Installing Apache2 With PHP5 And MySQL Support On Ubuntu 11.04 (LAMP)

LAMP is short for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. This tutorial shows how you can install an Apache2 webserver on an Ubuntu 11.04 server with PHP5 support (mod_php) and MySQL support.

I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

In this tutorial I use the hostname server1.example.com with the IP address 192.168.0.100. These settings might differ for you, so you have to replace them where appropriate.

I'm running all the steps in this tutorial with root privileges, so make sure you're logged in as root:

sudo su

First we install MySQL 5 like this:

apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

You will be asked to provide a password for the MySQL root user - this password is valid for the user root@localhost as well as root@server1.example.com, so we don't have to specify a MySQL root password manually later on:

New password for the MySQL "root" user: <-- yourrootsqlpassword
Repeat password for the MySQL "root" user: <-- yourrootsqlpassword

Apache2 is available as an Ubuntu package, therefore we can install it like this:

apt-get install apache2

Now direct your browser to http://192.168.0.100, and you should see the Apache2 placeholder page (It works!):

Apache's default document root is /var/www on Ubuntu, and the configuration file is /etc/apache2/apache2.conf. Additional configurations are stored in subdirectories of the /etc/apache2 directory such as /etc/apache2/mods-enabled (for Apache modules), /etc/apache2/sites-enabled (for virtual hosts), and /etc/apache2/conf.d.

We can install PHP5 and the Apache PHP5 module as follows:

apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5

We must restart Apache afterwards:

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

The document root of the default web site is /var/www. We will now create a small PHP file (info.php) in that directory and call it in a browser. The file will display lots of useful details about our PHP installation, such as the installed PHP version.

vi /var/www/info.php

Now we call that file in a browser (e.g. http://192.168.0.100/info.php):

As you see, PHP5 is working, and it's working through the Apache 2.0 Handler, as shown in the Server API line. If you scroll further down, you will see all modules that are already enabled in PHP5. MySQL is not listed there which means we don't have MySQL support in PHP5 yet.

To get MySQL support in PHP, we can install the php5-mysql package. It's a good idea to install some other PHP5 modules as well as you might need them for your applications. You can search for available PHP5 modules like this:

apt-cache search php5

Pick the ones you need and install them like this:

apt-get install php5-mysql php5-curl php5-gd php5-idn php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-ming php5-ps php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc php5-xsl

Now restart Apache2:

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now reload http://192.168.0.100/info.php in your browser and scroll down to the modules section again. You should now find lots of new modules there, including the MySQL module:

phpMyAdmin is a web interface through which you can manage your MySQL databases. It's a good idea to install it:

apt-get install phpmyadmin

You will see the following questions:

Web server to reconfigure automatically: <-- apache2
Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common? <-- No

Afterwards, you can access phpMyAdmin under http://192.168.0.100/phpmyadmin/:

Installing openSUSE 11.4 GNOME Live CD Step by Step

Here are a bunch of screenshots for the installation of openSUSE 11.4 using the GNOME Live CD. The screenshots are self explanatory and shouldn’t require any additional explanation. First you boot up to the CD, then you enter in questions that it asks clearly. Lastly you’ll either sit bored and watch it install, or do something else more worthwhile with your time. After that’s done, it’ll reboot, complete its First Boot Configuration, and lastly boot into GNOME, where you’ll be ready and roaring to go.

So just check them out, and enjoy your new installation of openSUSE 11.4.

it.

Things to do after installing Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid

Previously (in 2008) I wrote about “Things to do after installing openSUSE 11.0“. Well I felt like it was time to start this up again, but this time I’ll be expanding the “Things to do” to more distributions, including this one for Ubuntu.

So here I’ll assume that you’ve installed Ubuntu using whatever means necessary and you’re booting up for the first time. Here are some things that I typically do, when I build up a new Ubuntu box for personal use. I am also targeting this for people who are not comfortable or like to use the command line tools.

Wireless Configuration
The first thing I do is set up my wireless, so I have internet connectivity without being strapped down to a leash. My machine I’m installing on is a Dell Latitude D620. You can setup the wireless by going to the wireless icon in the top panel, and clicking on it to list available networks available.