LAMP-stack-basic-implementation

Pre-requisites

Setting Up AWS EC2 Instance with Ubuntu Server

To complete this project, you will need an AWS account and a virtual server with Ubuntu Server OS.

AWS Account Setup

1. Register a new AWS account.
2. Launch a new EC2 instance in your preferred region using the t2.micro family and Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS (HVM).

IMPORTANT: Save your private key (.pem file) securely and do not share it.

Connecting to the EC2 Instance

MAC/Linux Users

1. Open Terminal.
2. Use the same key downloaded from AWS; no need to convert it.
3. Change directory to the location of your PEM file (likely in the Downloads folder): cd ~/Downloads
4. Change permissions for the private key file (.pem): sudo chmod 0400 <private-key-name>.pem
5. Connect to the instance: ssh -i <private-key-name>.pem ubuntu@<Public-IP-address>

AWS Free Tier Limits

• You can use 750 hours (31.25 days) of t2.micro server per month for the first 12 months FOR FREE.
• Stop your EC2 instance when not in use.
• By default, there is a soft limit of maximum 5 running instances at the same time.
• Note: Every time you stop and start your EC2 instance, you will have a new IP address. Update your SSH credentials accordingly.

STEP 1 - INSTALLING APACHE AND UPDATING THE FIREWALL

Apache is a widely used web server software known for its speed, reliability, and security. It can be customized using extensions and modules.

To install Apache using Ubuntu's package manager 'apt':

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2

Verify that Apache is running:

sudo systemctl status apache2

Open TCP port 80 to allow web traffic:

• Open inbound port 80 in EC2 configuration.

To access the server locally, run:

curl http://localhost:80

To access the server from the internet, use your public IP address:

curl http://<Public-IP-Address>:80

To check the public IP address from the EC2 instance:

curl -s http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/public-ipv4

If the server is correctly installed, you will see the Apache Ubuntu Default Page in the browser.

STEP 2 - INSTALLING MYSQL

Install the MySQL Database Management System (DBMS) to store and manage data for your site.

To install MySQL using 'apt':

sudo apt install mysql-server

Log in to the MySQL console:

sudo mysql

Set a password for the root user:

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'PassWord.1';

Exit the MySQL shell:

exit

Run the interactive script for security configuration:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Configure password validation and set a strong password for the root user.

To test the login, use:

sudo mysql -p

Exit the MySQL console:

exit

Note: MySQL PHP library mysqlnd may not support caching_sha2_authentication, so configure database users to use mysql_native_password.

STEP 3 - INSTALLING PHP

Install PHP and its modules for dynamic content processing and communication with MySQL-based databases.

To install PHP, php-mysql, and libapache2-mod-php, run:

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

Confirm your PHP version:

php -v

STEP 4 - CREATING A VIRTUAL HOST WITH APACHE

Create a virtual host for your website using Apache. Replace 'projectlamp' with your desired domain.

Create the projectlamp directory:

sudo mkdir /var/www/projectlamp

Assign ownership of the directory:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/projectlamp

Create and open a new configuration file:

sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/projectlamp.conf

Paste the following configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName projectlamp
    ServerAlias www.projectlamp 
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/projectlamp
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file. Enable the virtual host:

sudo a2ensite projectlamp

(Optional) Disable the default website:

sudo a2dissite 000-default

Check the configuration file for syntax errors:

sudo apache2ctl configtest

Reload Apache:

sudo systemctl reload apache2

Test your virtual host by accessing the website URL:

http://<Public-IP-Address>:80

If successful, you will see the text you added in the index.html file. You can also access the website using the public DNS name.

http://<Public-DNS-Name>:80

Note: Remember to remove or rename the index.html file once you set up an index.php file for your application.

STEP 5 - ENABLE PHP ON THE WEBSITE

To prioritize index.php over index.html as the landing page, modify the dir.conf file:

sudo vim /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dir.conf

Change the order of index.php within the DirectoryIndex directive:

DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.cgi index.pl index.xhtml index.htm

Save and close the file. Reload Apache:

sudo systemctl reload apache2

Create a PHP test script:

vim /var/www/projectlamp/index.php

Add the following PHP code to the file:

<?php
phpinfo();

Save and close the file. Refresh the page to see the PHP info.