Installing LEMP (Linux, Nginx, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP/PHP-FPM and PhpMyAdmin) in Gentoo Linux

 

Step 1: Install Nginx Web Server

1. Before attempting to proceed with Nginx installation make sure that your NIC has been configured with a Static IP Address and make sure Portage sources and your system it’s up to date.

$ sudo su -
# emerge --sync
# emerge --update --deep --with-bdeps=y @world

Update Gentoo Linux

2. After update process finishes, proceed with Nginx installation by choosing the preferred settings and modules by echoing Nginx USE flags to Portage make.conf file. First list Nginx default installation modules by running the following command.

# emerge -pv nginx

For detailed modules information (USE flags for packages) use equery command.

# equery uses nginx

List All Flag Modules

Then install Nginx with the following command.

# emerge --ask nginx

Install Nginx Web Server

If you need extra modules (WebDAV, fancyindex, GeoIP, etc) besides default ones, that Nginx will compile with, append them all on a single line on Portage make.conf file with NGINX_MODULES_HTTP directive, then recompile Nginx with new modules.

# echo 'NGINX_MODULES_HTTP="dav auth_pam fancyindex geoip fastcgi uwsgi gzip rewrite"' >> /etc/portage/make.conf
# emerge --ask nginx

Compile Nginx for New Modules

3. After Portage finishes emerging Nginx, start http daemon and verify it by directing your browser to http://localhost.

Verify Nginx Web Server

Step 2: Install PHP

4. To use PHP dynamic web programming language with Nginx server, install PHP-FastCGI Process Manager (FPM) by appending fpm and other important PHP Extensions on Portage USE flags and make sure you remove Apache extension.

# emerge -pv php

Install PHP in Gentoo

# equery uses php

PHP Extension Selection

# echo " dev-lang/php fpm cgi curl gd imap mysql mysqli pdo zip json xcache apc zlib zip truetype -apache2 " >> /etc/portage/package.use
# emerge --ask php

5. Before starting PHP-FPM some changes needs to be applied to service configuration file. Open php-fpm configuration file and make the following changes.

# nano /etc/php/fpm-php5.5/php-fpm.conf

Find and uncomment the following directives to look like this.

error_log = /var/log/php-fpm.log
listen = 127.0.0.1:9000    ## Here you can use any HTTP socket (IP-PORT combination ) you want  ##
pm.start_servers = 20

6. After PHP-FPM configuration file it’s edited, change PHP-FPM log file permissions and start the service.

# chmod 755 /var/log/php-fpm.log
# /etc/init.d/php-fpm start

Even if PHP-FPM service is started, Nginx can’t communicate with PHP gateway, so, some changes are need to be done on Nginx configuration files.

Step 3: Edit Nginx Configurations

7. Nginx default template configuration file just provides a basic HTTP socket for localhost only. To change this behavior and enable Virtual Hosts, open nginx.conf file located on /etc/nginx/ path and make the following configurations.

# nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Locate the first server block which corresponds to localhost and listens on 127.0.0.1 IP address and commend all its statements to look like in the screenshot below.

Disable Basic HTTP Configuration

Don’t close the file yet and move to the very bottom and add the following statement before last closing curly braces “ } “.

Include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*.conf;

Enable Nginx Virtual Host

8. Next create sites-enabled and sites-available ( for unused Virtual Hosts) Nginx directories and configuration files for localhost on HTTP and HTTPS protocols.

# mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-available
# mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-enabled

Create the following file configuration for localhost.

# nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/localhost.conf

Add the following file content.

server {
               listen 80;
               server_name localhost;

               access_log /var/log/nginx/localhost_access_log main;
               error_log /var/log/nginx/localhost_error_log info;

               root /var/www/localhost/htdocs;

                location / {
                index index.html index.htm index.php;
                autoindex on;
                autoindex_exact_size off;
                autoindex_localtime on;

                                }

                         location ~ \.php$ {
                       # Test for non-existent scripts or throw a 404 error
                       # Without this line, nginx will blindly send any request ending in .php to php-fpm
                       try_files $uri =404;
                        include /etc/nginx/fastcgi.conf;
                       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;  ## Make sure the socket corresponds with PHP-FPM conf file
                        }
                }

Create Nginx Virtual Host Configuration

For localhost with SSL create the following configuration file.

# nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/localhost-ssl.conf

Add the following file content.

server {
               listen 443 ssl;
               server_name localhost;

            ssl on;
               ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/nginx/nginx.pem;
               ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/nginx/nginx.key;

               access_log /var/log/nginx/localhost.ssl_access_log main;
               error_log /var/log/nginx/localhost.ssl_error_log info;

               root /var/www/localhost/htdocs;

                                location / {
                index index.html index.htm index.php;
                autoindex on;
                autoindex_exact_size off;
                autoindex_localtime on;
                                 }                                                

                      location ~ \.php$ {
                       # Test for non-existent scripts or throw a 404 error
                       # Without this line, nginx will blindly send any request ending in .php to php-fpm
                       try_files $uri =404;
                       include /etc/nginx/fastcgi.conf;
                       fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
                                }
                }

Create SSL Nginx Virtual Host

9. Now it’s time to create two scripts on a system executable path ($PATH shell variable), that acts as commands to activate or disable Nginx Virtual Hosts.

