How to Install Drupal with Apache and Let's Encrypt SSL on Debian 11
This tutorial exists for these OS versions
- Debian 12 (Bookworm)
- Debian 11 (Bullseye)
- Debian 9 (Stretch)
On this page
Drupal is a free and open-source content management system based on the LAMP stack. Drupal has great standard features that allow you to create powerful websites and blogs. It comes with a lot of themes, plugins, and widgets that help you to create a website without any programming knowledge. It provides a lot of features such as multi-site support, multi-language support, comment system, RSS feed, user registration, and more.
In this post, we will show you how to install Drupal CMS with Apache and Let's Encrypt SSL on Debian 11.
Prerequisites
- A server running Debian 11.
- A valid domain name pointed with your server IP.
- A root password is configured on the server.
Install LAMP Stack
Drupal is based on LAMP stack. So the LAMP stack must be installed in your server. If not installed, you can install it by running the following command:
apt-get install apache2 mariadb-server mariadb-client php libapache2-mod-php php-cli php-mysql php-zip php-gd php-fpm php-json php-common php-intl php-mbstring php-curl php-xml php-pear php-tidy php-soap php-bcmath php-xmlrpc -y
Once the LAMP stack is installed, edit the php.ini file and change some default settings:
nano /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
Change the following lines:
memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 32M max_execution_time = 300 date.timezone = Asia/Kolkata
Save and close the file when you are finished.
Create a Drupal Database
Drupal uses a MariaDB as a database backend. So you will need to create a database and user for Drupal.
First, log in to MariaDB with the following command:
mysql
Once you are log in, create a database and user using the following command:
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE drupaldb;
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY "securepassword";
Next, grant all the privileges to the Drupal database using the following command:
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL ON drupaldb.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY "securepassword";
Next, flush the privileges and exit from the MariaDB with the following command:
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;
Download Drupal
First, go to the Drupal website pick the latest version of Drupal and download it with the following command:
wget https://www.drupal.org/download-latest/tar.gz -O drupal.tar.gz
Once the Drupal is downloaded, extract the downloaded file with the following command:
tar -xvf drupal.tar.gz
Next, move the extracted directory to the Apache default root directory:
mv drupal-* /var/www/html/drupal
Next, change the ownership and permission of the Drupal directory using the following command:
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/drupal/
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/drupal/
Create an Apache Virtual Host for Drupal
Next, you will need to create an Apache virtual host configuration file to host Drupal. You can create it using the following command:
nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/drupal.conf
Add the following lines:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/drupal/
ServerName drupal.example.com
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
<Directory /var/www/html/drupal/>
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/html/>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Save and close the file then enable the Drupal virtual host and Apache rewrite module with the following command:
a2ensite drupal.conf
a2enmod rewrite
Next, restart the Apache service to apply the changes:
systemctl restart apache2
To check the status of the Apache, run the following command:
systemctl status apache2
You should get the following output:
? apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2021-09-18 14:59:40 UTC; 5s ago
Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
Process: 19698 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 19703 (apache2)
Tasks: 6 (limit: 2341)
Memory: 15.3M
CPU: 78ms
CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
??19703 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??19704 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??19705 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??19706 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??19707 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
??19708 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
At this point, the Apache webserver is configured to serve Drupal. You can now proceed to the next step.
Access Drupal Website
Now, open your web browser and access Drupal using the URL http://drupal.example.com. You will be redirected to the following page:
Choose the English language and click on the Save and Continue button, you should see the following image:
Select an Installation Profile and click on the Save and Continue button. You should see the following page:
In the Database Configuration page, provide all the required database details like database name, database username, and password, database host, then click on the Save and Continue button, you should see the following image:
In the Drupal Site Configuration page, provide your site name, admin username and password then click on the Save and Continue button to start installing Drupal. Once Drupal is installed, you should see the Drupal dashboard in the following image:
Enable Let's Encrypt SSL Support on Drupal Website
It is always a good idea to secure your website with Let's Encrypt SSL. First, you will need to install the Certbot client to install and manage the SSL. By default, the Certbot package is included in the Debian 11 default repository so you can install it with the following command:
apt-get install python3-certbot-apache -y
Once the Certbot is installed, run the following command to secure your website with Let's Encrypt SSL:
certbot --apache -d drupal.example.com
You will be asked to provide your email and accept the term of service as shown below:
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Plugins selected: Authenticator standalone, Installer None Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices) (Enter 'c' to cancel): [email protected] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please read the Terms of Service at https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.2-November-15-2017.pdf. You must agree in order to register with the ACME server at https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (A)gree/(C)ancel: A - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Would you be willing to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about our work encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Y)es/(N)o: Y Plugins selected: Authenticator apache, Installer apache Obtaining a new certificate Performing the following challenges: http-01 challenge for drupal.example.com Enabled Apache rewrite module Waiting for verification... Cleaning up challenges Created an SSL vhost at /etc/apache2/sites-available/drupal-le-ssl.conf Enabled Apache socache_shmcb module Enabled Apache ssl module Deploying Certificate to VirtualHost /etc/apache2/sites-available/drupal-le-ssl.conf Enabling available site: /etc/apache2/sites-available/drupal-le-ssl.conf
Next, select whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS as shown below:
Please choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, removing HTTP access. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1: No redirect - Make no further changes to the webserver configuration. 2: Redirect - Make all requests redirect to secure HTTPS access. Choose this for new sites, or if you're confident your site works on HTTPS. You can undo this change by editing your web server's configuration. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press 'c' to cancel): 2
Type 2 and hit Enter to install the Let's Encrypt SSL for your website:
Enabled Apache rewrite module Redirecting vhost in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/drupal.conf to ssl vhost in /etc/apache2/sites-available/drupal-le-ssl.conf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Congratulations! You have successfully enabled https://drupal.example.com You should test your configuration at: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=drupal.example.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - IMPORTANT NOTES: - Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/drupal.example.com/fullchain.pem Your key file has been saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/drupal.example.com/privkey.pem Your cert will expire on 2021-04-20. To obtain a new or tweaked version of this certificate in the future, simply run certbot again with the "certonly" option. To non-interactively renew *all* of your certificates, run "certbot renew" - If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by: Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt: https://letsencrypt.org/donate Donating to EFF: https://eff.org/donate-le
Conclusion
That's it for now. You have successfully installed Drupal with Let's Encrypt SSL on Debian 11. You can now start creating your own blog or website without any programming knowledge. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions.
