How to Install and SetUp Lighttpd Web Server on Ubuntu 18.04

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Install Lighttpd

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Enter the following command to install Lighttpd.

apt-get install lighttpd -y

Command to check the status

systemctl status lighttpd

Output:

root@vps:~# systemctl status lighttpd
● lighttpd.service - Lighttpd Daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/lighttpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-08-06 02:04:52 UTC; 16min ago
 Main PID: 10214 (lighttpd)
    Tasks: 1 (limit: 1106)
   CGroup: /system.slice/lighttpd.service
           └─10214 /usr/sbin/lighttpd -D -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

Aug 06 02:04:52 vps.server.com systemd[1]: Starting Lighttpd Daemon...
Aug 06 02:04:52 vps.server.com systemd[1]: Started Lighttpd Daemon.
root@vps:~#

Command to check Lighttpd Version.

lighttpd -version

Output:

root@vps:~# lighttpd -version
lighttpd/1.4.45 (ssl) - a light and fast webserver
Build-Date: Jun 15 2021 14:44:25
root@vps:~#

You can also check the verify Lighttpd by visiting the following URL on your web browser.

http://your-server-ip

OutPut:

Lighttpd Configuration

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The main Configuration file for Lighttpd located in the following directory

Note: Here you can make changes as per your requirements.

/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf

You can list all Configuration files for Lighttpd by using the tree command.

To install tree Package.

apt-get install tree -y

Enter the following command to list all configuration files for Lighttpd.

tree /etc/lighttpd/

Output:

root@vps:~# tree /etc/lighttpd/
/etc/lighttpd/
├── conf-available
│   ├── 05-auth.conf
│   ├── 10-accesslog.conf
│   ├── 10-cgi.conf
│   ├── 10-dir-listing.conf
│   ├── 10-evasive.conf
│   ├── 10-evhost.conf
│   ├── 10-expire.conf
│   ├── 10-fastcgi.conf
│   ├── 10-flv-streaming.conf
│   ├── 10-no-www.conf
│   ├── 10-proxy.conf
│   ├── 10-rewrite.conf
│   ├── 10-rrdtool.conf
│   ├── 10-simple-vhost.conf
│   ├── 10-ssi.conf
│   ├── 10-ssl.conf
│   ├── 10-status.conf
│   ├── 10-userdir.conf
│   ├── 10-usertrack.conf
│   ├── 11-extforward.conf
│   ├── 15-fastcgi-php.conf
│   ├── 90-debian-doc.conf
│   └── README
├── conf-enabled
└── lighttpd.conf

2 directories, 24 files
root@vps:~#

To Enable PHP and PHP-FPM for Lighttpd

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Note: Lighttpd does not support PHP we need to install PHP-FPM to work with the Lighttpd.

To install PHP-FPM

apt-get install php php-cgi php-fpm -y

Remove Apache Web server.

Note: While installing PHP on the system Apache Web server will be installed automatically.

Command to stop and remove Apache Web server.

systemctl stop apache2
systemctl disable apache2

Next, remove the Apache package completely from the system.

apt-get remove apache2  -y

To Configure PHP-FPM

Open the following Configuration file

nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

And find the this line listen = /run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock in the configuration file and replace it with following line.

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Save and exit the file -- And enter the following command to restart PHP-FPM

systemctl restart php7.2-fpm

To Configure PHP

Open the PHP configuration file.

nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

And find and uncomment the following line

cgi.fix_pathinfo=1

Open the following file and configure PHP-FPM to run as a FastCGI server on port 9000.

nano /etc/lighttpd/conf-available/15-fastcgi-php.conf

find the following line the file,

"bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php-cgi",
"socket" => "/var/run/lighttpd/php.socket",

and replace it with,

"host" => "127.0.0.1",
"port" => "9000",

Next, enable FastCGI and FastCGI-PHP modules.

lighty-enable-mod fastcgi
lighty-enable-mod fastcgi-php
service lighttpd force-reload

Output:

root@vps:~# lighty-enable-mod fastcgi
Enabling fastcgi: ok
Run "service lighttpd force-reload" to enable changes
root@vps:~# lighty-enable-mod fastcgi-php
Enabling fastcgi-php: ok
Run "service lighttpd force-reload" to enable changes
root@vps:~# service lighttpd force-reload

To verify PHP and PHP-FPM on Lighttpd

Create info.php

nano /var/www/html/info.php

and the following line

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

Open the following URL on your Web browser to verify,

http://your-server-ip/info.php