How to set up Bludit CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

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The article provides a thorough guide on how to install and use Bludit CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support. Bludit is an open-source flat-file CMS offering features not available in other PHP-based CMS like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. It doesn’t require a database server, provides native markdown WYSIWYG support, and is SEO-friendly. The guide…

This article explains installing and using Bludit CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

Bludit is an open-source flat-file CMS with a slick admin interface and is gaining much attention. It offers features that may not be available to other PHP-based content management systems, like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal.

Nginx is a high-performance web server commonly used as a reverse proxy and load balancer. It’s known for its ability to handle high volumes of traffic and its efficient resource utilization. Combining Nginx with Bludit can help improve the performance and security of your website.

Ubuntu Linux is a popular operating system for web servers. It’s easy to set up and maintain and has a large community of users and developers.

By setting up Bludit CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux, you can create a fast, secure, and reliable website that’s easy to manage and maintain.

How to install Bludit CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support

As described above, Bludit is an open-source flat-file CMS with a slick admin interface and is gaining much attention. It offers features that may not be available to other PHP-based content management systems, like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal.

Below is how to install it on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is the second most popular web server in use. Install it since Bludit needs it.

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. You should see the Nginx default test page, as shown below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.

http://localhost

Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules.

PHP 7.2 isn’t available on Ubuntu’s default repositories. To install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the third-party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM

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

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM

sudo apt update

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

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-soap php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-curl php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open Nginx’s PHP default config file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/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
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

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

After installing PHP and related modules, all you have to do is restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations.

To restart Nginx, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Download Bludit’s Latest Release

Next, visit the Bludit site and download the latest package. Or run the commands below to download and extract Bludit content.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file and move it into a new Bludit root directory.

cd /tmp && wget https://df6m0u2ovo2fu.cloudfront.net/builds/bludit-2-3-3.zip
unzip bludit-2-3-3.zip
sudo mv bludit-2-3-3 /var/www/html/bludit

Then, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Bludit to function correctly.

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

Configure the Nginx Bludit Site

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

Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called bludit.

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

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

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;        
    }

    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.

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

Enable the Bludit Site

After configuring the Virtual Host above, please enable it by running the commands below, then restart the Nginx server.

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

Install Let’s Encrypt Client

You should first install its client to get Let’s Encrypt free SSL/TLS certificates on your Ubuntu machine. The client helps automate the process for you. To install it, run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install python-certbot-nginx

If python-certbot-Nginx isn’t installed, you may have to add its PPA repository and install the package.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-certbot-nginx

Obtaining your free SSL/TLS Certificates

After installing the Let’s Encrypt Certbot client module for Nginx, run the commands below to obtain your free Let’s Encrypt SSL/TLS certificate in the domain specified. Make sure to replace example.com with your domain.

sudo certbot --nginx -m admin@example.com -d example.com -d www.example.com

After running the above commands, you should be prompted to accept the licensing terms. If everything is checked, the client should automatically install the free SSL/TLS certificate and configure the Nginx site to use the certs.

Please read the Terms of Service at
https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.2-November-15-2017.pdf. You must
agree in order to register with the ACME server at
https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(A)gree/(C)ancel: A

Choose Yes ( Y ) to share your email address.

Would you be willing to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit
organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about EFF and
our work to encrypt the web, protect its users and defend digital rights.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Y)es/(N)o: Y

This is how easy it is to obtain your free SSL/TLS certificate for your Nginx-powered website.

Please choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, removing HTTP access.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: No redirect - Make no further changes to the webserver configuration.
2: Redirect - Make all requests redirect to secure HTTPS access. Choose this for
new sites, or if you're confident your site works on HTTPS. You can undo this
change by editing your web server's configuration.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press 'c' to cancel): 2

Pick option 2 to redirect all traffic over HTTPS. This is important!

After that, the SSL client should install the cert and configure your website to redirect all traffic over HTTPS.

Congratulations! You have successfully enabled https://example.com and
https://www.example.com

You should test your configuration at:
https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=example.com
https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=www.example.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMPORTANT NOTES:
 - Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at:
   /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
   Your key file has been saved at:
   /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
   Your cert will expire on 2018-02-24. To obtain a new or tweaked
   version of this certificate in the future, simply run certbot again
   with the "certonly" option. To non-interactively renew *all* of
   your certificates, run "certbot renew"
 - If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by:

   Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt:   https://letsencrypt.org/donate
   Donating to EFF:                    https://eff.org/donate-le

The highlighted code block should automatically be added to your Nginx Bludit configuration file by Let’s Encrypt certbot. Your Bludit site is ready to be used over HTTPS.

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

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;        
    }

    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;
    }

  listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot

    if ($scheme != "https") {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    } # managed by Certbot

    # Redirect non-https traffic to https
    # if ($scheme != "https") {
    #     return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    # } # managed by Certbot

}

You’ll have to renew the certificates manually. You’ll get an email reminder to reset when the certificates are about to expire. To test the renewal process, run the commands below.

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

To set up a process to automatically renew the certificates, add a cron job to execute the renewal process.

sudo crontab -e

Then add the line below and save.

0 1 * * * /usr/bin/certbot renew & > /dev/null

The cron job will attempt to renew 30 days before expiring

After that, open your browser and browse your domain name to launch the Bludit configuration wizard.

You should see the Bludit setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

https://example.com

You should see the Bludit installer wizard to choose your language. When you’re done, click Next.

Create the admin account and log on to manage the site. Click Install to finish the installation.

Enjoy!

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