How To Install Nginx, MariaDB, PHP (LEMP stack) on Debian 9

THIS DOCUMENT IS ALSO AVAILABLE FOR RHEL 8 CentOS 7 Debian 10 Ubuntu 18.04

LEMP (a server stack) stands for Linux, Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP. Nginx is a free, open-source, high-performance HTTP web server; known for its stability, rich feature set, simple configuration, and low resource consumption.

Here, we will talk about how to install LEMP Stack on Debian 9 with PHP support (via PHP-FPM) and MariaDB support.

Install LEMP Stack Install Linux

Here is the post about Step by Step installation of Debian 9 and Upgrading Debian 8 Jessie to Debian 9 Stretch. Proceed to the installation of AMP (Nginx v1.14, PHP v7.3, MariaDB v10.3) on Debian 9.

Install Nginx

Install the packages for Nginx installation.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y curl wget gnupg2 ca-certificates lsb-release apt-transport-https

Download the Nginx repository signing key.

wget http://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key

Add the Nginx public key to the system.

sudo apt-key add nginx_signing.key

Append Nginx repository to the system.

echo "deb http://nginx.org/packages/debian/ stretch nginx" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list

Install Nginx package using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get -y install nginx

Start the Nginx service after the installation.

sudo systemctl start nginx

Open a web browser and visit the below URL.

http://your-ip-add-ress

You should see the following page. This page confirms that the Nginx is successfully installed on the server.

Nginx Default Page

Nginx’s default document root on Debian 9 is /usr/share/nginx/html/. The configuration files are found under /etc/nginx/ directory.

Install MariaDB

We will now install the MariaDB server by issuing the following command.

sudo apt-get -y install mariadb-server mariadb-client

Next, make the MariaDB server secure by using the mysql_secure_installation command.

Install PHP-FPM

PHP-FPM (PHP-FastCGI Process Manager), an alternative PHP FastCGI implementation. It provides additional features useful for sites of any size, especially busier sites.

Debian 9 comes with PHP 7.0 by default, and is already the end of life. So, we will use SURY repository to get PHP 7.3.

wget https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg

sudo apt-key add apt.gpg

echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php7.3.list

Update the repository index.

sudo apt-get update

Install php-fpm by issuing the following command.

sudo apt-get -y install php-fpm php-mysql php-cli

Edit php.ini.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.3/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

PHP-FPM listens on the socket /var/run/php7.3-fpm.sock by default. To make PHP-FPM use a TCP connection, open the file /etc/php/7.3/fpm/pool.d/www.conf.

Change the listen parameter.

FROM:

listen = /run/php/php7.3-fpm.sock

TO:

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Restart PHP-FPM service.

sudo systemctl restart php7.3-fpm

Create Virtual Host

Let’s create name-based virtual host on Nginx server for the following details.

Domain Name : server.itzgeek.local
Document Root : /usr/share/nginx/html/itzgeek.local

Create a virtual host configuration file /etc/nginx/conf.d/virtual.conf.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/virtual.conf

Add the following content.

server {
   server_name server.itzgeek.local;
   root /usr/share/nginx/html/itzgeek.local;

   location / {
       index index.html index.htm index.php;
   }

   location ~ \.php$ {
      include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
      fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
      fastcgi_index index.php;
      fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /usr/share/nginx/html/itzgeek.local$fastcgi_script_name;
   }
}

Create the root directory for the virtual host.

sudo mkdir /usr/share/nginx/html/itzgeek.local

For testing the PHP, place a PHP file onto the document root of the created virtual host.

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" | sudo tee /usr/share/nginx/html/itzgeek.local/index.php

Restart the services and enable them to start automatically on system startup.

sudo systemctl restart nginx

sudo systemctl restart php7.3-fpm

Test LEMP Stack

Create a host entry for your domain (server.itzgeek.local) in the /etc/hosts file.

vi /etc/hosts

Add host entry; the line should look like below.

192.168.1.10 server.itzgeek.local

Open up your web browser and type your domain name in the web address. Ex.

http://server.itzgeek.local

The page will look like below:

Install Nginx, MariaDB, PHP (LEMP stack) on Debian 9 – PHPInfo Page

From the above screenshot, PHP is working through FPM/FastCGI, as shown in the Server API line. You can also see the database support informations down the page.

Conclusion

That’s all. Share your feedback in the comments section.