How to Install MediaWiki with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

|

,

|

This tutorial outlines the process of installing MediaWiki on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP 7.1. Steps include installing and managing Nginx HTTP Server and MariaDB Database Server, installing PHP 7.1 and associated modules, creating a MediaWiki database, downloading the latest MediaWiki release, configuring the Nginx site, and finalizing setup through the MediaWiki…

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install MediaWiki on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS easily with Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP 7.1 support.

MediaWiki is a popular open-source wiki package content management system that individuals and companies widely use to develop and manage their wiki pages. Installing MediaWiki on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support provides a stable and secure platform for the system.

Nginx is a high-performance web server that can handle many concurrent connections, making it an ideal choice for hosting MediaWiki. Additionally, using Ubuntu Linux as the operating system provides a stable and reliable platform for hosting MediaWiki, with a large community of developers who provide support and updates.

Installing MediaWiki on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support provides a solid foundation for building and managing your wiki pages.

This post covers installing the latest version of MediaWiki, which at the time of writing was version 1.29.1.

Install Nginx HTTP Server

MediaWiki needs a web server. So go and install Nginx on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt install nginx

Next, run the commands below 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

Install MariaDB Database Server

MediaWiki also needs a database server. And MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it, run the commands below.

sudo apt 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 mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server.

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

sudo systemctl restart mariadb.service

Install PHP 7.1-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 7.1

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

Finally, run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.1-fpm 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 PHP-FPM default file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/fpm/php.ini

Then change to the following lines below in the file and save.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Create MediaWiki Database

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

Run the commands below to log on to the database server.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called mediawiki

CREATE DATABASE mediawiki;

Create a database user called mediawikiuser with a new password

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

Then, grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON mediawiki.* TO 'mediawikiuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download MediaWiki’s Latest Release

Next, run the commands below to download MediaWiki’s latest release. The commands below are to download the MediaWiki archive package.

cd /tmp && wget https://releases.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.29/mediawiki-1.29.0.tar.gz

Then, run the commands below to extract the download file to the Nginx default root.

sudo tar -zxvf mediawiki*.tar.gz
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/mediawiki
sudo mv mediawiki-1.29.0/* /var/www/html/mediawiki

Change and modify the directory permission.

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

Configure Nginx Site

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

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

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

     client_max_body_size 100M;

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

      location @rewrite {
	rewrite ^/(.*)$ /index.php;
      }

     location ^~ /maintenance/ {
	return 403;
     }

    location ~ \.php$ {
         include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
         include fastcgi_params;
         try_files $uri @rewrite;
    }
}

Save the file and exit.

Enable the MediaWiki site

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

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

Restart Nginx by running the commands below to load all the settings above.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Then browse to the server hostname or IP address, and you should see the MediaWiki site setup wizard.

http://example.com

Type the database name, user, and password and continue.

Continue with the wizard by accepting the default settings. At the end of the setup, the wizard will prompt you to save the LocalSettings.php file. Save it.

Then, move the file to the root directory of the MediaWiki website. After that, you’re done!

~Enjoy~

You may also like the post below:

Like this:



One response to “How to Install MediaWiki with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux”

  1. rfz Avatar
    rfz

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

    pure nonsense !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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