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

$ su

$ sudo su -

apt-get update

apt-get -y install mariadb-server

systemctl start mariadb.service

systemctl enable mariadb.service

Download the Nginx repository signing key.

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

Add the Nginx public key to the system.

apt-key add nginx_signing.key

Append Nginx repository to /etc/apt/sources.list file.

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

Install Nginx package using the following command.

apt-get update; apt-get -y install nginx

Start the Nginx service after the installation.

systemctl start nginx.service

Firewall

Issue the following commands to allow HTTP and HTTPS requests through the firewall.

ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw reload
ufw enable

Open a web browser and visit the below URL, you should see the following page; this will confirm you that the Nginx is successfully installed on the server.

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

Auto-start Nginx at system startup.

systemctl enable nginx.service

Install PHP5-FPM

Install PHP through PHP-FPM (PHP-FastCGI Process Manager), an alternative PHP FastCGI implementation. It provides additional features useful for sites of any size, especially busier sites. Install php-fpm by issuing the following command.

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

Edit /etc/php.ini.

vi /etc/php/7.0/fpm/php.ini

set cgi.fix_pathinfo to 0.

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

PHP-FPM listens on the socket /var/run/php7-fpm.sock by default. To make PHP-FPM use a TCP connection, open the file /etc/php/7.0/fpm/pool.d/www.conf.

Change the listen parameter.

FROM:

listen = /run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock

TO:

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Restart PHP-FPM service.

systemctl restart php7.0-fpm.service

Enable PHP-FPM Support on Virtual Host

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

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

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

vi /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 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.

127.0.0.1               localhost.localdomain localhost server.itzgeek.local

Testing PHP-FPM support on the Virtual Host

Create the root directory for the virtual host.

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

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

vi /usr/share/nginx/html/itzgeek.local/index.php

Copy/Paste the below line into the index.php file.:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Save and close the file. Use Esc + ;wq for saving the file.

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

systemctl restart nginx.service
systemctl restart php7.0-fpm.service
systemctl enable php7.0-fpm.service

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

The page will look like below:

From the above screenshot, PHP is working through FPM/FastCGI, as shown in the Server API line.

That’s all.