Tutorial: Install a LAMP server on AL2023 - Amazon Linux 2023
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Tutorial: Install a LAMP server on AL2023

The following procedures help you install an Apache web server with PHP and MariaDB (a community-developed fork of MySQL) support on your AL2023 instance (sometimes called a LAMP web server or LAMP stack). You can use this server to host a static website or deploy a dynamic PHP application that reads and writes information to a database.

Important

These procedures are intended for use with AL2023. If you are trying to set up a LAMP web server on a different distribution, such as Ubuntu or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, this tutorial will not work. For Ubuntu, see the following Ubuntu community documentation: ApacheMySQLPHP. For other distributions, see their specific documentation.

Step 1: Prepare the LAMP server

Prerequisites
  • This tutorial assumes that you have already launched a new instance using AL2023, with a public DNS name that is reachable from the internet. For more information, see AL2023 on Amazon EC2. You must also have configured your security group to allow SSH (port 22), HTTP (port 80), and HTTPS (port 443) connections. For more information about these prerequisites, see Authorize inbound traffic for your Linux instances in the Amazon EC2 User Guide for Linux Instances.

  • The following procedure installs the latest PHP version available on AL2023, currently 8.1. If you plan to use PHP applications other than those described in this tutorial, you should check their compatibility with 8.1.

To prepare the LAMP server
  1. Connect to your instance. For more information, see Connecting to AL2023 instances.

  2. To ensure that all of your software packages are up to date, perform a quick software update on your instance. This process might take a few minutes, but it is important to make sure that you have the latest security updates and bug fixes.

    The -y option installs the updates without asking for confirmation. If you would like to examine the updates before installing, you can omit this option.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo dnf update -y
  3. Install the latest versions of Apache web server and PHP packages for AL2023.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo dnf install -y httpd wget php-fpm php-mysqli php-json php php-devel
  4. Install the MariaDB software packages. Use the dnf install command to install multiple software packages and all related dependencies at the same time.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo dnf install mariadb105-server

    You can view the current versions of these packages using the following command:

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo dnf info package_name

    Example:

    [root@ip-172-31-25-170 ec2-user]# dnf info mariadb105 Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:16 ago on Tue Feb 14 21:35:13 2023. Installed Packages Name : mariadb105 Epoch : 3 Version : 10.5.16 Release : 1.amzn2023.0.6 Architecture : x86_64 Size : 18 M Source : mariadb105-10.5.16-1.amzn2023.0.6.src.rpm Repository : @System From repo : amazonlinux Summary : A very fast and robust SQL database server URL : http://mariadb.org License : GPLv2 and LGPLv2 Description : MariaDB is a community developed fork from MySQL - a multi-user, multi-threaded : SQL database server. It is a client/server implementation consisting of : a server daemon (mariadbd) and many different client programs and libraries. : The base package contains the standard MariaDB/MySQL client programs and : utilities.
  5. Start the Apache web server.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl start httpd
  6. Use the systemctl command to configure the Apache web server to start at each system boot.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl enable httpd

    You can verify that httpd is on by running the following command:

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl is-enabled httpd
  7. Add a security rule to allow inbound HTTP (port 80) connections to your instance if you have not already done so. By default, a launch-wizard-N security group was created for your instance during launch. If you did not add additional security group rules, this group contains only a single rule to allow SSH connections.

    1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/ec2/.

    2. In the left navigator, choose Instances, and select your instance.

    3. On the Security tab, view the inbound rules. You should see the following rule:

      Port range Protocol Source 22 tcp 0.0.0.0/0
      Warning

      Using 0.0.0.0/0 allows all IPv4 addresses to access your instance using SSH. This is acceptable for a short time in a test environment, but it's unsafe for production environments. In production, you authorize only a specific IP address or range of addresses to access your instance.

    4. If there is no inbound rule to allow HTTP (port 80) connections, you must the add rule now. Choose the link for the security group. Using the procedures in see Authorize inbound traffic for your Linux instances, add a new inbound security rule with the following values:

      • Type: HTTP

      • Protocol: TCP

      • Port Range: 80

      • Source: Custom

  8. Test your web server. In a web browser, type the public DNS address (or the public IP address) of your instance. If there is no content in /var/www/html, you should see the Apache test page, which will display the message "It works!".

    You can get the public DNS for your instance using the Amazon EC2 console (check the Public IPv4 DNS column; if this column is hidden, choose Preferences (the gear-shaped icon) and toggle on Public IPv4 DNS).

