LEMP Stack Setup

LEMP Stack Setup

Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP-FPM installation and configuration.

Quick Install

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx mysql-server php-fpm php-mysql -y

Step 1: Install Nginx

# Install
sudo apt install nginx -y

# Start and enable
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

# Verify
curl http://localhost

Step 2: Install MySQL

# Install
sudo apt install mysql-server -y

# Secure installation
sudo mysql_secure_installation

# Create database and user
sudo mysql << EOF
CREATE DATABASE myapp;
CREATE USER 'appuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strong_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myapp.* TO 'appuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EOF

Step 3: Install PHP-FPM

# Install PHP-FPM with extensions
sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql php-curl php-gd \
    php-mbstring php-xml php-zip -y

# Check version
php -v

# Verify FPM socket
ls /var/run/php/

Step 4: Configure Nginx for PHP

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mysite

Nginx Server Block

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mysite.com www.mysite.com;
    root /var/www/mysite;
    index index.php index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
}

# Create directory
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/mysite
sudo chown -R $USER:www-data /var/www/mysite

# Enable site
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mysite /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

# Test and reload
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 5: PHP-FPM Configuration

# Edit pool config
sudo nano /etc/php/8.1/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

# Key settings
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 10
pm.start_servers = 3
pm.min_spare_servers = 2
pm.max_spare_servers = 5

# Restart
sudo systemctl restart php8.1-fpm

Step 6: Test PHP

# Create test file
echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" | sudo tee /var/www/mysite/info.php

# Visit http://your-server/info.php

# Remove after testing
sudo rm /var/www/mysite/info.php

SSL with Let's Encrypt

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d mysite.com -d www.mysite.com

Firewall

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

Verification

# Check all services
sudo systemctl status nginx
sudo systemctl status php8.1-fpm
sudo systemctl status mysql

# Test config
sudo nginx -t
sudo php-fpm8.1 -t