Create the first Bash script named n2ensite that will enable Virtual Hosts configuration files by creating a symbolic link between specified hosts from sites-available to sites-enabled.

# nano /usr/local/bin/n2eniste

Add the following file content.

#!/bin/bash
if test -d /etc/nginx/sites-available && test -d /etc/nginx/sites-enabled  ; then
echo "-----------------------------------------------"
else
mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-available
mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
fi

avail=/etc/nginx/sites-available/\.conf
enabled=/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
site=`ls /etc/nginx/sites-available/`

if [ "$#" != "1" ]; then
                echo "Use script: n2ensite virtual_site"
                echo -e "\nAvailable virtual hosts:\n$site"
                exit 0
else

if test -e $avail; then
sudo ln -s $avail $enabled
else
echo -e "$avail virtual host does not exist! Please create one!\n$site"
exit 0
fi

if test -e $enabled/\.conf; then
echo "Success!! Now restart nginx server: sudo /etc/init.d/ nginx restart"
else
echo  -e "Virtual host $avail does not exist!\nPlease see available virtual hosts:\n$site"
exit 0
fi
fi

Create Virtual Host Enable Script

10. Then create the second script called n2dissite, that will delete specified active Virtual Hosts from sites-enabled Nginx path with the following content.

# nano /usr/local/bin/n2dissite

Add the following content.

#!/bin/bash
avail=/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/\.conf
enabled=/etc/nginx/sites-enabled
site=`ls /etc/nginx/sites-available/`

if [ "$#" != "1" ]; then
                echo "Use script: n2dissite virtual_site"
                echo -e "\nAvailable virtual hosts: \n$site"
                exit 0
else

if test -e $avail; then
sudo rm  $avail
else
echo -e "$avail virtual host does not exist! Exiting!"
exit 0
fi

if test -e $enabled/\.conf; then
echo "Error!! Could not remove $avail virtual host!"
else
echo  -e "Success! $avail has been removed!\nPlease restart Nginx: sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart"
exit 0
fi
fi

Create Virtual Host Disable Script

11. After finishing editing Bash scripts, append execution permissions and activate localhost Virtual Hosts – use Virtual Host configuration file name without .conf extension, then restart Nginx and PHP-FPM services to apply changes.

# chmod +x /usr/local/bin/n2dissite
# chmod +x /usr/local/bin/n2ensite
# n2ensite localhost
# n2ensite localhost-ssl
# service nginx restart
# service php-fpm restart

Restart Nginx and PHP-FPM

12. To test configurations create a PHP info file on localhost default root path for web files (/var/www/localhost/htdocs) and redirect your browser on https://localhost/info.php or http://localhost/info.php.

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" /var/www/localhost/htdocs/info.php

Verify PHP Configuration

Using localhost Virtual Hosts configuration files as templates and Nginx n2enmod and n2dismod you can easily now add as many websites as you like, but assure that you have valid DNS pointers for an Internet-facing web server or use entries locally on system hosts file.

Step 4: Install MySQL/MariaDB + PhpMyAdmin

To install MySQL database and PhpMyAdmin Web interface for MySQL use the same procedure presented on Installing LAMP on Gentoo.

13. In return if you want to use MariaDB, drop-in replacement for MySQL, use the following commands to get USE flags and install it.

# emerge -pv mariadb
# emerge --ask mariadb

Install MariaDB Database

In case you get a package conflict with MySQL add the following lines to Portage package.accept.keywords.

# echo “=dev-db/mariadb-5.5.37-r1 ~amd64” >> /etc/portage/package.accept.keywords
# echo “=virtual/mysql-5.5 ~amd64” >> /etc/portage/package.accept.keywords
# emerge --ask mariadb

14. After MySQL database is installed start service and secure it using mysql_secure_installation (change root password, disable root login outside localhost, remove anonymous user/test database).

# service mysql start
# mysql_secure_installation

15. Enter MySQL database using, mysql -u root -p command to test its functionality and leave it with exit command.

# mysql -u root -p

MariaDB > show databases;
MariaDB > exit;

Verify MySQL Connectivity

16. If you’re not too good with MySQL command line. install PhpMyAdmin Web frontend by executing the following commands.

# emerge -pv dev-db/phpmyadmin
# echo “dev-db/phpmyadmin setup vhosts” >> /etc/portage/package.use
# emerge  --ask dev-db/phpmyadmin

Install PhpMyAdmin

17. After PhpMyAdmin finishes installing, create a configuration file based on sample config file, change blowfish_secret passphrase with a random string, then create a symbolic link from /usr/share/webapps/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin_version_number/htdocs/ to Virtual Hosts document root path you want to access PhpMyAdmin web interface.

# cd /usr/share/webapps/phpmyadmin/4.2.2/htdocs/
# cp config.sample.inc.php  config.inc.php
# nano config.inc.php

Configure PHPMyAdmin

# ln -s /usr/share/webapps/phpmyadmin/4.2.2/htdocs/  /var/www/localhost/htdocs/phpmyadmin

Create a PhpMyAdmin Symbolic Link

18. To access MySQL database through PhpMyAdmin Web interface, open a browser and use the following URL address https://localhost/phpmyadmin.

Verify PhpMyAdmin Login

19. The final step is to enable services system-wide, to automatically start after reboot.

# rc-update add nginx default
# rc-update add php-fpm default
# rc-update add mysql default

Enable Services System Wide