Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nThe -y<\/code> flag auto-confirms prompts. If this is a production server and you want to review changes before applying them, drop the -y<\/code> and read through what’s being upgraded.<\/p>\nStep 2: Install Apache<\/h3>\n<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo apt install apache2 -y<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nOnce installed, Apache starts automatically. Verify it’s running:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo systemctl status apache2<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nYou should see active (running)<\/code> in green. If your server has a firewall (UFW) enabled, you’ll need to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic, otherwise nothing will reach Apache from outside:<\/p>\n<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo ufw allow in "Apache Full"\nsudo ufw status<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nOpen a browser and navigate to your server’s IP address. You should see the Apache2 Ubuntu Default Page. If you see a connection timeout instead, the firewall rule above is almost always the reason.<\/p>\n
Step 3: Install MySQL<\/h3>\n<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo apt install mysql-server -y<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nUbuntu 22.04 installs MySQL 8.0 by default. Ubuntu 24.04 also ships MySQL 8.0 from the default repos. After installation, run the security script \u2014 this is not optional if you care about security at all:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo mysql_secure_installation<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nYou’ll be asked several questions. Here’s what I’d recommend:<\/p>\n
\nVALIDATE PASSWORD component<\/strong> \u2014 Enable it (Y<\/code>). Choose policy level 1 (MEDIUM) for most use cases.<\/li>\nRemove anonymous users<\/strong> \u2014 Yes.<\/li>\nDisallow root login remotely<\/strong> \u2014 Yes, unless you have a specific reason to allow remote root login (you probably don’t).<\/li>\nRemove test database<\/strong> \u2014 Yes.<\/li>\nReload privilege tables<\/strong> \u2014 Yes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\ud83d\udcdd Note: On MySQL 8.0, the root user uses auth_socket<\/code> authentication by default, which means you log in with sudo mysql<\/code> \u2014 not a password. This trips up a lot of people who expect to set a root password during setup and then can’t figure out why it won’t accept it.<\/p>\nStep 4: Create a dedicated MySQL database and user<\/h3>\n Don’t use the root account for your application. Create a separate user with only the permissions it needs. Log into MySQL first:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo mysql<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nThen run the following SQL, replacing the placeholders with your actual values:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nCREATE DATABASE myappdb;\nCREATE USER 'myappuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword123!';\nGRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myappdb.* TO 'myappuser'@'localhost';\nFLUSH PRIVILEGES;\nEXIT;<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n\u26a0 Warning: GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES<\/code> gives that user full control over the specified database only \u2014 not the whole server. Never grant GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.*<\/code> to an application user.<\/p>\nStep 5: Install PHP<\/h3>\n Ubuntu 22.04 ships PHP 8.1. Ubuntu 24.04 ships PHP 8.3. For most modern PHP apps either is fine, but always check your application’s documented requirements before installing.<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql -y<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nThe three packages here are: the PHP interpreter itself, the Apache PHP module that lets Apache process .php<\/code> files, and the PHP-MySQL extension your app needs to talk to the database. Skipping php-mysql<\/code> is a very common mistake \u2014 everything looks installed, but your app throws database connection errors.<\/p>\nYou’ll likely also need some common PHP extensions depending on your application:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo apt install php-curl php-xml php-mbstring php-zip php-gd php-intl -y<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nVerify the PHP version and confirm Apache picked it up:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nphp -v\nphp -m | grep -E "mysqli|pdo_mysql"<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nStep 6: Restart Apache and validate the setup<\/h3>\n Restart Apache to load the PHP module:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo systemctl restart apache2<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nNow create a PHP info file to confirm Apache is serving PHP correctly:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo nano \/var\/www\/html\/info.php<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nAdd this single line:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<?php phpinfo(); ?><\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nSave and close (Ctrl+X<\/code>, then Y<\/code>, then Enter<\/code>). Navigate to http:\/\/your-server-ip\/info.php<\/code> in a browser. You should see the full PHP info page showing your PHP version, loaded modules, and configuration.<\/p>\n\u26a0 Warning: Delete this file when you’re done testing. Leaving info.php<\/code> publicly accessible exposes your PHP configuration, installed modules, and server paths to anyone who knows the URL.<\/p>\n<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo rm \/var\/www\/html\/info.php<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nStep 7: Configure Apache virtual hosts (optional but recommended)<\/h3>\n If you’re hosting a real site, you’ll want a virtual host config instead of dumping files into \/var\/www\/html<\/code>. Create a config for your domain:<\/p>\n<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo nano \/etc\/apache2\/sites-available\/yourdomain.com.conf<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nPaste in this template, adjusting the domain and document root:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\n<VirtualHost *:80>\n ServerName yourdomain.com\n ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com\n DocumentRoot \/var\/www\/yourdomain.com\/public_html\n ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}\/yourdomain.com-error.log\n CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}\/yourdomain.com-access.log combined\n<\/VirtualHost><\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nCreate the document root directory, enable the site, and reload Apache:<\/p>\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo mkdir -p \/var\/www\/yourdomain.com\/public_html\nsudo a2ensite yourdomain.com.conf\nsudo systemctl reload apache2<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nCommon Issues & Troubleshooting<\/h2>\nApache shows the default Ubuntu page instead of my site<\/h3>\n The default site (000-default.conf<\/code>) takes priority if it’s still enabled. Disable it:<\/p>\n<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\nsudo a2dissite 000-default.conf\nsudo systemctl reload apache2<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nIf that doesn’t fix it, double-check your ServerName<\/code> directive matches the domain you’re requesting, and that DNS is actually pointing to your server’s IP.<\/p>\nPHP files download instead of executing in the browser<\/h3>\n Apache is serving .php<\/code> files as plain text instead of passing them to PHP. This means libapache2-mod-php<\/code> either isn’t installed or the module isn’t loaded. Check:<\/p>\n<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/button>Copied to clipboard<\/span><\/p>\napache2ctl -M | grep php<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\nIf you see nothing, the module isn’t active. Reinstall and restart:<\/p>\n