Installing a LAMP stack on a server (AlmaLinux 8 and Rocky Linux 8)

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This article explains how to install a LAMP stack on a Cloud Server, a migrated Cloud Server, a VPS or a Dedicated Server with AlmaLinux 8 or Rocky Linux 8.

A LAMP stack consists of the Linux operating system and the software applications Apache, MySQL/MariaDB and PHP. These are installed together to host dynamic websites and web applications on a server. How to install a LAMP stack:

Requirements

Before installing the LAMP stack, you have ensured that your server has sufficient hardware capacity.

Install Apache

Proceed as follows to install Apache:

To check if an update is available, enter the command below:
yum update
To install Apache, enter the following command:
yum install httpd
The following message is displayed:
Total download size: 2.3 M
Installed size: 6.5 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
Enter [y] and press [Enter].

Apache will be installed.
To start Apache, enter the command below:
systemctl start httpd.service
To check whether Apache has been successfully installed and started, enter the following command.
systemctl status httpd
To exit the status display, press the q key.
To generate a test page, enter the following command:
echo "Welcome to this site!" > /var/www/html/index.html
To check whether Apache has been successfully installed and started, enter the public IP address of your server in the following format in your web browser.
http://THE-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS

If a test page is displayed, the installation of Apache was successful.
To ensure that Apache is also restarted automatically when the server is restarted, enter the following command:
systemctl enable httpd.service

Install MariaDB

To install MariaDB, enter the following command:
yum install mariadb-server mariadb
The following message is displayed:
Total download size: 26 M
Installed size: 135 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
Enter [y] and press [Enter].

MariaDB will be installed.
To start MariaDB, enter the following command:
systemctl start mariadb
To run a security script that removes some dangerous default settings and restricts access to the database system, enter the following command:
mysql_secure_installation
After entering the command, you will be asked for a password. As you have not yet defined a password for MariaDB, you can skip this point. To do this, press Enter.

You will then be asked whether you want to set the root password.
Enter [y] and press [Enter].
Enter a new root password, repeat it and then press [Enter]. The following message is displayed:
By default, a MariaDB installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone to log into MariaDB without having to have a user account created for them. this is intended only for testing, and to make the installation go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a production environmentt.

Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]
To remove anonymous users, enter [y] and press [Enter]. The following message is then displayed:
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]
Enter [y] and press [Enter]. The following message is then displayed:
Remove test database and access to it?
Enter [y] and press [Enter]. The following message is displayed:
Reload privilege tables now?
To reload the authorisation tables, enter [y]. To confirm the entry, press [Enter].
To enable MariaDB at boot time, enter the following command:
systemctl enable mariadb.service

Install PHP

To install the PHP scripting language, proceed as follows:

To install the PHP, the MySQL driver, the POD_MySQL driver, the GD library and the PHP module for multibyte strings, enter the following command:
yum install php php-mysqlnd php-pdo php-gd php-mbstring
The following message is displayed:
Total download size: 9.3 M
Installed size: 44 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
To continue the installation, enter [y]. Then press [Enter].
To restart the Apache web server, enter the following command:
systemctl restart httpd.service

Install PHP modules

To extend the functionality of PHP, you can install additional modules.

To display the available options for PHP modules and libraries, enter the following command:
yum search php-
To get detailed information about a PHP module, enter the command below:
yum info package_name
Example:
yum info php-embedded.x86_64
To install the desired PHP modules, enter the following command:
yum install package1 package2
Example:
yum install php-cli.x86_64 php-devel.x86_64 php
To continue with the installation, enter [y]. Then press [Enter].

Test PHP

To test whether PHP has been installed correctly, create a script with the editor. This must be saved in the /var/www/html directory.

To create the script in the /var/www/html directory, enter the following command:
vi /var/www/html/info.php
The vi editor opens.

Notes

The vi editor has an insert mode and a command mode. You can call up insert mode with the [i] key. In this mode, the characters entered are immediately inserted into the text. To call up command mode, press the ESC key. If you use command mode, your keyboard input is interpreted as a command.
vi cannot be terminated in insert mode. Therefore, always enter command mode to exit vi.

Press [i] and enter the following PHP code:
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
To enter command mode, press [ESC]. Then enter the command :wq to save the text and close the editor.
To test whether the contents of the PHP script are displayed, call up the corresponding URL in the following format in your web browser:

http://THE-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS/info.php
To remove the displayed page again, enter the following command:
rm /var/www/html/info.php
The following message is displayed:
rm: remove regular file '/var/www/html/info.php'?
Enter y and press[Enter].