Install Concrete5 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP 7.1 Support

If you’re looking for a WordPress alternative, Concrete5 might be a good place to start… you may be surprise to find features that are not available to WordPress users…

Concrete5 is a popular and widely used open source content management system based on PHP. It is designed for ease of use to allow webmasters and users to create powerful and dynamic content websites.

If you’re looking for a functional, high performance content management platform to manage your websites or blogs and 100% free, you’ll find Concrete5 to be useful. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install Concrete5 on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP support.

This post covers installing the latest version of Concrete5, which at the time of writing was at version 8.2.1

To get started with installing Concrete5, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Apache2

Concrete5 requires a webserver and the most popular webserver in use today is Apache2. So, go and install Apache2 on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt install apache2

After installing Apache2, run the commands below to disable directory listing.

sudo sed -i "s/Options Indexes FollowSymLinks/Options FollowSymLinks/" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
sudo systemctl start apache2.service
sudo systemctl enable apache2.service

Step 2: Install MariaDB

Concrete5 also requires a database server… and MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
New password: Enter password
Re-enter new password: Repeat password
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y

Restart MariaDB server

sudo systemctl restart mysql.service

Step 3: Install PHP and Related Modules

PHP 7.1 isn’t available on Ubuntu default repositories… in order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.1

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.1

sudo apt update

Run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 FPM and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.1 libapache2-mod-php7.1 php7.1-common php7.1-mbstring php7.1-xmlrpc php7.1-soap php7.1-gd php7.1-xml php7.1-intl php7.1-mysql php7.1-cli php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-zip php7.1-curl

After install PHP, run the commands below to open Apache2 PHP default file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/apache2/php.ini

Then make the change the following lines below in the file and save.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 64M

Step 4: Create Concrete5 Database

Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create Concrete5 database.

Run the commands below to logon to the database server. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called concrete5

CREATE DATABASE concrete5;

Create a database user called concrete5user with new password

CREATE USER 'concrete5user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON concrete5.* TO 'concrete5user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download Concrete5 Latest Release

Next, visit Concrete5 site and download the latest version.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into Apache2 root directory.

cd /tmp && wget --trust-server-names http://www.concrete5.org/download_file/-/view/96959/ -O concrete5.zip
unzip concrete5.zip
sudo mv concrete5-8.2.1 /var/www/html/concrete5

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Concrete5 to function.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/concrete5/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/concrete5/

Step 6: Configure Apache2

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for Concrete5. This file will control how users access Concrete5 content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called concrete5.conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/concrete5.conf

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin admin@example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/html/concrete5/
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/html/concrete5/>
        Options +FollowSymlinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the Concrete5 and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite concrete5.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite

Step 8 : Restart Apache2

To load all the settings above, restart Apache2 by running the commands below.

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see Concrete5 setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com

Then confirm all the requirements are met

Finally, enter your site info and the database connection settings and click Install Concrete5 to complete

Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Concrete5 on Ubuntu server.