LAMP and LEMP Deployment Guide

This guide will detail how to install and configure LAMP and LEMP web server stacks on a Debian system. Both stacks are time-tested and highly mature solutions for hosting websites.

What are LAMP and LEMP?

• LAMP stands for Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP.
• LEMP stands for Linux / Engine-X (Nginx) / MySQL / PHP.

The only difference between them is the web server software used: Apache is feature-rich with a mature configuration ecosystem, while Nginx is lightweight, high-performance, and excels at handling high concurrency and static files.

Prerequisites

• A server running a fresh installation of Debian 12 (Bookworm).
• A non-root user with sudo privileges.

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Deploying LAMP (Apache)

Step 1: Update Package Index

First, ensure your system's package list is up to date.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install Apache

Install the Apache web server.

sudo apt install apache2

After the installation is complete, you can verify that Apache is running by visiting your server's IP address (http://your_server_ip) in a web browser. If you see the default Apache welcome page, the installation was successful.

Step 3: Install MariaDB (MySQL)

MariaDB is a community-driven, fully compatible fork of MySQL and is the default implementation in Debian.

sudo apt install mariadb-server

After installation, it is recommended to run the security script to remove insecure default settings.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts to set a root password and answer a series of security questions.

Step 4: Install PHP

Install PHP and the modules required for it to communicate with Apache and MySQL.

sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql

• php: The core PHP package.
• libapache2-mod-php: Enables Apache to handle PHP files.
• php-mysql: Allows PHP to connect to a MySQL/MariaDB database.

Step 5: Test PHP

To verify that Apache can correctly process PHP files, let's create a simple PHP file.

sudo nano /var/www/html/info.php

Paste the following content into the editor:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Save and close the file. Now, visit http://your_server_ip/info.php in your browser. If you see a page with detailed PHP information, the LAMP stack has been successfully deployed!

Important: For security reasons, be sure to delete this file after testing.

sudo rm /var/www/html/info.php

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Deploying LEMP (Nginx)

If you prefer to use Nginx, follow these steps.

Step 1: Install Nginx

sudo apt install nginx

Similarly, visit your server's IP (http://your_server_ip). If you see the Nginx welcome page, the installation is successful.

Step 2: Install MariaDB

This step is identical to the LAMP installation. If you have already installed it, there is no need to repeat it.

sudo apt install mariadb-server
sudo mysql_secure_installation

Step 3: Install PHP-FPM

Unlike Apache, Nginx does not have a built-in module for processing PHP. It requires an external program, PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager), to handle PHP requests.

sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql

Step 4: Configure Nginx

This is the most critical step in a LEMP deployment. You need to edit Nginx's server block configuration file to tell it how to pass .php file requests to PHP-FPM.

Open the default server block configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

You need to modify the file to look like the one below. Pay attention to adding index.php and the location ~ \.php$ block.

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html index.htm index.php; # Add index.php

    server_name _;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

    # This is the key part to uncomment or add
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        # Note: The path may vary depending on the PHP version
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
    }
}

Save and close the file. Then, test the Nginx configuration for syntax errors.

sudo nginx -t

If it displays syntax is ok and test is successful, you can safely restart Nginx to apply the changes.

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 5: Test PHP

This step is similar to the LAMP test. Create an info.php file.

sudo nano /var/www/html/info.php

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Now, visit http://your_server_ip/info.php. If you see the PHP information page, the LEMP stack has been successfully deployed!

Again, be sure to delete this file after testing.

sudo rm /var/www/html/info.php

Next Steps

You now have a fully functional web server environment. Your next steps might include:

• Configuring Virtual Hosts for your websites.
• Enabling HTTPS for your site using Let's Encrypt.
• Deploying your own application or installing a CMS like WordPress.