A combination of Linux based operating system and open-source software stack, LEMP provides a LAMP compatible platform for all applications. The acronym LEMP stands for Linux, Nginx (engine-x) HTTP Server, MySQL/MariaDB database and PHP/Perl/Python. A key distinguishing factor between LEMP and its predecessor LAMP is the replacement of the Apache Server with nginx ( pronounced “engine x”) in LEMP , which has made the server more scalable in response to high demand situations. Meanwhile you have an option to replace MySQL with MariaDB, a more scalable and robust SQL server with multiple enhancements.
Here's a look at how I configured a LEMP server on Ubuntu 14.04.
Step 1: Install Nginx
Install nginx using command :
sudo apt-get install nginx
Start Nginx service using the command:
sudo service nginx start
Open up web browser and navigate to http://ip-address/ or http://localhost/. See a screen with message Welcome to Nginx!
# Nginx Configuration:
Open the file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf and enter the following command in terminal
sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
Set the worker_processes To see the no. of CPU’s, use the command “lscpu”. In my case it’s “4″. So I set this as ’4′.
worker_processes 4;
After that Restart the Nginx Services :
sudo service nginx restart
The default vhost (server block) is defined in the /etc/nginx/sites-available/default file.
Under the Server section, as shown below add index.php line.
server {
listen 80 default_server;
listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on;
root /usr/share/nginx/html;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
# Make site accessible from http://localhost/
server_name server.unixmen.local
}Under the section #location ~ \.php$. Uncomment and modify the following lines as shown below.
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404; ---------> Add this line
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
# # NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
#
# # With php5-cgi alone:
# fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
# # With php5-fpm:
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
include fastcgi.conf;
}Added an extra line ‘try_files $uri =404;’ to prevent zero day exploits.
# Test Nginx configuration
Test the nginx configuration for any syntax errors using command:
sudo nginx -t
Sample output:
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
Finally restart nginx service
sudo service nginx restart
Step 2 : Install MariaDB!
A drop in replacement for MySQL and a reliable SQL server, MariaDB comes with a rich set of enhancements that makes it more robust and scalable.
# For Installing MariaDB enter this command in the terminal.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
During installation set database ‘root’ user password set password.
# Check the MariaDB version using command:
sudo mysql -v -u root -p
# Check if MariaDB is running or not, using the following command:
sudo service mysql status
Step : 3 Install PHP
PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Pre-processor) is a widely used open-source general purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML.
# Install php5-fpm
sudo apt-get install php5 php5-fpm php5-mysql
# Configure PHP
Open php.ini file in any editor:
sudo nano /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini
Find the line ‘cgi.fix_pathinfo=1′, uncomment it and change the value 1 to 0.
cgi.fix_pathinfo=0
Now restart php-fpm service.
sudo service php5-fpm restart
# Test if PHP is running or not.
Create a sample “info.php” file in nginx document root folder.
sudo nano /usr/share/nginx/html/info.php
Add the following lines in it.
Save and exit the file.
PHP-FPM listens on the socket /var/run/php5-fpm.sock by default. To make PHP-FPM use a TCP connection, open the file /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf,
sudo nano /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf
Find the line listen = /var/run/php5-fpm.sock,
;listen = /var/run/php5-fpm.sock
and modify it to listen = 127.0.0.1:9000.
listen = 127.0.0.1:9000
Save and exit the file. Restart php5-fpm service.
sudo service php5-fpm restart
Now open the nginx configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
Find the line fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock; and change it to fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000; as shown below.
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
# # NOTE: You should have "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0;" in php.ini
#
# # With php5-cgi alone:
fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
# # With php5-fpm:
# fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
include fastcgi.conf;
}Save and exit the file.Now Restart nginx service.
sudo service nginx restart
# Manage Databases Using phpMyAdmin
phpMyAdmin is a free open-source web interface tool used to manage your databases.
Step 4 : Install phpMyAdmin
Install it with command:
sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin
The phpMyAdmin installation has been completed.
Create a symbolic link between phpMyAdmin and the website root directory. Here our website root document directory is /usr/share/nginx/html/.
sudo ln -s /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ /usr/share/nginx/html
Restart nginx server again
sudo service nginx restart
Now manage your databases from phpMyAdmin web interface.
That’s it. LEMP server is now up and ready to use.
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