging on to a permanent one.

The system has minimal configuration options from the admin panel side. You probably wouldn’t want your customers to mess up settings then call you in the middle of the night that the website crashed:)

And now, seriously. A lot of configuration options can be found in three files in the database directory, which are divided by their functions:

  • database/config.php – here, you can find configuration variables and settings that will affect the presentation of the website both client-side and in the admin panel
  • database/config_admin.php – the file is available since version v6.6. It contains admin panel settings including advanced options hiding, initial settings of fields in a form, etc.
  • database/config_en.php – settings for English language (en). The smallest configuration file from which the settings are loaded depending on language version used client-side or in the panel. For German version the config_de.php file is loaded, for the English one it’s config_en.php, it.

Start building your site.

Conclusion:

You have learned how to install Quick.CMS on Ubuntu with Apache2 HTTP server. If you find any errors above, please leave a comment below.

Thanks,

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