    Verify that the security group for the instance contains a rule to allow HTTP traffic on port 80. For more information, see Add rules to security group.

    Important

    If you are not using Amazon Linux, you might also need to configure the firewall on your instance to allow these connections. For more information about how to configure the firewall, see the documentation for your specific distribution.

Apache httpd serves files that are kept in a directory called the Apache document root. The Amazon Linux Apache document root is /var/www/html, which by default is owned by root.

To allow the ec2-user account to manipulate files in this directory, you must modify the ownership and permissions of the directory. There are many ways to accomplish this task. In this tutorial, you add ec2-user to the apache group to give the apache group ownership of the /var/www directory and assign write permissions to the group.

To set file permissions
  1. Add your user (in this case, ec2-user) to the apache group.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo usermod -a -G apache ec2-user
  2. Log out and then log back in again to pick up the new group, and then verify your membership.

    1. Log out (use the exit command or close the terminal window):

      [ec2-user ~]$ exit
    2. To verify your membership in the apache group, reconnect to your instance, and then run the following command:

      [ec2-user ~]$ groups ec2-user adm wheel apache systemd-journal
  3. Change the group ownership of /var/www and its contents to the apache group.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo chown -R ec2-user:apache /var/www
  4. To add group write permissions and to set the group ID on future subdirectories, change the directory permissions of /var/www and its subdirectories.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo chmod 2775 /var/www && find /var/www -type d -exec sudo chmod 2775 {} \;
  5. To add group write permissions, recursively change the file permissions of /var/www and its subdirectories:

    [ec2-user ~]$ find /var/www -type f -exec sudo chmod 0664 {} \;

Now, ec2-user (and any future members of the apache group) can add, delete, and edit files in the Apache document root, enabling you to add content, such as a static website or a PHP application.

To secure your web server (Optional)

A web server running the HTTP protocol provides no transport security for the data that it sends or receives. When you connect to an HTTP server using a web browser, the URLs that you visit, the content of webpages that you receive, and the contents (including passwords) of any HTML forms that you submit are all visible to eavesdroppers anywhere along the network pathway. The best practice for securing your web server is to install support for HTTPS (HTTP Secure), which protects your data with SSL/TLS encryption.

For information about enabling HTTPS on your server, see Tutorial: Configure SSL/TLS on AL2023.

Step 2: Test your LAMP server

If your server is installed and running, and your file permissions are set correctly, your ec2-user account should be able to create a PHP file in the /var/www/html directory that is available from the internet.

To test your LAMP server
  1. Create a PHP file in the Apache document root.

    [ec2-user ~]$ echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

    If you get a "Permission denied" error when trying to run this command, try logging out and logging back in again to pick up the proper group permissions that you configured in To set file permissions.

  2. In a web browser, type the URL of the file that you just created. This URL is the public DNS address of your instance followed by a forward slash and the file name. For example:

    http://my.public.dns.amazonaws.com/phpinfo.php

    You should see the PHP information page:

    
                        Test of the LAMP server shows the PHP information page.

    If you do not see this page, verify that the /var/www/html/phpinfo.php file was created properly in the previous step. You can also verify that all of the required packages were installed with the following command.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo dnf list installed httpd mariadb-server php-mysqlnd

    If any of the required packages are not listed in your output, install them with the sudo yum install package command.

  3. Delete the phpinfo.php file. Although this can be useful information, it should not be broadcast to the internet for security reasons.

    [ec2-user ~]$ rm /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

You should now have a fully functional LAMP web server. If you add content to the Apache document root at /var/www/html, you should be able to view that content at the public DNS address for your instance.

Step 3: Secure the database server

The default installation of the MariaDB server has several features that are great for testing and development, but they should be disabled or removed for production servers. The mysql_secure_installation command walks you through the process of setting a root password and removing the insecure features from your installation. Even if you are not planning on using the MariaDB server, we recommend performing this procedure.

To secure the MariaDB server
  1. Start the MariaDB server.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl start mariadb
  2. Run mysql_secure_installation.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo mysql_secure_installation
    1. When prompted, type a password for the root account.

      1. Type the current root password. By default, the root account does not have a password set. Press Enter.

      2. Type Y to set a password, and type a secure password twice. For more information about creating a secure password, see https://identitysafe.norton.com/password-generator/. Make sure to store this password in a safe place.

