How to Setup FluxBB with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

This tutorial will show students and new users how to install and use FluxBB Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 with Nginx, MySQL, and PHP support.

FluxBB is a free, open-source, flat-forum bulletin board software based on phpBB. It enables individuals and web admins to set up community bulletin boards in minutes to stay in touch with groups of people or ideas.

FluxBB has a high customization and tons of features. It is designed as a lighter, faster alternative to some of the traditional feature-heavy forum applications like the original phpBB platform.

So, if you’re a student or new user looking for bulletin board software with the look and feel of phpBB but with many more features, FluxBB is what you’ll want to install.

Some of the features included with FluxBB are:

phpBB bulletin board and permission system
CMS features allow the creation of new pages and blocks
Clean administration interface
Many ready to use features: Photo Gallery, Downloads, Knowledge Base, Links, Chat.
Multi-language and multi-template ready
Lots of community modifications
.and many others.

To get started with installing FluxBB, follow the steps below:

Install Nginx

FluxBB is PHP-based and requires a webserver. The most popular open-source web server in use today is Nginx. To install Nginx, run the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get 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 MySQL Database Server

A MySQL database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source databases to use with FluxBB. To install MySQL, run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

After installing MySQL, the commands below can stop, start, and enable MySQL service to start up when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu

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

After that, run the commands below to secure the MySQL 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 MySQL server

To test if MySQL is installed, type the commands below to log on to the server.

sudo mysql -u root -p

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

Install PHP 7.2-FPM 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-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-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-pgsql php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-imagick php7.2-bcmath php7.2-gmp 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
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

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

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.

Create FluxBB Database

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

Run the commands below to log on to MySQL. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called fluxbb

CREATE DATABASE fluxbb;

Create a database user called fluxbbuser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the fluxbbuser database.

GRANT ALL ON fluxbb.* TO 'fluxbbuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download FluxBB’s Latest Release

Next, continue below to download the FluxBB package. To download the latest version, click on the link below.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into the Nginx root directory.

wget https://fluxbb.org/download/releases/1.5.11/fluxbb-1.5.11.zip
unzip fluxbb-1.5.11.zip
sudo mv fluxbb-1.5.11 /var/www/fluxbb

Change or modify the directory permission to fit the Nginx configuration.

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

Configure Nginx

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

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

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

    location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ @rewriteapp;        
    }

    location /install/ {
     try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrite_installapp;
    }

    location ~ \.php(/|$) {
    fastcgi_split_path_info  ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    fastcgi_index            index.php;
    fastcgi_pass             unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
    include                  fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param   PATH_INFO       $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param   SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_param DOCUMENT_ROOT $realpath_root;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /install/app.php$is_args$args;
    }

     location @rewrite_installapp {
      rewrite ^(.*)$ /install/app.php/$1 last;
     }

}

Save the file and exit.

Enable the FluxBB

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

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

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name, followed by Install. You should see the FluxBB setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com

Type in the database name, username, and password.

In the Administrator section, create a new admin account and password. Then click Install

That’s it!

After that, all should be installed and ready to use

Enjoy!

Run the commands below to delete the install directory

sudo rm -rf /var/www/fluxbb/install

Congratulation! You have successfully installed the FluxBB bulletin board on Ubuntu 18.04.