How to Setup Lavalite CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

Lavalite is an open-source, flexible, and extensible platform based on the Laravel framework that helps you quickly set up a content management system (CMS) or a cloud-based application.

Lavalite has everything you need to make a super beautiful website and application.

Lavalite is built on an open-source core with support for open standards, which might be very useful in helping you run your digital content.

This CMS platform is designed for ease of use to allow enterprises and business owners to collaborate and automate engaging experiences with users across multiple devices, including mobile.

For more about Lavalite, please check their Homepage

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

Install Nginx HTTP Server

Lavalite 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 is installed open your browser and browse to the URL below to test whether the web server is working.

http://localhost
nginx default home page test

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

Install MariaDB Database Server

Lavalite also requires a database server to store its content. MariaDB is a great place to start if you’re looking for 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 MariaDB service to 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 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 successfully installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Type the root password when prompted.

mariadb welcome

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

Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules

Lavalite 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

You should restart the Nginx web server whenever you make changes to the PHP configuration file. 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.

PHP Test Page

Create Lavalite Database

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

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

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called lavalite

CREATE DATABASE lavalite;

Create a database user called lavaliteuser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON lavalite.* TO 'lavaliteuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Lavalite Latest Release

To get Lavalite’s latest release, you may want to use the GitHub repository. Install Composer, Curl, and other dependencies to get started.

sudo apt install curl
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 Lavalite packages from Github.

cd /var/www/html
sudo composer create-project LavaLite/cms --prefer-dist lavalite

After that, run the commands below to begin the Lavalite setup.

cd /var/www/html/lavalite
sudo php artisan lavalite:install
php artisan key:generate

When you run the commands above, you will be prompted to answer a series of questions. Use the guide below to complete it.

*********************************
*     Lavalite Installation     *
*********************************

**************************************
*     Application In Production!     *
**************************************

 Do you really wish to continue the installation? (yes/no) [no]:
 > yes
 Enter your database host. [127.0.0.1]:
 > 
 Enter your database username. [homestead]:
 > lavaliteuser
 Enter your database password (type blank for no password).:
 > 
 Enter your database name. [homestead]:
 > lavalite

Database successfully configured.
[Config files] Publishing config files

 Do you want to publish config files? [No]:
  [0] No
  [1] Yes
  [2] Overwrite
  [3] Ask
 > Yes

[View files] Publishing view files

 Do you want to publish view files? [No]:
  [0] No
  [1] Yes
  [2] Overwrite
  [3] Ask
 > Yes

[Lang files] Publishing lang files

 Do you want to publish lang files? [No]:
  [0] No
  [1] Yes
  [2] Overwrite
  [3] Ask
 > Yes

[Public files] Publishing public files

 Do you want to publish public files? [Yes]:
  [0] No
  [1] Yes
  [2] Overwrite
  [3] Ask
 > Yes

Migration table not found.
Migration table created successfully.
Migrating: 2015_01_05_100001_create_clients_table
Migrated:  2015_01_05_100001_create_clients_table
Migrated:  2017_11_09_100003_create_permissions_table
Migrating: 2017_11_09_100004_create_permission_user_table
Migrated:  2017_11_09_100004_create_permission_user_table
Migrating: 2017_11_09_100005_create_permission_role_table
Migrated:  2017_11_09_100005_create_permission_role_table
Migrating: 2018_02_05_100001_create_activity_log_table
Migrated:  2018_02_05_100001_create_activity_log_table
Seeding: Litepie\MenuTableSeeder
Seeding: Litepie\UserTableSeeder
Seeding: Litepie\RoleTableSeeder
Seeding: Litepie\ClientTableSeeder
Seeding: Litepie\MessageTableSeeder
Seeding: Litepie\SettingTableSeeder
Seeding: Litepie\CalendarTableSeeder
Seeding: Litepie\TaskTableSeeder
Seeding: Litecms\BlockTableSeeder
Seeding: Litecms\ContactTableSeeder
Seeding: Litecms\PageTableSeeder
Database seeding completed successfully.

 Please enter email for superuser [superuser@lavalite.org]:
 > admin@example.com
 Please enter password for superuser:
 > 
Application key set successfully.
Lavalite is ready.
You can now login with your username and password at [http://localhost/admin]

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

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

Configure Nginx

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

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

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

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
         try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
     }

    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 Lavalite and Rewrite Module

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

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

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

http://example.com

You should see the Lavalite default homepage. No setup is required. It is already done above.

Lavalite CMS Ubuntu install

To log in to the admin, go to the URL

http://example.com/admin

Then log on with the admin account created above.

Lavalite Ubuntu install

Enjoy~

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

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