        Setting a root password for MariaDB is only the most basic measure for securing your database. When you build or install a database-driven application, you typically create a database service user for that application and avoid using the root account for anything but database administration.

    2. Type Y to remove the anonymous user accounts.

    3. Type Y to disable the remote root login.

    4. Type Y to remove the test database.

    5. Type Y to reload the privilege tables and save your changes.

  3. (Optional) If you do not plan to use the MariaDB server right away, stop it. You can restart it when you need it again.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl stop mariadb
  4. (Optional) If you want the MariaDB server to start at every boot, type the following command.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Step 4: (Optional) Install phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a web-based database management tool that you can use to view and edit the MySQL databases on your EC2 instance. Follow the steps below to install and configure phpMyAdmin on your Amazon Linux instance.

Important

We do not recommend using phpMyAdmin to access a LAMP server unless you have enabled SSL/TLS in Apache; otherwise, your database administrator password and other data are transmitted insecurely across the internet. For security recommendations from the developers, see Securing your phpMyAdmin installation. For general information about securing a web server on an EC2 instance, see Tutorial: Configure SSL/TLS on AL2023.

To install phpMyAdmin
  1. Install the required dependencies.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo dnf install php-mbstring php-xml -y
  2. Restart Apache.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl restart httpd
  3. Restart php-fpm.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl restart php-fpm
  4. Navigate to the Apache document root at /var/www/html.

    [ec2-user ~]$ cd /var/www/html
  5. Select a source package for the latest phpMyAdmin release from https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads. To download the file directly to your instance, copy the link and paste it into a wget command, as in this example:

    [ec2-user html]$ wget https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz
  6. Create a phpMyAdmin folder and extract the package into it with the following command.

    [ec2-user html]$ mkdir phpMyAdmin && tar -xvzf phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz -C phpMyAdmin --strip-components 1
  7. Delete the phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz tarball.

    [ec2-user html]$ rm phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz
  8. (Optional) If the MySQL server is not running, start it now.

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl start mariadb
  9. In a web browser, type the URL of your phpMyAdmin installation. This URL is the public DNS address (or the public IP address) of your instance followed by a forward slash and the name of your installation directory. For example:

    http://my.public.dns.amazonaws.com/phpMyAdmin

    You should see the phpMyAdmin login page:

    
                        Result of typing the URL of your phpMyAdmin installation is the phpMyAdmin login screen.
  10. Log in to your phpMyAdmin installation with the root user name and the MySQL root password you created earlier.

    Your installation must still be configured before you put it into service. We suggest that you begin by manually creating the configuration file, as follows:

    1. To start with a minimal configuration file, use your favorite text editor to create a new file, and then copy the contents of config.sample.inc.php into it.

    2. Save the file as config.inc.php in the phpMyAdmin directory that contains index.php.

    3. Refer to post-file creation instructions in the Using the Setup script section of the phpMyAdmin installation instructions for any additional setup.

    For information about using phpMyAdmin, see the phpMyAdmin User Guide.

Troubleshoot

This section offers suggestions for resolving common problems you might encounter while setting up a new LAMP server.

I can't connect to my server using a web browser

Perform the following checks to see if your Apache web server is running and accessible.

  • Is the web server running?

    You can verify that httpd is on by running the following command:

    [ec2-user ~]$ sudo systemctl is-enabled httpd

    If the httpd process is not running, repeat the steps described in To prepare the LAMP server.

  • Is the firewall correctly configured?

    Verify that the security group for the instance contains a rule to allow HTTP traffic on port 80. For more information, see Add rules to security group.

I can't connect to my server using HTTPS

Perform the following checks to see if your Apache web server is configured to support HTTPS.

  • Is the web server correctly configured?

    After you install Apache, the server is configured for HTTP traffic. To support HTTPS, enable TLS on the server and install an SSL certificate. For information, see Tutorial: Configure SSL/TLS on AL2023.

  • Is the firewall correctly configured?

    Verify that the security group for the instance contains a rule to allow HTTPS traffic on port 443. For more information, see Authorize inbound traffic for your Linux instances.

Related topics

For more information about transferring files to your instance or installing a WordPress blog on your web server, see the following documentation:

For more information about the commands and software used in this tutorial, see the following webpages:

For more information about registering a domain name for your web server, or transferring an existing domain name to this host, see Creating and Migrating Domains and Subdomains to Amazon Route 53 in the Amazon Route 53 Developer Guide.