• Table of contents
• Prepare The Server
• Install Apache 2
  • Configure Apache 2
• Install MySQL 5.5
  • Configure a new MySQL database
• Install PHP 5
• (Extra) Install PhpMyAdmin
• (Extra) Install Apache 2 Passenger
• Securing Apache with SSL
  • • Forcing SSL on a Website

This is a simple guide for setting up a LAMP server on Debian 7 (wheezy); which is a Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP web server. When finished, web pages that are copied into the default /var/www directory will be served.

Prepare The Server¶

This guide is assumed that a Bare Debian install with only SSH Server access, a user that has sudo access.

• Obtain a root shell and upgrade the server:
  

  sudo -s
  apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
  

• Set the hostname in the hosts:
  

  vi /etc/hosts
  

  • And add/modify the following:
    

    127.0.1.1     www.example.com www
    

• And also edit the hostname file:
  

  vi /etc/hostname
  

  • And add/modify the following:
    

    www
    

• Reboot to apply the hostname settings:
  

  reboot
  

Install Apache 2¶

• Install apache:
  

  apt-get install apache2
  

Configure Apache 2¶

• Edit the default apache2 Vhost config:
  

  vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/default
  

  • And add/modify the following VirtualHost block:
    

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName www.example.com
    
        DocumentRoot /var/www           
        <Directory /var/www>
            Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
            AllowOverride All
            Order allow,deny
            allow from all
        </Directory>
    </VirtualHost>
    

  • NOTE: Make sure AllowOverride is set to ALL, or else the .htaccess file will not work.

• Restart apache2:
  

  service apache2 restart
  

• Now navigate to http://www.example.com and the default It Works! should be displayed.

Install MySQL 5.5¶

• Install MySQL server and client:
  

  apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client
  

  • NOTE: During the setup a prompt will appear to set the root MySQL user password. Set a strong password and do not forget it.

Configure a new MySQL database¶

• Log into the MySQL console:
  

  mysql -h localhost -u root -p
  

  • Create the webappuser user with the SuperSecretPassword password and the webappdb database:
    

    CREATE USER 'webappuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'SuperSecretPassword';   
    CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS  `webappdb` CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `webappdb`.* TO 'webbappuser'@'localhost';
    
    flush privileges;
    exit
    

Install PHP 5¶

• Install PHP 5 with the apache-php module and a few common PHP extensions:
  

  apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-cli php5-mysql php5-mcrypt php5-gd
  

  • PHP has many extensions, run the following to get a list of all available extensions:
    

    apt-cache search php5-
    

• Restart apache for the php module to take effect:
  

  service apache2 restart
  

(Extra) Install PhpMyAdmin¶

• Install phpmyadmin:
  

  aptget install phpmyadmin
  

  • NOTE: Make sure to enable [X]apache2 when the prompt appears.

• Open http://www.example.com/phpmyadmin to access phpmyadmin
  • NOTE: The setup will not secure the phpmyadmin install, it is usually a good idea to deny access to the phpmyadmin interface to everyone except a host or specific network like a LAN.

(Extra) Install Apache 2 Passenger¶

• Install the apache2 passenger module:
  

  apt-get install libapache2-mod-passenger
  

• Edit the apache2 passenger config file:
  

  nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/passenger.conf
  

  • And add/modify the apache user as the default passenger user:
    

    <IfModule mod_passenger.c>
      PassengerRoot /usr
      PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby
      PassengerDefaultUser www-data
    </IfModule>
    

• Edit the default apache2 Vhost config:
  

  vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/default
  

  • And add/modify the following VirtualHost block:
    

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName www.example.com
    
        DocumentRoot /var/www/rubyapp/public           
        <Directory /var/www/rubyapp/public>
            Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks -MultiViews
            AllowOverride All
            Order allow,deny
            allow from all
        </Directory>
    </VirtualHost>
    

• Edit the apache2 default ssl Vhost config file:
  

  vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl
  

  • And Add the following:
    

    <VirtualHost *:443>
        ServerName www.example.com
    
        DocumentRoot /var/www/rubyapp/public          
        <Directory /var/www/rubyapp/public>
            Options FollowSymLinks
            AllowOverride All
            Require all granted
        </Directory>
    
        SSLEngine on
    
        SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/www.example.com.crt
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/www.example.com.key
    
        <FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
        </FilesMatch>
    
        BrowserMatch "MSIE [2-6]" nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0
        BrowserMatch "MSIE [17-9]" ssl-unclean-shutdown
    </VirtualHost>
    

Securing Apache with SSL¶

• Install openssl:
  

  apt-get install openssl
  

• Generate a strong SSL key and a CSR to send for signing by a CA:
  

  mkdir /etc/apache2/ssl && cd /etc/apache2/ssl
  openssl req -sha512 -out www.example.com.csr -new -newkey rsa:4096 -nodes -keyout www.example.com.key
  

• Make sure to securely copy the SSL certificate to www.example.com.crt

• Edit the apache2 default ssl Vhost config file:
  

  vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl
  

  • And Add the following:
    

    <VirtualHost *:443>
        ServerName www.example.com
    
        DocumentRoot /var/www            
        <Directory /var/www>
            Options FollowSymLinks
            AllowOverride All
            Require all granted
        </Directory>
    
        SSLEngine on
    
        SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/www.example.com.crt
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/www.example.com.key
    
        <FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
        </FilesMatch>
    
        BrowserMatch "MSIE [2-6]" nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0
        BrowserMatch "MSIE [17-9]" ssl-unclean-shutdown
    </VirtualHost>
    

• Change the SSL certificate and key ownership to the apache user:
  

  chown www-data:www-data /etc/apache2/ssl/www.example.com.{crt,key}
  chmod o-rwx /etc/apache2/ssl/www.example.com.key
  

• Enable the ssl apache modules:
  

  a2enmod ssl
  

Forcing SSL on a Website¶

• Enable forced SSL connection by setting the two lines from earlier in the .htaccess file. Open the file for editing:
  

  vi /var/www/.htaccess
  

  • Look for the following two lines, and remove the # characters before them:
    

    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
    RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
    

• Restart apache2:
  

  service apache2 restart
  

• Now the website will be accessible from https://www.example.com