Setup Magento on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP 7.1 Support

Recently I installed Ubuntu 18.04 in my test environment using VMware Workstation… The steps below is part of my test on how to install Magento on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Servers with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP 7.1

Magento is a powerful eCommerce platform written in PHP. It enables individuals to setup eCommerce and online stores in minutes. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users an easy way to get Magento working on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Magento is written in PHP but also requires web and database servers. This can be accomplished using the LAMP stack. LAMP is a acronym for Linux, Apache2, MySQL and PHP. Many reputable online stores and brick and mortal establishments are using this software to run their businesses.

So, without wasting anymore of your time, let’s get started with installing Magento on Ubuntu. To do that, follow the steps below:

This post covers installing the latest version of Magento, which at the time of writing was at version 2.1.9.

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

Step 1: Install Apache2

Magento needs a web server… and the most popular webserver in use today is Apache2. So, go and install Apache2 on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt-get 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

After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used 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

Magento also needs 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 mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.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 mariadb.service

Step 3: Install PHP 7.1 and Related Modules

PHP 7.1 may not be available in 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

Finally, run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 and related modules..

sudo apt-get install 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-bcmath php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-ldap php7.1-zip php7.1-curl

Step 4: Create Magento Database

Now that you’ve installed all required packages, continue below to create a blank Magento database.

To logon to MariaDB server, run the commands below

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called magento

CREATE DATABASE magento;

Create a database user called magentouser with new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON magento.* TO 'magentouser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download Magento Latest Release

Next, visit Magento site and register for a free account. You must register before you’re allowed to download a copy. The community edition is what you’ll want to download.

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

sudo mkdir /var/www/html/magento/
sudo tar -zxvf ~/Downloads/Magento-CE*.tar.gz -C /var/www/html/magento/

Change or modify the directory permission to fit Apache2 configuration.

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

Step 6: Configure Apache2

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

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/magento.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/magento/
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/html/magento/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
     </Directory>

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

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the Magento and Rewrite Module

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

sudo a2ensite magento.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. You should see Magento setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

http://example.com

Continue with the wizard

Enter the database information

Create a new admin account to manage magento

Continue until you’re done.

Enjoy!

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