This article describes steps one can take to install and use ImpressPages on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.
ImpressPages is a user-friendly open-source content management system (CMS) built on the LAMP or LEMP stack. It comes with a flat, crisp, and clear design to impress your users.
Whether you’re creating a personal or business website, ImpressPages can help you manage great content on every device. Website management is made easy with true inline editing and drag n’ drop interface.
Many content management systems will help you manage your content. and not just WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. If you’re looking for something else, you may want to look at ImpressPages.
For more on ImpressPages, please visit its home page
How to install ImpressPages on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support
As described above, ImpressPages is a user-friendly open-source content management system (CMS) built on the LAMP or LEMP stack. It comes with a flat, crisp, and clear design to impress your users.
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. so install it, since ImpressPages 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 and 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
MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Magento. To install MariaDB run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service to always start up 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 17.10 and 18.04 LTS
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 logon into the MariaDB server
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules
PHP 7.1 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 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite 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 the PHP default config file for Nginx.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is great setting to apply in your environments.
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
After making the change above, save the file and close.
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
Create ImpressPages Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for ImpressPages to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank ImpressPages database.
To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called impress
CREATE DATABASE impress;
Create a database user called impressuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'impressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON impress.* TO 'impressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download and Install ImpressPages
Run the commands below to download ImpressPages content.
cd /tmp && wget http://download.impresspages.org/ImpressPages_5_0_3.zip unzip ImpressPages_5_0_3.zip sudo mv ImpressPages /var/www/html/impress
Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/impress/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/impress/
Configure Nginx ImpressPages Site
Finally, configure the Nginx configuration file for ImpressPages. This file will control how users access ImpressPages content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called impress
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/impress
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/impress;
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/php7.2-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
Enable the ImpressPages Site
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below, then restart the Nginx server.
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/impress /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Restart Nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Next, open your browser and go to the URL. and continue with the installation.
http://example.com/
Click Next to start the installation wizard.

Type in the database connection info and create an administrator account to manage the platform in the backend. and continue

After entering the info above, click Finish to install the CMS.

You’ll find the private website configuration system at http://example.com/admin
Enjoy!