How to Install Vanilla Forum with Apache on Ubuntu Linux

Vanilla Forums is an open-source, flexible, customizable community forum solution that powers discussions on thousands of sites.

You might want to look at Vanilla Forums software when looking for a next-generation forum platform. It’s simple and efficient and makes online discussion easy and fun. To get Vanilla Forums software installed with Apache2 and PHP 7.2 support, this post should be a great place to start.

Individuals and web admins can use Vanilla Forums software to set up communities in minutes to stay in touch with groups of people or ideas.

This brief tutorial will show students and new users an easy way to get Vanilla Forums working on Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.10 and 18.04 with Apache2, MariaDB, and PHP 7.2 support.

To get started with installing Vanilla Forums, follow the steps below:

Install Apache2 HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. Install it since Vanilla Forums 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, and 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

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Vanilla Forums. 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 16.04 LTS

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

Run these on Ubuntu 18.04 and 18.10 LTS

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

Type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server to test if MariaDB is installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

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

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 excellent 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
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, save the file and closeout.

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.

Create Vanilla Forums Database

Once you’ve installed all the packages required for Vanilla Forums to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank Vanilla Forums database.

To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called vanilla.

CREATE DATABASE vanilla;

Create a database user called vanillauser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON vanilla.* TO 'vanillauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Vanilla Forums Latest Release

You may want to use the GitHub repository to get Vanilla Forums’ latest release. But first, install git and Composer packages by running the commands below.

sudo apt install curl git
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

After installing git above, change into the Apache2 root directory and download Vanilla Forums packages from Github. Always replace the branch number with the latest branch.

cd /var/www/html
sudo git clone --branch release/2.7 https://github.com/vanilla/vanilla.git
cd /var/www/html/vanilla
sudo composer install

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Vanilla Forums.

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

Configure Apache2

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

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/vanilla.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/html/vanilla
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/html/vanilla/>
        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 Vanilla Forums and Rewrite Module

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

sudo a2ensite vanilla.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. Next, you should see the Vanilla Forums setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com/

Type the database name and database user password. You should also create an admin portal account and complete the installation.

That should install Vanilla Forums software.

Congratulation! You have successfully installed Vanilla Forums on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04, and may work on 18.10.

That’s it!

You may also like the post below: