How to Install Lighttpd with PHP-FPM and MariaDB on CentOS 8

Lighttpd is an open source web server that focused on simplicity and high performance. it's a light web server with small and low memory consumption, but stil remaining standard-compliance, secure, and flexibility. The Lighttpd web sevrer is a part of the LLMP Stack, which stand for Linux, Lighttpd, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP/PHP-FPM.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install and configure the LLMP Stack on the CentOS 8 Server. We will install the Lighttpd web server with the MariaDB database server, and the PHP-FPM on the latest version of CentOS 8 server.

Prerequisites

  • CentOS 8 server
  • Root privileges
  • Understanding basic CentOS Server

What will we do?

  • Install Lighttpd Web Server
  • Install MariaDB Database Server
  • Install PHP-FPM
  • Setup Lighttpd and PHP-FPM
  • Testing

Step 1 - Install Lighttpd Web Server

First, we will add the EPEL repository and install the Lighttpd webserver to our CentOS 8 system. By default, the Lighttpd is available on the EPEL (Extract Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository.

Add the EPEL repository to the CentOS 8 system using the DNF command below.

sudo dnf install epel-release

After that, check all available repositories using the following command.

dnf repolist

Now make sure that you get the EPEL repository on the result.

Install EPEL Repository CentOS 8

Next, install Lighttpd packages using the command below.

sudo dnf install lighttpd -y

Once all installation is completed, start the Lighttpd service and add it to the system boot.

systemctl start lighttpd
systemctl enable lighttpd

Now check the Lighttpd service status using the following command.

systemctl status lighttpd

Below is the result you will get.

Install Lighttpd on CentOS 8

As a result, the Lighttpd service is up and running on the CentOS 8 system.

Next, add the HTTP service to the firewalld rule list using the 'firewall-cmd' command below.

firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Now open your web browser and type the server IP address on the address bar.

http://192.168.1.50/

As a result, you will get the default 'index.html' of the Lighttpd web server.

Lighttpd index.html

Step 2 - Install MariaDB Database Server

In this step, we will install the MariaDB database server and set up the default root password for the MariaDB server.

To install the MariaDB database server, run the dnf command below.

sudo dnf install mariadb-server -y

Once all installation is finished, start the MariaDB service and add it to the system boot.

systemctl start mariadb
systemctl enable mariadb

Now check the MariaDB service using the command below.

systemctl status mariadb

Below is the result you will get.

Start MySQL Service

As a result, the MariaDB service is up and running on the CentOS 8 system.

Next, run the 'mysql_secure_installation' command below to set up the default root password.

mysql_secure_installation

Now type the new password for your MariaDB server and type 'Y' for all configurations.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): 
OK, successfully used password, moving on...

Set a root password? [Y/n] Y
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y

And the MariaDB root password has been configured.

Next, log in to the MySQL shell using the default root user and your password.

mysql -u root -p

Once you've logged in, check all available users on the MariaDB server using the following queries.

select User,Host from mysql.user;

And you will get all default users for MySQL server. Now type 'exit' to log out from the MySQL shell.

As a result, the MariaDB database server's installation and configuration on the CentOS 8 system have been completed.

Step 3 - Install and Configure PHP-FPM

For this step, we will install and configure the PHP-FPM for Lighttpd web server.

Install PHP and PHP-FPM packages using the dnf command below.

sudo dnf install php php-fpm lighttpd-fastcgi php-mysqlnd php-pdo php-gd php-mbstring

Once all installation is completed, edit the configiuration '/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf' using vim editor.

vim /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf

Change the default 'user' and 'group' to Lighttpd as below.

user = lighttpd
group = lighttpd

Change the default PHP-FPM listen using the local IP address with port '9000'.

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Save and close.

Next, edit the PHP configuration '/etc/php.ini' using vim editor.

vim /etc/php.ini

Uncomment the following line to get support with the PHP-CGI for the Lighttpd web server.

cgi.fix_pathinfo=1

Save and close.

