How To Install Linux, Nginx, MariaDB, PHP (LEMP Stack) on Linux Mint 19

This tutorial will help to install Nginx on Linux Mint 19 with PHP support (through PHP-FPM) and MariaDB support.

I hope you know what Nginx is? Nginx is an open-source web server which can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache.

Nginx was created by Igor Sysoev, released under BSD-like license.

Install MariaDB

First, we will install the MariaDB by issuing the following command. Update the repository index using the apt command.

sudo apt update

Install MariaDB server using the following command.

sudo apt install -y mariadb-server

Install Nginx

Download the Nginx signing key from the official site.

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

Add Nginx repository to the system using the below commands.

echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://nginx.org/packages/ubuntu/ bionic nginx" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list
echo "deb-src [arch=amd64] http://nginx.org/packages/ubuntu/ bionic nginx" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list

Update repository index.

sudo apt update

Install Nginx using the following command.

sudo apt install -y nginx

Test Nginx

Open a web browser and hit it to,

You should see the below page, and this confirms you that the Nginx is successfully installed on the server.

The default document root of Nginx on Linuxmint 19 is /usr/share/nginx/html/. The configuration files are stored under /etc/nginx directory.

Install PHP-FPM

Next is to install PHP through PHP-FPM (PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager), it is an alternative PHP FastCGI implementation. Install it by using the apt command.

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

Edit the respective php.ini depending on the PHP version you have installed on the system.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

set cgi.fix_pathinfo to 0.

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Edit the /etc/php/7.2/fpm/pool.d/www.conf file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Make sure to change the following value.

FROM:

listen = /var/run/php7.2-fpm.sock

TO:

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

EnablePHP-FPM Support on Virtual Host

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

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

Create the configuration file /etc/nginx/conf.d/web.itzgeek.local.conf for our virtual host.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/web.itzgeek.local.conf

Add the following content.

server {
   server_name web.itzgeek.local;
   root /usr/share/nginx/html/web.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/web.itzgeek.local$fastcgi_script_name;
   }
}

Testing PHP-FPM support on the Virtual Host

Create the document root directory.

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

For testing the PHP, place a .php file on to the document root of the created virtual host. In the terminal copy/paste the following line.

sudo nano /usr/share/nginx/html/web.itzgeek.local/index.php

Now, Copy/Paste this line into the index.php file and then save it.

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Restart the services.

sudo systemctl restart php7.2-fpm
sudo systemctl restart nginx

On Client machine

Create host entry for your domain (web.itzgeek.local) in /etc/hosts file or make an A record in case you have DNS server in your environment.

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add a host entry something like below.

192.168.1.10 web.itzgeek.local web

Now open up a browser and type your domain in the web address.

The page looks like below.

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

Additionally, scroll the page further down to see all the modules that are enabled in PHP.

MySQL support information:

More To Read:

READ: How To Install phpMyAdmin with Nginx on LinuxMint 19 / LinuxMint 18
That’s All.