Linux CentOS - LAMP (Apache, PHP and MySQL in Linux) Server for CentOS/RHEL

INTRODUCTION

This tutorial shows a quick way of installing a LAMP server (Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP/Perl together commonly known as LAMP Server) with some additionally repositories (for updated PHP, MySQL packages and phpMyAdmin) on CentOS/RHEL server systems.

Install the extra repositories

The first step requires downloading some RPM files that contain the additional YUM repository definitions.

Centos 5.x

wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm
wget http://rpms.famillecollet.com/enterprise/remi-release-5.rpm
sudo rpm -Uvh remi-release-5*.rpm epel-release-5*.rpm

Centos 6.x

wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
wget http://rpms.famillecollet.com/enterprise/remi-release-6.rpm
sudo rpm -Uvh remi-release-6*.rpm epel-release-6*.rpm

Update CentOS

yum update

YUM PRIORITIES

The Yum Priorities plugin can be used to enforce ordered protection of repositories, by associating priorities to repositories. Visit the Yum Priorities CentOS Wiki for more information.

Install Yum Priorities

yum install yum-priorities

Configure Yum Priorities
1. Open the Yum Priorities configuration file with your favourite text editor

vi /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/priorities.conf

- Ensure the following lines exist

[main]
enabled=1

- Save and close the file

2. Open the CentOS base repository configuration file

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo

- Add the following text to the end of the Base, Updates, Addons, and Extras repository entries (A repository entry is specified with the repository name placed between [example], i.e. the base repository entry is specified with [base])

priority=1 - 

Enable (change the enable value 0 to 1) and add the following text to the end of the CentOSPlus repository entry

priority=2

EPEL RPOSITORY

Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) is a volunteer-based community effort from the Fedora project to create a repository of high-quality add-on packages that complement the Fedora-based Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and its compatible spinoffs such as CentOS or Scientific Linux. Visit the Fedora EPEL Wiki for more information.

Install EPEL Repository
- Download the latest EPEL repository

wget http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm

- Run the rpm install command

rpm -Uvh epel-release-5*.rpm

Open the EPEL repository file
/etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo

- Set priority for the EPEL repository
Add priority=3 to the end of the [epel] section

REMI REPOSITORY

 

The Remi repository is a repository containing updated PHP and MySQL packages and is maintained by Remi. See the Remi Documentation for more information.

Install Remi Repository
1. Download the latest Remi repository

wget http://rpms.famillecollet.com/enterprise/remi-release-5.rpm

2. Run the rpm install command

rpm -Uvh remi-release-5*.rpm

Configure Remi Repository
1. Open the Remi repository file

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/remi.repo

2. Enable the Remi Repository
Change enabled=0 to enabled=1

3. Set priority for the Remi Repository
Add priority=3 to the end of the [remi] section

Exclude PHP and MySQL packages from the CentOS base repositories
1. Open the CentOS base repository configuration file

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo

2. Append the following text to all repositories

exclude=*php* *mysql* *phpmyadmin*

APACHE SERVER

Apache HTTP Server is an open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems including UNIX and Windows NT. For more information on Apache HTTP Server, you can visit their website at httpd.apache.org.

Install Apache

yum install httpd

NOTE: The Apache server is installed with our VPS packages with CentOS by default so you may skip this step.

Set the apache service to start on boot

chkconfig httpd on

or type ntsysv for GUI tool

PHP

PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. For more information on PHP, visit their website at http://www.php.net/.

Install PHP

yum install php

Restart Apache to load php

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

Test If PHP Is Working Or Not:

1. Create a file named info.php

vi /var/www/html/info.php 

with the following text:

<?php
  phpinfo();
?>

Then point your browser to http://ipaddress/info.php.
NOTE: It is NOT recommended to expose the info PHP file to public view.
That's it! You should see a PHP configuration file displaying all kind of paths and installed modules.

MYSQL

MySQL is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. For more information on MySQL, you can visit their website at www.mysql.com.

Install MySQL Database Server

yum install mysql-server mysql php-mysql

1. Set the MySQL service to start on boot

chkconfig mysqld on or type ntsysv for GUI tool

2. Start the MySQL service

/etc/init.d/mysqld start

3. Log into MySQL

mysql -u root

4. Set the root user password for all local domains (otherwise anybody can access your MySQL database!)

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('new-password');
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost.localdomain' = PASSWORD('new-password');
SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'127.0.0.1' = PASSWORD('new-password');

5. Drop the Any user

DROP USER ''@'localhost';
DROP USER ''@'localhost.localdomain';

6. Exit MySQL

exit

Alternatively you can run a script to improve the security of your MySQL installation. This is recommended for all MySQL servers in production use!

mysql_secure_installation

PHPMYADMIN

phpMyAdmin is a tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web. Visit the phpMyAdmin website for more information.

Install phpMyAdmin

yum install phpmyadmin

NOTE: You might encounter the following errors while configuring phpMyAdmin
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /phpmyadmin/ on this server.

To fix:
Edit the /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf file and uncomment the line deny from all

vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf

<Directory "/usr/share/phpmyadmin">
  Order Deny,Allow
  # Deny from all
  Allow from 127.0.0.1
</Directory>

NOTE: The location of the phpMyAdmin configuration file is /etc/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php

Restart the Apache Server

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

Test:
1. Visit http://ipaddress/phpmyadmin in your web browser. You should be prompted for authentication
2. Enter the system root username and password and click OK
3. You should now be presented with the phpMyAdmin home page