LAMP on CentOS 6

A LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack is a common web stack used to prepare servers for hosting web content. This guide shows you how to install a LAMP stack on a CentOS 6 system.

Note

This guide is written for a non-root user. Commands that require elevated privileges are prefixed with sudo. If you’re not familiar with the sudo command, you can check our Users and Groups guide.

1. Ensure that you have followed the Getting Started and Securing Your Server guides, and the Linode’s hostname is set.

   To check your hostname run:

   hostname
   hostname -f
   

   The first command should show your short hostname, and the second should show your fully qualified domain name (FQDN).

2. Update your system:

   sudo yum update
   

1. Install Apache 2:

   sudo yum install httpd
   

2. Edit the httpd.conf under /etc/httpd/conf/ to adjust the resource use settings. The settings shown below are a good starting point for a Linode 2GB:

   Note

   Before changing any configuration files, it is advised that you make a backup of the file. To make a backup:

   cp /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf ~/httpd.conf.backup

   File: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

   KeepAlive Off ... <IfModule prefork.c> StartServers 4 MinSpareServers 20 MaxSpareServers 40 MaxClients 200 MaxRequestsPerChild 4500 </IfModule>

There are different ways to set up virtual hosts; however, the method below is recommended. By default, Apache listens on all IP addresses available to it.

1. Create a file under /etc/httpd/conf.d called vhost.conf. Replace instances of example.com with your own domain information:

   File: /etc/httpd/conf.d/vhost.conf

   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

   NameVirtualHost *:80 <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com ServerName example.com ServerAlias www.example.com DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html/ ErrorLog /var/www/example.com/logs/error.log CustomLog /var/www/example.com/logs/access.log combined </VirtualHost>

   Additional code blocks can be added to the file for any other domains you with to host on the Linode.

   Note

   ErrorLog and CustomLog entries are suggested for more fine-grained logging, but are not required. If they are defined (as shown above), the logs directories must be created before you restart Apache.

2. Create the directories referenced above:

   sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public_html
   sudo mkdir /var/www/example.com/logs
   

3. Start Apache for the first time, and set it to run at boot:

   sudo service httpd start
   sudo /sbin/chkconfig --levels 235 httpd on
   

   You should new be able to view a default Apache page on your website.

   Note

   Anytime you change an option in your vhost.conf file, or any other Apache configuration file, remember to reload the configuration with the following command:

   sudo service httpd reload

1. Install the MySQL package:

   sudo yum install mysql-server
   

2. Start MySQL, and set it to run at boot:

   sudo service mysqld start
   sudo /sbin/chkconfig --levels 235 mysqld on
   

3. Run mysql_secure_installation to secure MySQL. You will be given the option to change the root password, remove anonymous user accounts, disable root logins outside of localhost, and remove test databases and reload privileges. It is recommended that you answer yes to these options:

   mysql_secure_installation
   

1. Log in to MySQL:

   mysql -u root -p
   

   Enter MySQL’s root password. You will then be presented with a MySQL prompt.

2. Create a database and user:

   create database webdata;
   grant all on webdata.* to 'webuser' identified by 'password';
   

   In the above example webdata is the name of the database, webuser the user, and password a strong password.

3. Exit MySQL:

   quit
   

With Apache and MySQL installed you are ready to move on to installing PHP.

1. Install PHP:

   sudo yum install php php-pear
   

   If you wish to install MySQL support for PHP also install the php-mysql package:

   sudo yum install php-mysql
   

2. Edit /etc/php.ini for better error messages and logs, and upgraded performance. These modifications provide a good starting point for a Linode 2GB:

   File: /etc/php.ini

   1 2 3

   error_reporting = E_COMPILE_ERROR|E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR|E_ERROR|E_CORE_ERROR error_log = /var/log/php/error.log max_input_time = 30

   Note

   Ensure that all the lines noted above are uncommented. A commented line begins with a semicolon (;).

3. Create the log directory for PHP and give the Apache user ownership:

   sudo mkdir /var/log/php
   sudo chown apache /var/log/php
   

4. Restart Apache:

   sudo service httpd restart
   

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• CentOS Linux Home Page
• Apache HTTP Server Documentation
• MySQL Documentation
• PHP Documentation