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

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.

You should see the following page. This page confirms 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.

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.

The page will look like below:

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.