How to Install Apache 2 on Ubuntu 10.04 (with PHP5 and MySQL support) [Guide]

Apache HTTP server is one among the most popular web server software. It is an open source software developed by an open community of developers. And it is easily available on a wide variety of operating systems, that of course includes Linux.

Here is another ubuntu guide for Ubuntu users on installing Apache 2. Assuming this to be your first shot at performing the install of Apache 2 on Ubuntu 10.04, I’ve written a very detailed and step by step (lengthiest, I know) guide.

Okay, so installing an Apache server with PHP5 and MySQL support can help you create your own home server for testing your files. That being said, lets get things right off the bat:

1. Quickly Installing Apache2

Entering a simple command in the Terminal will start the installation process. Follow the steps below to install Apache2.

i. Navigate to Applications > Accessories > Terminal to fire up the terminal window.

ii. Enter the following command to start the installation:

sudo apt-get install apache2

It will ask for your password. Enter the password and hit Enter. Further, follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

iii. Once the installation is completed, close the Terminal window. Open your web browser and enter the following URL to test if the installation is successful:


http://localhost/

If successful, you will see the Apache2 placeholder page. (Image below)

apache2 placeholder page How to Install Apache 2 on Ubuntu 10.04 (with PHP5 and MySQL support) [Guide]

Apache’s default Document Root on Ubuntu is /var/www/. Document Root is the directory is designated to hold web pages.

Changing the default Document Root

Apache allows you to change the default document root to any location on your PC. Changing the document root requires you to edit the configuration files. Here’s how you can do it.

i. Choose the location on your PC that you would like to use as the document root. (For ex: /home/<user>/server)

ii. Now, enter the following command :

sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/default /etc/apache2/sites-available/webserver

This command copies the contents of the default configuration file to a new file (webserver).

iii. Edit the new configuration file using gedit.

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/webserver

iv. In the configuration file change the Document Root to point to the location you want.

DocumentRoot /home/<user>/server/

v. Also change the Directory to point to the new location.

<Directory /home/<user>/server/>

vi. Save the file. To deactivate the default configuration file and activate the new file enter :

sudo a2dissite default && a2ensite webserver

vii. Restart the Apache HTTP Server for changes to take place.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

That’s it! You can now copy your web pages to the specified directory.

2. Installing PHP5

PHP is a widely used scripting language used by a lot of web developers for designing dynamic web pages. Most of the modern web servers support PHP. Follow the given steps to install PHP5.

i. Enter the following command to install PHP5 and Apache PHP5 module :

sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5

ii. Restart Apache2.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

To test if PHP5 is working, let’s create a small php file called phpinfo.php. This file gives you useful details of your PHP installation.

i. Create the phpinfo.php file using gedit.

sudo gedit /home/<user>/server/phpinfo.php

ii. Copy the following code into the file and save it.

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

iii. Now, open your web browser and enter the following URL.


http://localhost/phpinfo.php

You will get a web page as shown below.

php5 info How to Install Apache 2 on Ubuntu 10.04 (with PHP5 and MySQL support) [Guide]

This shows that PHP5 has been successfully installed on your OS.

3. Installing MySQL

MySQL is one among the most secure and reliable database management systems. Many high traffic sites like Google, Flickr, Facebook,etc. use MySQL for data storage and logging of user data. The following are the steps to install MySQL on Ubuntu.

i. Fire up the Terminal and enter the following command:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

During the installation, you will be asked to provide a password for the MySQL “root” user. This password will be used to login to MySQL.

ii. After installing MySQL, you need to configure PHP to use MySQL. Installing the php5-mysql package enables MySQL support in PHP. It enables you to use PHP to connect to MySQL databases.

sudo apt-get install php5-mysql

iii. Installing phpMyAdmin : phpMyAdmin is a web interface for managing your MySQL databases. It can perform various actions such as creating, deleting, modifying databases etc. To install phpMyAdmin enter the following command :

sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

During the installation use the following options:

Web server to configure automatically: Apache2

Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common?: No

iv. To access phpMyAdmin, open your browser and enter the following URL:


http://localhost/phpmyadmin/

phpmyadmin screenshot How to Install Apache 2 on Ubuntu 10.04 (with PHP5 and MySQL support) [Guide]

That’s it! Apache2 has been successfully installed on your Ubuntu 10.04. Start testing your web pages on your own home server.

If you are experiencing any problems during installation, do let us know.

Written by on June 17th, 2010

Karthik is a 19 year old blogger from Karnataka, India. He's a hardcore tech addict and always keeps himself up-to date with the latest technology; be it the latest tech news or the newly released gadgets. He's also a social networking enthusiast and can be found active on twitter @k_karthikp

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24 Comments

  1. Bogdan
    April 22, 2011 at 8:25 am


    ubuntu@ubuntu-laptop:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
    apache2: Syntax error on line 230 of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: Syntax error on line 41 of /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/webserver: Expected but saw
    Action ‘configtest’ failed.
    The Apache error log may have more information.
    …fail!

