Manually build an LNMP environment on a CentOS 7 instance - Elastic Compute Service

NGINX is a small and efficient web server software that can be used to build an LNMP web service environment. LNMP is an acronym of the names of its original four open source components: Linux operating system, NGINX web server, MySQL relational database management system, and PHP programming language. This topic describes how to manually build an LNMP environment on an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance that runs a CentOS 7 operating system.

Prerequisites

An ECS instance is created and a public IP address is assigned to the instance. For more information, see Creation method overview.
In this example, an ECS instance with the following configurations is used. We recommend that you do not change the operating system during deployment. Otherwise, errors may be reported when commands are run.
- Instance type: ecs.c6.large
- Operating system: CentOS 7.8 64-bit public image
- 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, 80, and 443. For more information, see Add a security group rule.

Note For security purposes, this topic describes only the ports on which traffic must be allowed to deploy and test an LNMP environment. You can configure security group rules to allow traffic on more ports based on your needs. For example, if you want to connect to a MySQL database on an ECS instance, you must configure an inbound rule in 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 using Alibaba Cloud ECS to build websites.

You can also purchase an LNMP image in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace and create an ECS instance from the image to build websites.

The following software versions are used in the sample procedure. If your software version differs from the preceding ones, you may need to adjust the commands and parameter settings.

NGINX 1.20.1
MySQL 5.7.36
PHP 7.0.33

Step 1: Prepare the compilation environment

Connect to the ECS instance on which you want to deploy an LNMP environment.
For more information, see Connection methods.
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.
2. Disable the firewall. Skip this step if the firewall is already disabled.
  - To temporarily disable the firewall, run the following command:
```
systemctl stop firewalld
```
    Note After you run this command, the firewall is temporarily disabled. When you restart the Linux instance, the firewall is enabled automatically.
  - To permanently disable the firewall, perform the following steps:
    1. Run the following command to disable the firewall:
      systemctl stop firewalld
    2. Run the following command to prevent the firewall from being automatically enabled at system startup:
      systemctl disable firewalld
    Note You can re-enable the firewall after it is disabled. 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.
  You can disable SELinux on a temporary or permanent basis depending on your business needs. For more information, see Enable or disable SELinux.

Step 2: Install NGINX

Note This topic provides the installation method for a single version of NGINX. If you want to install other versions of NGINX, see the "FAQ" section in this topic.

Run the following command to install NGINX:
```
yum -y install nginx
```
Run the following command to check the version of NGINX:
```
nginx -v
```
The following command output indicates that NGINX is installed:
```
nginx version: nginx/1.20.1
```

Step 3: Install 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 this 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
```
The following command output indicates that MySQL is installed:
```
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.36, for Linux (x86_64) using  EditLine wrapper
```
Run the following command to start MySQL:
```
systemctl start mysqld
```
Run the following commands in sequence to enable automatic MySQL startup at system startup:
```
systemctl enable mysqld
systemctl daemon-reload
```

Step 4: Install PHP

Update the YUM repositories.

Run the following commands to add the EPEL repository:

yum install \
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

The following command output 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

Step 5: Configure NGINX

Run the following command to back up the NGINX configuration file:
```
cp /etc/nginx/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf.bak
```

Modify the NGINX configuration file to add NGINX support for PHP.

Note If you do not add this support, PHP-based pages cannot be displayed when you access them by using a browser.

Run the following command to open the NGINX configuration file:
```
vim /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
```
Press the I key to enter the edit mode.

Modify or add the following information enclosed inside the server braces:

Retain the default values for all settings except the following:

Modify or add information enclosed inside the location / braces.

        location / {
            index index.php index.html index.htm;
        }

Modify or add information enclosed inside the location ~ .php$ braces.

        # Add the following information to make NGINX use Fast Common Gateway Interface (FastCGI) to process your PHP requests: 
        location ~ .php$ {
            root /usr/share/nginx/html;    # Replace /usr/share/nginx/html with your website root directory. In this example, /usr/share/nginx/html is used as the website root directory. 
            fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;   # NGINX forwards your PHP requests to PHP FastCGI Process Manager (PHP-FPM) by using port 9000 of the ECS instance. 
            fastcgi_index index.php;
            fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
            include fastcgi_params;   # NGINX calls the FastCGI operation to process the PHP requests. 
        }

The following figure shows the added or modified configuration information. The NGINX configuration file

Press the Esc key, enter :wq, and then press the Enter key to save and close the configuration file.

Run the following command to start the NGINX service:
```
systemctl start nginx 
```
Run the following command to enable automatic NGINX startup at system startup:
```
systemctl enable nginx
```

Step 6: Configure MySQL

Run the following command to check the /var/log/mysqld.log file, and obtain and record the initial password of the root user:
```
grep 'temporary password' /var/log/mysqld.log
```
The following command output is displayed. ARQTRy3+n8*W is the initial password of the root user. This initial password will be used when you reset the password of the root user.
```
2021-11-10T07:01:26.595215Z 1 [Note] A temporary password is generated for root@localhost: ARQTRy3+n8*W
```

Run the following command to perform security configurations for MySQL:

mysql_secure_installation

Enter the initial password of the root user.
Note When you enter a password, no command output is returned to maximize data security. You need only to enter the correct password and then press the Enter key.
```
Securing the MySQL server deployment.

