Deploy a LAMP stack on an Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 instance - Elastic Compute Service

LAMP stands for the Linux operating system, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL relational database management system, and PHP programming language. LAMP stacks are commonly used web development stacks. This topic describes how to deploy a LAMP stack on an ECS instance that runs Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.

Prerequisites

An ECS instance is created and assigned a public IP address. For more information, see Creation method overview.
The example in this topic makes use of an ECS instance that has the following configurations. We recommend that you use the same operating system version as that used in the example to prevent compatibility issues due to changes in the operating system.
- Instance type: ecs.c6.large
- Operating system: Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.1903 LTS 64-bit
- Network type: Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
- IP address: a public IP address
An inbound rule is added to a security group of the ECS instance to allow traffic on ports 22 and 80. For more information, see Add a security group rule.

Note For security purposes, this topic provides instructions to allow traffic only on the ports that are required to deploy and test an LAMP stack. You can configure security group rules to allow traffic on more ports based on your requirements. For example, if you want to connect to a MySQL database that is deployed on an ECS instance, you must add an inbound rule to a security group of the instance to allow traffic on port 3306, which is the default port used for MySQL.

Background information

This topic is intended for individual users who are familiar with Linux operating systems but new to building websites with Alibaba Cloud ECS. The following software versions are used in the examples in this topic. Operations may vary based on the software version you choose to use.

Apache HTTP Server: 2.4.6
MySQL: 5.7.38
PHP: 7.0.33
phpMyAdmin: 4.0.10.20

This topic describes how to manually build a LAMP stack. You can also purchase a LAMP image on Alibaba Cloud Marketplace and create an ECS instance from the image to build websites.

Step 1: Preparations

Connect to the ECS instance on which you want to build a LAMP stack.
For more information, see Connection methods.
Run the following command to check the operating system version.
```
cat /etc/redhat-release
```
A command output similar to the following one indicates that the operating system is Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.
```
[root@iZbp1j5vab2og8x6amc**** ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release
Alibaba Cloud Linux (Aliyun Linux) release 2.1903 LTS (Hunting Beagle)
```
Disable the firewall.
1. Run the systemctl status firewalld command to check the state of the firewall.
  - If the firewall is in the inactive state, the firewall is disabled.
  - If the firewall is in the active state, the firewall is enabled. In this example, the firewall is in the active state and must be disabled.
2. Disable the firewall. Skip this step if the firewall is already disabled.
  - To temporarily disable the firewall, run the systemctl stop firewalld command.
    
    Note After you run the preceding command, the firewall is disabled. The next time you restart the Linux operating system, the firewall is re-enabled and enters the active state.
  - To permanently disable the firewall, run the systemctl disable firewalld command.
    
    Note You can re-enable a disabled firewall. For more information, visit the official firewalld website.
Disable Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux).
1. Run the getenforce command to check the state of SELinux.
  - If SELinux is in the Disabled state, SELinux is disabled.
  - If SELinux is in the Enforcing state, SELinux is enabled.
2. Disable SELinux. Skip this step if SELinux is already disabled.
  - To temporarily disable SELinux, run the setenforce 0 command.
    
    Note After you run the preceding command, SELinux is disabled. The next time you restart the Linux operating system, SELinux is enabled and enters the Enforcing state.
  - To permanently disable SELinux, run the vi /etc/selinux/config command to edit the SELinux configuration file. Press the Enter key. Move the pointer to the SELINUX=enforcing line and press the I key to switch to the edit mode. Change the line to SELINUX=disabled and press the Esc key. Enter :wq and press the Enter key to save the changes and close the SELinux configuration file. Restart the operating system to apply the settings.
    
    Note You can re-enable SELinux after it is disabled. For more information, see the official SELinux documentation.

Step 2: Install Apache

Run the following command to install Apache and its extension package.
```
yum -y install httpd httpd-manual mod_ssl mod_perl
```
Run the following command to check the Apache version.
```
httpd -v
```
A command output similar to the following one indicates that the Apache version is 2.4.6.
```
[root@iZbp1j5vab2og8x6amc**** ~]# httpd -v
httpd -v
Server version: Apache/2.4.6 (AlibabaCloudLinux)
Server built:   Mar 30 2022 17:14:52
```
Run the following commands in sequence to start Apache and set Apache to start on system startup:
```
systemctl start httpd
systemctl enable httpd
```
Check the installation result.
1. Log on to the ECS console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Instances & Images > Instances.
3. On the Instances page, find the instance on which you want to deploy a LAMP stack and copy its public IP address from the IP Address column.
4. Enter http://<Public IP address of the ECS instance> in the address bar of your browser and press the Enter key.
  If a page similar to the following one is returned, Apache is started.

