How to Setup Coaster CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

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Coaster CMS is a flexible, user-friendly content management system based on the Laravel PHP Framework. It has built-in modules for extended functionality and is optimal for blogs and websites. This post provides a comprehensive guide to installing Coaster CMS on Ubuntu using Nginx HTTP server, along with MariaDB database server and PHP 7.2-FPM. It includes…

This article explains setting up Coaster CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

Coaster CMS is a next-generation Laravel-based content management system (CMS) designed to be flexible and user-friendly that you’ll want to use to power your websites and blogs.

It is a new, lightweight blogging platform written entirely in the Laravel PHP Framework. It will help you simplify the process of building and maintaining a website for businesses or individuals.

Coaster CMS also has built-in modules that extend its functionality, and the platform is actively being developed.

For more about Coaster CMS, please check its homepage

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

Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is probably the second most popular web server, so install it since Coaster CMS 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 MariaDB Database Server

Coaster 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 with Coaster 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 service to start 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-FPM and Related Modules.

PHP 7.2-FPM 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-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-FPM and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm 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 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
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
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 Coaster CMS Database

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

CREATE DATABASE coastercms;

Create a database user called coastercmseuser with a new password

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

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

GRANT ALL ON coastercms.* TO 'coastercmsuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

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

To restart Nginx, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

To test PHP 7.2 settings with Nginx, create a phpinfo.php file in the Nginx 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 Coaster CMS Latest Release

You may want to use the GitHub repository to get Coaster CMS’s latest release. Install Composer, Curl, and other dependencies to get started.

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

After installing curl and Composer above, change into the Nginx root directory and download Coaster CMS packages from Github.

cd /var/www
sudo composer create-project web-feet/coastercms coastercms

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

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

Finally, configure the Nginx site configuration file for Coaster CMS. This file will control how users access Coaster CMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called coastercms

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

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;

    server_name  example.com www.example.com;
    root   /var/www/coastercms/public;
    index  index.php;
    
    access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;

    client_max_body_size 100M;
  
    autoindex off;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
         include fastcgi_params;
         fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
    }
}

Save the file and exit.

Enable the Coaster

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

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/coastercms /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the Coaster CMS setup wizard.

http://example.com

Verify that all is good and continue.

Enter the database name, user, and password on this screen, and continue.

Next, create an admin account and continue.

After that, select a theme to use and complete the installation.

Now, to access the admin portal, go to:

http://example.com/admin

Start building your site

Conclusion:

You have learned how to install Coaster CMS on Ubuntu with the Nginx HTTP server. If you find any error above, please leave a comment below.

Thanks,

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