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

Reset the password of the root user.

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. 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 # The strength of the new password is contained in the command output. 
Change the password for root ? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) : Y # Enter Y to confirm the new password. 

# After the new password is set, you need to verify it again. 
New password:# Enter the new password. 

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 confirm the new password.

Enter Y to delete the anonymous user account.

Remove anonymous users? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) :Y
Success.

Enter Y to deny remote access by the root user.

Disallow root login remotely? (Press y|Y for Yes, any other key for No) :Y
Success.

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

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

 - Removing privileges on test database...
Success.

Enter Y to reload privilege tables.

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

All done!

For more information, see the official MySQL documentation.

Step 7: Configure PHP

Create and edit the phpinfo.php file to show PHP information.
1. Run the following command to create the phpinfo.php file:
```
vim <website root directory> /phpinfo.php
```
  The <website root directory> is the root value enclosed inside the location ~ .php$ braces that you configured in the nginx.conf file, as shown in the following figure. In this example, the website root directory is /usr/share/nginx/html. You can run the following command to create the phpinfo.php file:
```
vim /usr/share/nginx/html/phpinfo.php
```
2. Press the I key to enter the edit mode.
3. Enter the following content. The phpinfo() function shows all configuration information of PHP.
```
<?php echo phpinfo(); ?>
```
4. Press the Esc key, enter :wq, and then press the Enter key to save and close the configuration file.
Run the following command to start PHP-FPM:
```
systemctl start php-fpm
```
Run the following command to enable automatic PHP-FPM startup at system startup:
```
systemctl enable php-fpm
```

Step 8: Test the connection to the LNMP environment

Open a browser on your Windows computer or another Windows host that can access the Internet.
In the address bar, enter http://<public IP address of the ECS instance>/phpinfo.php.

The following page indicates that the LNMP environment is deployed.

What to do next

After you confirm that the LNMP environment is deployed, we recommend that you run the following command to delete the phpinfo.php file to ensure system security:

rm -rf <website root directory> /phpinfo.php

Replace the <website root directory> with the website root directory that you configured in the nginx.conf file.

In this example, the website root directory is /usr/share/nginx/html. Run the following command:

rm -rf /usr/share/nginx/html/phpinfo.php

FAQ

How do I install other NGINX versions?

Use a browser to visit the NGINX open source community to obtain the download URLs of NGINX versions.
Select the NGINX version that you want to install. NGINX 1.8.1 is used in this example.
Connect to the ECS instance on which you want to deploy an LNMP environment.
Run the wget command to download NGINX 1.8.1.
You can obtain the URL of the NGINX installation package for the required version from the NGINX open source community. Then, run the wget URL command to download the NGINX installation package to the ECS instance. For example, you can download NGINX 1.8.1 by running the following command:
```
wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.8.1.tar.gz
```

Run the following command to install NGINX dependencies:

yum install -y gcc-c++
yum install -y pcre pcre-devel
yum install -y zlib zlib-devel
yum install -y openssl openssl-devel

Run the following command to decompress the NGINX 1.8.1 installation package. Then, go to the folder in which NGINX resides:
```
tar zxvf nginx-1.8.1.tar.gz
cd nginx-1.8.1
```

Run the following commands in sequence to compile the source code:

./configure \
 --user=nobody \
 --group=nobody \
 --prefix=/usr/local/nginx \
 --with-http_stub_status_module \
 --with-http_gzip_static_module \
 --with-http_realip_module \
 --with-http_sub_module \
 --with-http_ssl_module

make && make install

Run the following command to go to the sbin directory of NGINX, and then start NGINX:
```
cd /usr/local/nginx/sbin/
./nginx
```
Use a browser to access <public IP address of the ECS instance>.
If the following page appears, it indicates that NGINX was installed successfully and started.