This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure BuilderEngine CMS on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 LTS servers.
Our previous tutorial showed you how to install BuilderEngine CMS platform on Ubuntu with Apache2 HTTP server. This post shows you how to run it with Nginx HTTP server instead.
BuilderEngine is an open source, next generation content management system and eCommerce platform with website builder features packed with powerful modules to develop complex websites in no time.
Its BuildEngine comes with support for eCommerce, Booking, Media, Social and Web languages, including PHP, MySQL, JQuery, Bootstrap and more. So you can build multiple platform using its powerful BuildEngine tool.
This CMS is robust and mobile-friendly and responsive out-of-the-box so your users can enjoy reading and interacting with your website from any device.
BuilderEngine CMS comes with an intuitive and powerful backend that will get you started right away without knowing anything about coding in HTML or CSS. You also get a powerful search tool, backend analytics, drag n drop media panel and more.
If you are looking for a solution to to build and manage you own websites without the need for any coding skills, then BuilderEngine is a great place to start.
For more about BuilderEngine, please check their Homepage
To get started with installing BuilderEngine, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Install Nginx HTTP Server
You will need a web server to run BuilderEngine and Nginx HTTP server is the most popular open source web server available today. So go and get it for BuilderEngine.
To install Nginx server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx
After installing Nginx webserver, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop nginx.service sudo systemctl start nginx.service sudo systemctl enable nginx.service
Now that Nginx is installed. to test whether the web server is working, open your browser and browse to the URL below.

If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.
Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server
BuilderEngine also needs a database server to store its content. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with BuilderEngine.
To install MariaDB run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
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
To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB server
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message
Step 3: Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
BuilderEngine is a PHP based CMS and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To run PHP 7.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, you may need to run the commands below:
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-bcmath php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default configuration file for Nginx.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
The lines below is a good settings for most PHP based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Everytime you make changes to PHP configuration file, you should also restart Nginx web server. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Step 4: BuilderEngine Database
Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First create a BuilderEngine database.
Run the commands below to logon to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called builderengine
CREATE DATABASE builderengine;
Create a database user called builderengineuser with new password
CREATE USER 'builderengineuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the builderengine database.
GRANT ALL ON builderengine.* TO 'builderengineuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Step 5: Download BuilderEngine Latest Release
After installing the server and packages above, go and get the latest copy of BuilderEngine from its download site.
After downloading, use the commands below to extract the archived content into Nginx root directory.
cd /tmp wget https://builderengine.org/BuilderEngine-CE.zip sudo mkdir -p /var/www/builderengine sudo unzip BuilderEngine-CE.zip -d /var/www/builderengine
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for BuilderEngine root directory and give Nginx control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/builderengine/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/builderengine/
Step 6: Configure Nginx
Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for BuilderEngine. This file will control how users access BuilderEngine
content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called builderengine
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/builderengine
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.
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
root /var/www/builderengine;
index index.php;
access_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/example.com.error.log;
client_max_body_size 100M;
autoindex off;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Step 7: Enable the BuilderEngine and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/builderengine /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see BuilderEngine setup wizard to complete.
BuilderEngine should begin its installation wizard. Type in the database name, user and password and admin account. and click Begin Installation

When you’re done, your site should be up and ready to use. Login with the admin account created above and begin setting up your environment.
Enjoy~
Congratulation! You have successfully installed BuilderEngine on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04
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