How to Setup Craft CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

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Craft CMS is an open-source content management system that offers flexibility and extensibility. It helps create and structure application data with in-depth control, provides a smooth user experience across multiple devices, and supports collaborative efforts. This post outlines a detailed installation guide, which includes setting up the Nginx HTTP server, MariaDB database server, and PHP…

This article explains how to set up Craft CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux.

Craft CMS is a popular content management system (CMS) that allows you to create and manage digital content easily. Nginx, on the other hand, is a highly scalable and efficient web server that is widely used by many websites and web applications.

By setting up Craft CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux, you can take advantage of the benefits of both systems and create a powerful and reliable platform for your digital content.

This setup will allow you to have complete control over your HTML and application data, collaborate with others, and engage with your audience across multiple devices, including mobile.

Additionally, Ubuntu Linux as your operating system ensures access to a stable and secure environment for your website or web application.

For more about CraftCMS, please check their Homepage

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

Install Nginx HTTP Server

CraftCMS requires a web server, and the Nginx HTTP server is probably the second most popular open-source web server available today. To install the Nginx 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

Now that Nginx has been installed browse your browser to the URL below to test whether the web server works.

http://localhost

If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.

Install MariaDB Database Server

CraftCMS also requires a database server to store its content. MariaDB is a great place to start if you want a genuinely open-source database server. 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 16.04 LTS

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

Run these on Ubuntu 18.10 and 18.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

Next, run the commands below to secure the database server with a root password if you were not prompted to do so during the installation.

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

Once MariaDB is installed, run the commands below to test whether the database server was installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Type the root password when prompted.

The server was successfully installed if you see a similar screen.

Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

CraftCMS is a PHP-based CMS, and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu’s default repositories. To run PHP 7.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, you may need to run the commands below:

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-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

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

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

The lines below are a good setting for most PHP-based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.

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
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Restarting the Nginx web server whenever you change the PHP configuration file would be best. To do so, run the commands below:

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Once PHP is installed, create a test file called phpinfo.php in the Nginx default root directory. ( /var/www/html/)

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Then, type the content below and save the file.

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Next, open your browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address, followed by phpinfo.php

http://localhost/phpinfo.php

You should see the PHP default test page.

Create CraftCMS Database

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

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

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called craftcms

CREATE DATABASE craftcms;

Create a database user called craftcmsuser with a new password

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

Then, grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON craftcms.* TO 'craftcmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download CraftCMS’s Latest Release

To get CraftCMS’s latest release, you may want to use the GitHub repository. 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 CraftCMS packages from Github.

cd /var/www/html
sudo composer create-project craftcms/craft craftcms

Then, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for the CraftCMS root directory and give Nginx control.

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

Configure Nginx

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for CraftCMS. This file will control how users access WebsiteBaker content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called craftcms

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

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

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrites;
        }
    location @rewrites {
            rewrite ^(/en_gb|de|fr|es)?/(.*)$ $1/index.php?p=$2&$args? last;
        }

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

Save the file and exit.

Enable the CraftCMS

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

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

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the CraftCMS setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com/admin

Then, follow the on-screen instructions. When you’re ready, click Install Craft.

Then, type the database connection info you created above and continue.

After that, create an admin account and continue

Finally, set up the site name and finish it.

Enjoy~

Congratulation! You have successfully installed CraftCMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and 18.10.

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