How to Install Apache, MySQL/MariaDB and PHP on CentOS 8
This is one of the most commonly used Software Stack for building your web applications. This is also known as LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP/Perl/Python) Stack. See how IBM explains it.
Install Apache Web Server
First, we will start by installing the Apache web server. To complete the installation, use the following command:
yum install httpd
Output:
[root@server ~]# yum install httpd
Last metadata expiration check: 0:30:50 ago on Tue 22 Oct 2019 03:03:52 PM EDT.
Dependencies resolved.
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Package Arch Version Repository
Size
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Installing:
httpd x86_64 2.4.37-12.module_el8.0.0+185+5908b0db AppStream 1.7 M
Installing dependencies:
apr x86_64 1.6.3-9.el8 AppStream 125 k
apr-util x86_64 1.6.1-6.el8 AppStream 105 k
centos-logos-httpd
noarch 80.5-2.el8 AppStream 24 k
httpd-filesystem noarch 2.4.37-12.module_el8.0.0+185+5908b0db AppStream 35 k
httpd-tools x86_64 2.4.37-12.module_el8.0.0+185+5908b0db AppStream 102 k
mod_http2 x86_64 1.11.3-3.module_el8.0.0+185+5908b0db AppStream 158 k
mailcap noarch 2.1.48-3.el8 BaseOS 39 k
Installing weak dependencies:
apr-util-bdb x86_64 1.6.1-6.el8 AppStream 25 k
apr-util-openssl x86_64 1.6.1-6.el8 AppStream 27 k
Transaction Summary
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Install 10 Packages
Once the installation is complete, enable Apache (to start automatically upon system boot), start the web server and verify the status using the commands below.
systemctl enable httpd
systemctl start httpd
systemctl status httpd
Output:
[root@server ~]# systemctl enable httpd
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/httpd.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.
[root@server ~]# systemctl start httpd
[root@server ~]# systemctl status httpd
● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor prese>
Active: active (running) since Tue 2019-10-22 15:39:11 EDT; 14s ago
Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
To make your pages available to public, you will have to edit your firewall rules to allow HTTP and HTTPS requests on your web server by using the following commands.
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https
firewall-cmd --reload
Output:
[root@server ~]# firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http
success
[root@server ~]# firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https
success
[root@server ~]# firewall-cmd --reload
success
Verify that the web server is running and accessible by accessing your server’s IP address from your browser,
http://IP_address
Install MariaDB Server
MariaDB is a popular database server. The installation is simple and requires just a few steps as shown.
yum install mariadb-server mariadb
Output:
[root@server ~]# yum install mariadb-server mariadb
Last metadata expiration check: 1:28:38 ago on Tue 22 Oct 2019 03:03:52 PM EDT.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository
Size
================================================================================
Installing:
mariadb x86_64 3:10.3.11-2.module_el8.0.0+35+6f2527ed
AppStream 6.2 M
mariadb-server x86_64 3:10.3.11-2.module_el8.0.0+35+6f2527ed
AppStream 16 M
Installing dependencies:
mariadb-common x86_64 3:10.3.11-2.module_el8.0.0+35+6f2527ed AppStream 62 k
mariadb-connector-c x86_64 3.0.7-1.el8
AppStream 148 k
Once the installation is complete, enable MariaDB (to start automatically upon system boot), start the MariaDB and verify the status using the commands below.
systemctl enable mariadb
systemctl start mariadb
systemctl status mariadb
Output:
[root@server ~]# systemctl enable mariadb
[root@server ~]# systemctl start mariadb
[root@server ~]# systemctl status mariadb
● mariadb.service - MariaDB 10.3 database server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor pre>
Active: active (running) since Tue 2019-10-22 16:35:50 EDT; 50s ago
Docs: man:mysqld(8)
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/systemd/
Main PID: 2630 (mysqld)
Finally, you will want to secure your MariaDB installation by issuing the following command.
mysql_secure_installation
Output:
[root@server ~]# mysql_secure_installation
NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MariaDB, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.
Enter current password for root (enter for none):
OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MariaDB
root user without the proper authorisation.
Set root password? [Y/n] y
New password:
Re-enter new password:
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
... Success!
Once secured, you can connect to MySQL and review the existing databases on your database server by using the following command.
mysql -e "SHOW DATABASES;" -p
Output:
[root@server ~]# mysql -e "SHOW DATABASES;" -p
Enter password:
+--------------------+
| Database |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql |
| performance_schema |
+--------------------+
[root@server ~]#
Done!
Install PHP
To install PHP on your RHEL 8 use the command below.
yum install php php-mysqlnd php-pdo php-gd php-mbstring
Output:
[root@server ~]# yum install php php-mysqlnd php-pdo php-gd php-mbstring
Last metadata expiration check: 1:16:14 ago on Tue 22 Oct 2019 03:03:52 PM EDT.
Dependencies resolved.
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Package Arch Version Repository
Size
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Installing:
php x86_64 7.2.11-1.module_el8.0.0+56+d1ca79aa AppStream 1.5 M
php-gd x86_64 7.2.11-1.module_el8.0.0+56+d1ca79aa AppStream 83 k
Now restart your web server so that Apache knows that it will be serving PHP requests as well.
systemctl restart httpd
Test your PHP, by creating a simple info.php file with a phinfo() in it. The file should be placed in the directory root for your web server, which is /var/www/html.
To create the file use:
echo "<?php phpinfo() ?>" > /var/www/html/info.php
Now again, access http://localhost/info.php or http://yourserver-ip-address/info.php. You should see a page similar to below one.
Once confirmed, we recommend removing the info.php as it could be a security issue later on.