how to install LAMP – Apache, MySQL & PHP on Ubuntu 11.10

Ubuntu has become popular not only among desktop users but also among the web developers who uses Linux distribution to deploy their web application (on a VPS or dedicated host), although they preferred to use LTS (Long Term Support – typically of five years for Server Edition) version rather than a regular stable release because of obvious advantages – increased stability (Although, from the next release i.e Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Desktop version will also get 5 years of support).

Despite of that fact, a lot of users/developers also use Apache server on their localhost for testing/development (e.g wordpress developers use it) and this post is written for those who want to get started with Apache, PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin etc with Ubuntu 11.10. Apache is the most popular web server on this planet (total share is above 65%). It is an open source and cross-platform web server. Apache supports a lot of server side language and the features is extensible using modules. PHP dominates the web scripting world and MySQL is the most popular open source database. Most of the websites (including the blog – you’re reading right now) are based on the great combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (Commonly called as LAMP).

Setup LAMP in Ubuntu 11.10

step 1. Installing Apache

Open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+t) and execute the command –

sudo apt-get install apache2

The above command will install some default modules, packages and libraries but you later install the ones you need. When installation is completed, type the address http://localhost in the browser address bar and you will get a default apache page like this –

 

step 2. Installing MySQL

Execute the command –

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

and enter the root password during installation procedure. I’ve already covered a post in detail about how to install MySQL on Ubuntu 11.10.

step 3. Installing PHP

Execute the command –

sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mysql

Then restart the Apache server to load php modules –

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

To test whether the PHP 5 has been successfully installed or not, create a file phpinfo.php and copy the following content (to the file) –

<?php
print_r (phpinfo());
?>

and put the file in root web directory (/var/www). Then open the address http://localhost/phpinfo.php, then it should display the php configuration details like this –

That’s All.. Linux (Ubuntu is itself a Linux based OS), Apache, MySQL and PHP i.e all the components of LAMP has been installed successfully.

To manage MySQL database from a GUI, You may like to install phpMyAdmin – The MySQL web administration tool, a great application for managing – creating and maintaining MySQL database.

How to install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 11.10 ?

just execute the command –

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

When the installation is complete, move on to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and login (using the MySQL login username(default is ‘root’) and the password (you entered during installation)) to start using it.

Want to learn web server administration (with LAMP) on Ubuntu Server ?

Having apache, MySQL, PHP installed locally on your system is good for learning about the server administration and other cool/great stuffs related to Linux but VPS is very cheap these days so you may want to try Ubuntu (with Apache or other web server) on a VPS for much better (and real) experience – I’ve been using Linode VPS @ $19.95/month (512 MB RAM, 20 GB space and 200GB bandwidth) for a while, and I am loving it.