Step 3: Install and configure MySQL

Run the following command to update the YUM repository.

rpm -Uvh  http://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql57-community-release-el7-9.noarch.rpm

Run the following command to install MySQL.
Note If you are using an operating system whose kernel version is el8, you may receive the No match for argument error message. If the issue occurs, run the yum module disable mysql command to disable the default MySQL module before you install MySQL.
```
yum -y install mysql-community-server --nogpgcheck
```
Run the following command to check the version of MySQL.
```
mysql -V
```
A command output similar to the following one indicates that MySQL is installed.
```
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.38, for Linux (x86_64) using  EditLine wrapper
```
Run the following command to start MySQL.
```
systemctl start mysqld
```
Run the following commands in sequence to set MySQL to start on system startup.
```
systemctl enable mysqld
systemctl daemon-reload
```
Run the following command to check the initial password of the root account used to log on to MySQL.
```
grep "password" /var/log/mysqld.log
```
The following output is returned. In this example, the initial password is ThTcjQTe+9R7.
```
2022-07-13T09:38:49.488700Z 1 [Note] A temporary password is generated for root@localhost: ThTcjQTe+9R7
```

Run the following command to configure the security settings of MySQL.

mysql_secure_installation

Perform the following operations:

Reset the password of the root account.

Note Keep the password of the root account secure.

Enter password for user root: # Enter the initial password of the root account that you obtained in the preceding step. 

The existing password for the user account root has expired. Please set a new password.

New password: # Enter a new password. The password must be 8 to 30 characters in length and must contain uppercase letters, lowercase letters, digits, and special characters. Supported special characters include ( ) ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * - + = | { } [ ] : ; ‘ < > , . ? /

Re-enter new password: # Enter the new password again. 
The 'validate_password' plugin is installed on the server.
The subsequent steps will run with the existing configuration
of the plugin.
Using existing password for root.

Estimated strength of the password: 100
Change the password for root ? ((Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) :Y # Enter Y and enter the new password again. 

New password: # Enter the new password again. 

Re-enter new password: # Enter the new password again. 

Estimated strength of the password: 100
Do you wish to continue with the password provided?(Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) :Y # Enter Y to use the new password.

Enter Y to delete the anonymous user account.

By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user,
allowing anyone to log into MySQL without having to have
a user account created for them. This is intended only for
testing, and to make the installation go a bit smoother.
You should remove them before moving into a production
environment.

Remove anonymous users? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : Y  # Enter Y to delete the anonymous user.
Success.

Enter Y to deny remote access by the root account.

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from
'localhost'. This ensures that someone cannot guess at
the root password from the network.

Disallow root login remotely? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : Y # Enter Y to deny remote access by the root account.
Success.

Enter Y to delete the test database and the access permissions on the database.

By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that
anyone can access. This is also intended only for testing,
and should be removed before moving into a production
environment.

Remove test database and access to it? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : Y # Enter Y to delete the test database and the access permissions on the database.
 - Dropping test database...
Success.

 - Removing privileges on test database...
Success.

Enter Y to reload privilege tables.

Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes
made so far will take effect immediately.

Reload privilege tables now? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : Y # Enter Y to reload privilege tables.
Success.

All done!

Step 4: Install PHP

Update the YUM repositories.

Run the following commands to add the EPEL repository.

yum install -y \
https://repo.ius.io/ius-release-el7.rpm \
https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

Run the following command to add the Webtatic repository.

rpm -Uvh https://mirror.webtatic.com/yum/el7/webtatic-release.rpm

Run the following command to install PHP.

yum -y install php70w-devel php70w.x86_64 php70w-cli.x86_64 php70w-common.x86_64 php70w-gd.x86_64 php70w-ldap.x86_64 php70w-mbstring.x86_64 php70w-mcrypt.x86_64  php70w-pdo.x86_64   php70w-mysqlnd  php70w-fpm php70w-opcache php70w-pecl-redis php70w-pecl-mongodb

Run the following command to check the version of PHP.

php -v

A command output similar to the following one indicates that PHP is installed:

PHP 7.0.33 (cli) (built: Dec  6 2018 22:30:44) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2017 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.0.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2017 Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v7.0.33, Copyright (c) 1999-2017, by Zend Technologies

Run the following command to create a test file in the root directory of the Apache website.
```
echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
```
Run the following command to restart Apache.
```
systemctl restart httpd
```
Enter http://<Public IP address of the ECS instance>/phpinfo.php in the address bar of your browser and press the Enter key.
If a page similar to the following one is displayed, PHP is installed.

(Optional) Step 5: Install phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a MySQL databases management tool that allows you to manage databases by using web interfaces.

Run the following command to prepare a directory to store phpMyAdmin data.
```
mkdir -p /var/www/html/phpmyadmin
```
Run the following commands to download and decompress the phpMyAdmin package.
1. Run the following commands in sequence to switch to the home directory and download the phpMyAdmin package.
```
cd
wget --no-check-certificate https://files.phpmyadmin.net/phpMyAdmin/4.0.10.20/phpMyAdmin-4.0.10.20-all-languages.zip
```
2. Run the following commands in sequence to install the unzip tool and decompress the phpMyAdmin package.
```
yum install -y unzip
unzip phpMyAdmin-4.0.10.20-all-languages.zip
```
Run the following command to copy the phpMyAdmin files to the prepared directory.
```
mv phpMyAdmin-4.0.10.20-all-languages/*  /var/www/html/phpmyadmin
```
Enter http://<Public IP address of the ECS instance>/phpmyadmin in the address bar of your browser and press the Enter key to go to the logon page of phpMyAdmin.
If a page similar to the following one is displayed, phpMyAdmin is installed.
Enter the username and password of your MySQL account and click Go.
By default, the username of the MySQL database is root. The password is the one you reset in the previous step of resetting the password.