Install LEMP Server (nginx, MySQL or MariaDB, PHP) On Debian 7 Wheezy

Nginx (pronounced engine-x) is a free, open-source, high-performance HTTP server and reverse proxy, as well as an IMAP/POP3 proxy server written by Igor Sysoev.

To install Nginx enter the following command in your terminal:

Note: If you have installed apache2 in your system, remove it first to avoid conflicts. To uninstall apache, run the following commands:

apt-get purge apache2*
apt-get autoremove

Now install nginx using command:

apt-get install nginx

Start Nginx service using the command:

service nginx start

Test nginx

Open up your web browser and navigate to http://ip-address/ or http://localhost/. You will see a screen something like below.

Configure Nginx

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf 

worker_processes 1;

service nginx restart

The default vhost is defined in the file /etc/nginx/sites-available/default.

Open the file /etc/nginx/sites-available/default in any editor. Under the Server section, match your configuration as shown below. The modifications are shown in red color.

[...]
server {
        listen   80; ## listen for ipv4; this line is default and implied
        listen   [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on; ## listen for ipv6

        root /usr/share/nginx/www;
        index index.html index.htm;

        # Make site accessible from http://localhost/
        server_name server.unixmen.com;
[...]

Here,

listen 80; –> listen for ipv4

listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on; –> listen for ipv6

root /usr/share/nginx/www; –> document root directory.

server_name server.unixmen.com; –> virtualhost name.

Now scroll down further and find the section #location ~ \.php$. Uncomment and modify as shown below.

 location ~ \.php$ {
         try_files $uri =404;
         fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
         #       # NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
         #
         #       # With php5-cgi alone:
         #       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
         #       # With php5-fpm:
         fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
         fastcgi_index index.php;
         include fastcgi_params;
    }

Here i added an extra line ‘try_files $uri =404;’ to prevent zero day exploits.

Save and exit the file.

Test nginx configuration

Test the nginx configuration for any syntax errors using command:

nginx -t

Sample output:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Finally restart nginx service

service nginx restart

Install MySQL

MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases, though SQLite probably has more total embedded deployments

apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

During installation, you’ll be asked to setup the MySQL root user password. Enter the password and click Ok.

Re-enter the password.

Now MySQL server has been installed.

You can verify the MySQL server status using command:

service mysql status

Sample output:

[info] /usr/bin/mysqladmin  Ver 8.42 Distrib 5.5.31, for debian-linux-gnu on i686
Copyright (c) 2000, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Server version        5.5.31-0+wheezy1
Protocol version    10
Connection        Localhost via UNIX socket
UNIX socket        /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
Uptime:            39 sec

Threads: 1  Questions: 565  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 809  Flush tables: 2  Open tables: 194  Queries per second avg: 14.487.

Note: If you want to use MariaDB instead of MySQL, then follow these steps to install MariaDB on Ubuntu 13.10 server.

Install MariaDB

apt-get purge mysql*

apt-get autoremove

apt-get install python-software-properties
apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 0xcbcb082a1bb943db 
add-apt-repository 'deb http://mariadb.biz.net.id//repo/5.5/debian wheezy main'

apt-get update 
apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

service mysql status

[info] /usr/bin/mysqladmin  Ver 9.0 Distrib 5.5.33a-MariaDB, for debian-linux-gnu on i686
Copyright (c) 2000, 2013, Oracle, Monty Program Ab and others.

Server version        5.5.33a-MariaDB-1~wheezy-log
Protocol version    10
Connection        Localhost via UNIX socket
UNIX socket        /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
Uptime:            48 sec

Threads: 1  Questions: 1172  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 782  Flush tables: 4  Open tables: 175  Queries per second avg: 24.416.

Install PHP

PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely used open-source general purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML.

Install PHP with following command:

apt-get install php5 php5-fpm php5-mysql

Configure PHP

We have to do a small change in php.ini file. Open php.ini file in any editor:

nano /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini

Find the line ‘cgi.fix_pathinfo=1’, uncomment it and change the value 1 to 0.

cgi.fix_pathinfo=0

Now restart php-fpm service.

service php5-fpm restart

Test PHP

Create a sample “testphp.php” file in nginx document root folder.

nano /usr/share/nginx/www/testphp.php

Add the following lines in it.

<?php
 phpinfo();
 ?>

Save and exit the file.

Navigate to  http://server-ip-address/testphp.php. It will display all the details about php such as version, build date and commands etc.

PHP-FPM listens on the socket /var/run/php5-fpm.sock by default. If you want to make PHP-FPM use a TCP connection, open the file /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf,

nano /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Find the line listen = /var/run/php5-fpm.sock, modify it as listen = 127.0.0.1:9000.

;listen = /var/run/php5-fpm.sock
listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Save and exit the file. Restart php5-fpm service.

service php5-fpm restart

Now open the nginx configuration file:

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Find the line fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock; and change it to fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;, as shown below.

location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        #       # NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
        #
        #       # With php5-cgi alone:
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
        #       # With php5-fpm:
        #        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
   }

Save and exit the file. Finally restart nginx service.

service nginx restart

Manage MySQL Databases Graphically (Optional)

apt-get install phpmyadmin

ln -s /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ /usr/share/nginx/www/

service nginx restart