Next, start the PHP-FPM service and add it to the system boot.

systemctl start php-fpm
systemctl enable php-fpm

Configure PHP-FPM Service

The PHP-FPM service is up and running, check using the following command.

ss -plnt
systemctl status php-fpm

Below is the result you will get.

Check PHP-FPM Service

As a result, the PHP-FPM is up and running on the CentOS 8 server with the local IP address and port '9000'.

Step 4 - Setup Lighttpd and PHP-FPM

In this step, we will configure the Lighttpd to make it work with our PHP-FPM installation.

By default, the Lighttpd can be used to serve PHP web application using two ways:

  1. Serve through PHP-FPM Service
  2. Serve through self-spawning PHP-CI

To do that, we need to enable the FastCGI module on the Lighttpd web server and add our configuration to the FastCGI module configuration file.

- Enable FastCGI Module

Before going any further, go to the '/etc/lighttpd/' directory and edit the configuration 'modules.conf' using vim editor.

cd /etc/lighttpd/
vim modules.conf

Uncomment the 'FastCGI' module as below.

##
## FastCGI (mod_fastcgi)
##
include "conf.d/fastcgi.conf"

Save and close.

Next, we must add our PHP configuration to the 'conf.d/fastcgi.conf' configuration file.

Inside the '/etc/lighttpd' directory, edit the FastCGI configuration 'conf.d/fastcgi.conf' using vim editor.

vim conf.d/fastcgi.conf

- Using with PHP-FPM Service

If you want to use the PHP-FPM service, which is already running on the local IP address with TCP port '9000', paste the following configuration.

fastcgi.server += ( ".php" =>
        ((
                "host" => "127.0.0.1",
                "port" => "9000",
                "broken-scriptfilename" => "enable"
        ))
)

Save and close.

- Using Self Spawning PHP Service

Next, if you want to use the self spawning PHP-CGI for Lighttpd, paste the following configuration into it.

fastcgi.server = ( ".php" => 
        ((
                "bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php-cgi",
                "socket" => "/var/run/lighttpd/php.socket",
                "max-procs" => 4,
                "bin-environment" => (
                "PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN" => "",
                "PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS" => "500"
                    ),
                "broken-scriptfilename" => "enable"
        ))
)

Save and close.

Next, create a new directory '/var/run/lighttpd' and change the ownership of that directory to the 'lighttpd' user.

mkdir -p /var/run/lighttpd
sudo chown -R lighttpd:lighttpd /var/run/lighttpd

Now restart the Lighttpd service to apply the new configuration.

systemctl restart lighttpd

Ensure there is no error, and as a result, the configuration of Lighttpd with PHP-FPM Service or using spawning PHP-CGI has been completed successfully.

Configure Lighttpd with PHP-FPM

Step 5 - Testing

To test our LLMP installation, we will create a new phpinfo file on the default Lighttpd Document Root directory.

Go to the '/var/www/lighttpd' directory and create a new php file 'info.php' using vim editor.

cd /var/www/lighttpd/
vim info.php

Paste the following script into it.

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Save and close.

Create PHPINFO file to test LLMP Stack Installation

Next, open your web browser and type the server IP address following by the 'info.php' file as below.

http://192.168.1.50/info.php

Now you will get the result as below.

phpinfo

As can be seen, the PHP-FPM is working with the Lighttpd web server.

As a result, the installation of LLMP Stack (Linux, Lighttpd, MariaDB, and PHP-FPM) on the CentOS 8 Server has been completed successfully.

Step 6 - Additional: Checking PHP and Lighttpd Services

If you're running the Lighttpd with slef-spawned PHP service using the ocnfiguration below.

Lighttpd with PHP self-spawned service

You can check the PHP service using the command below.

ss -pl | grep php
systemctl status php-fpm

Below is the result you will get.

Lighttpd with PHP Self-Spawned Service

As can be seen, the self-spawned PHP process is running under 4 socket file. Even the PHP-FPM service is down, the Lighttpd is still working for processing PHP applications.

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