How to Setup PageKit CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

computer screen with icons on dashboard
computer screen with icons on dashboard

This article describes the steps to install PageKit CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

PageKit is a modern, intuitive open-source content management system that’s modular and flexible. Whether you want to create a personal or business website, PageKit can help you build a powerful platform to manage your content on every device.

If you’re looking for a fast, easy-to-manage content management system to run your blogs and websites, look at PageKit CMS.

If you currently run your website and content on other CMS like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, you may want to try PageKit CMS. It’s a great alternative to those PHP-based content management systems.

For more on PageKit CMS, please visit its home page

How to install PageKit CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support

As described above, PageKit is a modern, intuitive open-source content management system that’s modular and flexible.

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. Install it since PageKit CMS 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
nginx default home page test

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers for Magento. 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 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

Type the commands below to log into the MariaDB server to test if MariaDB is installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

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

mariadb welcome

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 7.1-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 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
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

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

After installing PHP and related modules, you must restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations.

To restart Nginx, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Create PageKit Database

Once you’ve installed all the packages required for PageKit CMS, continue below to start configuring the servers.

First, run the commands below to create a blank PageKit database.

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

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called pagekit

CREATE DATABASE pagekit;

Create a database user called pagekituser with a new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON pagekit.* TO 'pagekituser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download and Install PageKit CMS

Run the commands below to download PageKit CMS content.

cd /tmp && wget http://pagekit.com/api/download/latest
sudo mkdir /var/www/html/pagekit
sudo unzip latest -d /var/www/html/pagekit

Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.

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

Configure Nginx PageKit CMS Site

Finally, configure the Nginx configuration file for PageKit CMS. This file will control how users access PageKit CMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called pagekit

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

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/pagekit;
    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, please enable it by running the commands below.

Enable the PageKit CMS Site

After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below, then restart the Nginx server.

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pagekit /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Then restart the Nginx web server.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Next, open your browser, go to the URL., and continue with the installation.

Pagekit ubuntu install

Type in the database connection info and continue.

pagekit ubuntu setup

Then create the site admin credential and finally install PageKit CMS

pagekit ubuntu install

Enjoy!

You may also like the post below:

Posted by
Richard

I love computers; maybe way too much. What I learned I try to share at geekrewind.com.

3 Comments

  1. 404 error

  2. In the nginx config file:
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock;

    We are installing fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;

    correct?

    Still getting 404 error
    tried http://mydomain/installer http://mydomain/installer.php
    http://mydomain/pagekit
    http://mydomain/pagekit/index.php
    http://mydomain/pagekit/installer

    1. Correct, updated.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: