This article describes the steps to install Drupal CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Apache and Varnish proxy servers.
Setting up Drupal with Apache and Varnish on Ubuntu Linux can improve the performance of your website. Running Drupal with Varnish support as a caching server can help speed up your website, especially if you’re dealing with high-traffic Drupal websites or blogs.
This setup can help to ensure that your website is fast, stable, and reliable, which is essential for any website owner who wants to provide their users with a positive experience. Additionally, this setup is relatively easy to implement and can be done quickly following the steps outlined in the article.
One of the popular proxy servers that are also caching servers is Varnish. If you want to build a fast Drupal site with lots of web traffic, setting up Varnish as a proxy caching server will go a long way.
How to install Drupal with Apache and Varnish on Ubuntu Linux
As described above, running Drupal on Nginx with Varnish support can improve your site’s performance. The steps below are an excellent place to start when looking for a fast and easy way to speed up your Drupal websites.
Below is how to set up Drupal on Ubuntu Linux with Apache and Varnish proxy servers.
Install Apache
First, install Apache. To do that, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
Next, run the commands below 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
Install Varnish
Now that Apache is installed run the commands below to install Varnish. By default, Varnish packages are available in Ubuntu repositories.
sudo apt-get install varnish
After installing Varnish, the commands below can start and stop Varnish and enable it to start when the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop varnish.service sudo systemctl start varnish.service sudo systemctl enable varnish.service
Switch the Apache port to 8080
By default, Apache listens on port 80. However, since we want Varnish to listen for all traffic coming to port 80, we must configure Apache to use another port number instead.
For this article, we will configure Apache to listen on port 8080. To do that, open the Apache default port configuration file at /etc/apache2/ports.conf and change the Listen value to 8080.
sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf
Then, make sure the file has these lines. Save when done.
# If you just change the port or add more ports here, you will likely also
# have to change the VirtualHost statement in
# /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf
Listen 127.0.0.1:8080
Next, open the Apache2 default virtual host config file.
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf
Then, make the highlighted change below.
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:8080>
Save the file and exit.
After that, run the commands below to turn off the Apahce2 default site.
sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
Then restart Apache2
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Now, the Apache default site is disabled.
Install MariaDB
To install MariaDB, run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installation, the commands below can stop, start, and enable the MariaDB service to start up when the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop mysql.service sudo systemctl start mysql.service sudo systemctl enable mysql.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
Install PHP 7.1 and Related Modules
PHP 7.1 isn’t available on Ubuntu’s default repositories. To install it, you must get it from third-party repositories.
Run the commands below to add the third-party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.1
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.1
sudo apt update
Run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.1 libapache2-mod-php7.1 php7.1-common php7.1-mbstring php7.1-xmlrpc php7.1-soap php7.1-gd php7.1-xml php7.1-intl php7.1-mysql php7.1-cli php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-zip php7.1-curl
After installing PHP 7.1, run the commands below to open the Apache2 PHP default file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/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 memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Create Drupal Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages are installed, run the commands below to create a blank Drupal database.
Login to the MariaDB database server
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then, create a database called drupal
CREATE DATABASE drupal;
Create a database user called drupaluser with a new password
CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then, grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON drupal.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download Drupal’s Latest Release
Next, visit the Drupal site and download the latest package. Or run the commands below to download and extract Drupal content.
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file and move it into a new Drupal root directory.
cd /tmp && cd /tmp && wget https://ftp.drupal.org/files/projects/drupal-8.4.2.tar.gz tar -zxvf drupal*.gz sudo mv drupal-8.4.2 /var/www/html/drupal
Then, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Drupal to function correctly.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/drupal/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/drupal/
Configure Apache
Finally, configure the Apache2 configuration file for Drupal. This file will control how users access Drupal content. Run the commands below to create a configuration file called drupal.conf.
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/drupal.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 *:8080> ServerAdmin admin@example.com DocumentRoot /var/www/html/drupal ServerName example.com ServerAlias www.example.com ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined <Directory /var/www/html/drupal/> Options FollowSymlinks AllowOverride All Require all granted </Directory> </VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Enable Drupal virtual host.
After configuring the Virtual Host above, please enable it by running the commands below.
sudo a2ensite drupal.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo a2enmod env sudo a2enmod dir sudo a2enmod mime
Restart Apache2 by running the commands below to load all the settings above.
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Set up Varnish to use port 80
Now that port 80 is free let’s configure Varnish to use that port instead. To assign port 80 to Varnish, run the commands below.
Varnish default configure file is located at /etc/default/varnish
Open it by running the commands below:
sudo nano /etc/default/varnish
Then look for the config block under Alternative 2 and make the highlighted changes below.
## Alternative 2, Configuration with VCL
#
# Listen on port 6081, administration on localhost:6082, and forward to
# one content server selected by the vcl file, based on the request.
#
DAEMON_OPTS="-a :80 \
-T localhost:6082 \
-f /etc/varnish/default.vcl \
-S /etc/varnish/secret \
-s malloc,256m"
Save the file when you’re done.
Next, run the commands below to open the default.vcl file
sudo nano /etc/varnish/default.vcl
Then add the highlighted lines shown below under sub vcl_recv and sub vcl_backend_response
# Default backend definition. Set this to point to your content server.
backend default {
.host = "127.0.0.1";
.port = "8080";
}
sub vcl_recv {
if (req.url ~ "^/status\.php$" ||
req.url ~ "^/update\.php" ||
req.url ~ "^/install\.php" ||
req.url ~ "^/apc\.php$" ||
req.url ~ "^/admin" ||
req.url ~ "^/admin/.*$" ||
req.url ~ "^/user" ||
req.url ~ "^/user/.*$" ||
req.url ~ "^/users/.*$" ||
req.url ~ "^/info/.*$" ||
req.url ~ "^/flag/.*$" ||
req.url ~ "^.*/ajax/.*$" ||
req.url ~ "^.*/ahah/.*$" ||
req.url ~ "^/system/files/.*$") {
return (pass);
}
if (req.url ~ "(?i)\.(pdf|asc|dat|txt|doc|xls|ppt|tgz|csv|png|gif|jpeg|jpg|ico|swf|css|js)(\?.*)?$") {
unset req.http.Cookie;
}
if (req.http.Cookie) {
set req.http.Cookie = ";" + req.http.Cookie;
set req.http.Cookie = regsuball(req.http.Cookie, "; +", ";");
set req.http.Cookie = regsuball(req.http.Cookie, ";(SESS[a-z0-9]+|SSESS[a-z0-9]+|NO_CACHE)=", "; \1=");
set req.http.Cookie = regsuball(req.http.Cookie, ";[^ ][^;]*", "");
set req.http.Cookie = regsuball(req.http.Cookie, "^[; ]+|[; ]+$", "");
if (req.http.Cookie == "") {
unset req.http.Cookie;
}
else {
return (pass);
}
}
sub vcl_backend_response {
if (bereq.url ~ "(?i)\.(css|js|jpg|jpeg|gif|png|ico)(\?.*)?$") {
unset beresp.http.set-cookie;
}
}
Save the file and close.
When you’re done, restart Varnish and Apache2
sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl start varnish.service
Next, run the commands below to start Varnish if it won’t start.
sudo /usr/sbin/varnishd -a :80 -b localhost:8080
After that, open your browser and browse your domain name to launch the WordPress configuration wizard.
http://example.com
You should see the WordPress setup wizard.
Follow the wizard until you’ve successfully set up WordPress.
That’s it!
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