LEMP (Linux, NGINX, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP) setup guide

This guide will help you install and configure LEMP (Linux, NGINX, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP) on your server.

0. Getting started

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt install software-properties-common

1. Install NGINX

Let's add ondrej/nginx repository so we can install latest NGINX version.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/nginx

Now we can install NGINX using the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

Let's start the NGINX service:

sudo service nginx start

Now enable the service to start on boot:

sudo systemctl enable nginx

Congratulations! You have successfully installed NGINX and enabled it to start on boot.

You can check the status of the service:

sudo systemctl status nginx

Active: active (running)

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

💡 TIP: Whenever you made changes to the NGINX configuration file make sure the config is ok and then restart the service.

To test the NGINX config:

sudo nginx -t

Restart the NGINX service:

sudo service nginx restart

2. Install MySQL/MariaDB

We are going to install MariaDB on our server. You can use MySQL as well, the installation process is almost same.

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

Start the service using the following command:

sudo systemctl start mariadb

Enable the service to start on boot:

sudo systemctl enable mariadb

We have successfully installed MariaDB and enabled it to start on boot but we need to configure it.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Choose the options:

Enter current password for root (enter for none): enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
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

Now you can login to MariaDB with the following command:

mysql -u root -p

if no password is set:

mysql -u root

you will be prompted to enter the password.

mysql> exit;

3. Install PHP (specifically PHP-FPM)

The latest version of PHP is 8.3 as of now but we are going to use the version 8.2 for this guide.

As like NGINX, we need to add the ondrej/php repository so we can install latest PHP version.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update

Now we can install PHP using the following commands:

sudo apt install php8.3-fpm php8.3-common php8.3-mysql php8.3-curl php8.3-zip php8.3-gd php8.3-mbstring php8.3-xml php8.3-bcmath php8.3-intl php8.3-gmp

You can check the installed PHP version using:

php -v

and to see the modules/extensions installed:

php -m

Start the PHP-FPM service:

sudo systemctl start php8.3-fpm