  2. Bogdan
    April 22, 2011 at 8:23 am


    Syntax error on line 230 of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: Syntax error on line 41 of /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/webserver: Expected but saw
    Action ‘configtest’ failed.
    The Apache error log may have more information.
    …fail!

  3. hasssan
    March 8, 2011 at 5:42 pm


    thanks for your post man, this is first time i set up server on my machine manually. recently i’ve used lampp for my server.

  4. steve
    December 7, 2010 at 2:33 am


    Dude! Very nice! the only hiccup I had was a permission issue at the “sudo a2dissite default && a2ensite webserver”.
    I just did a “sudo su” and voila. Thanks again.

    • jitu
      March 22, 2011 at 6:33 am


      sudo apt-get install mysql-server
      is not working on my laptop.It says—
      Reading package lists… Done
      Building dependency tree
      Reading state information… Done
      Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
      requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
      distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
      or been moved out of Incoming.
      The following information may help to resolve the situation:

      The following packages have unmet dependencies:
      mysql-server: Depends: mysql-server-5.1 but it is not going to be installed
      E: Broken packages

  5. zfray
    November 21, 2010 at 10:47 am


    always got trouble every time I setup ubuntu as a web server, I always forgot the packages to install in it.. thanks for this post.. ^_^

  6. Pradeep Kumar
    November 5, 2010 at 10:44 pm


    You have done the excellent job. You have given a Nice article.

    But There is an error message telling Access Denied while using This command:

    sudo a2dissite default && a2ensite webserver

    This command should be given as root (i.e after being root) using “su” Command.

    Thank you

  7. girish
    October 15, 2010 at 7:25 am


    Nice article dude..
    good description in brief..

  8. Vishal
    October 3, 2010 at 5:54 am


    Nice tutorial. Just edit the localhost to the IP of the vps/server you are using so it will be better to ones who have problem.

  9. swathi
    October 3, 2010 at 12:37 am


    thank u.I found it very useful.

  10. TjK
    September 23, 2010 at 10:04 am


    look here if you get error while testing phpmyadmin
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP

  11. TjK
    September 23, 2010 at 6:10 am


    I have Ubuntu 10.04 installed in in Windows with Virtualbox.
    I am a newbie as far PHP, Mysql, and Apache are concerned.

    I followed the steps but I have a problem at the end.
    When testing phpmyadmin by entering http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
    I have the error :
    Not found
    The requested URL /phpmyadmin/ was not found on this server.
    ————————————————————
    Apache/2.2.14/ (ubuntu) Server at localhost Port 80

    Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

    TjK
    Vanuatu.

  12. manu
    August 19, 2010 at 6:07 pm


    karthik,

    have you had a go at getting Bugzilla up and running on Ubuntu. It uses all the components – Apache2, MySQL and PHP. Bugzilla is a free trouble ticketing application.

    - manu

  13. alex
    August 3, 2010 at 6:13 am


    hi,
    This was quite good tutorial. I used webmin to set up my apache and MSQL server but i reinstalled using ur codes both apache and msql and php. how ever the code “sudo a2dissite default && a2ensite webserver” dint work for me but some how managed to get the site up.. and my php is also working but when i access it, it asks for username and password. i tried my root user paswd but dint let me in. can u sugest any solution to this..

  14. chitalian
    July 28, 2010 at 12:18 pm


    I installed phpmyadmin, but when I tried accessing it from http://localhost/phpmyadmin, I got a 404 error. Any ideas?

  15. Santtu
    July 9, 2010 at 3:25 am


    Nice and clear even for an ubuntu newbie like me =)

  16. Claudiu T.
    July 1, 2010 at 8:59 pm


    Nice guide, but shouldn’t this:

    sudo a2dissite default && a2ensite webserver

    Be:
    sudo a2dissite default && sudo a2ensite webserver

  17. Trevor
    June 30, 2010 at 9:40 am


    Great little tutorial. Thanks! :)

  18. pramod
    June 25, 2010 at 10:14 pm


    Hi,

    I am a beginner in this field. I am trying to make my machine a server. I followed the steps and everything worked fine. How can I know the ip address of my machine and test it from a different machine. I did ifconfig and took the inet address, typed in the address bar to see if it works. I got this error message for all the inet addresses.

    Forbidden

    You don’t have permission to access / on this server.
    Apache/2.2.14 (Ubuntu) Server at 127.0.0.1 Port 80

    Awaiting your reply.

    Thanks
    Pramod

    • Karthik Prabhu
      July 1, 2010 at 11:46 pm


      If you wanna know your IP address just try visiting whatismyip.com or else go to your Terminal and type “plog”. (without the inverted commas). Copy your IP address and paste it into your browser. You will be able to access your webpages from any computer as long as you are connected to the internet.

  19. Srikanth AD
    June 23, 2010 at 11:31 pm


    Thanks for the useful tutorial. I believe it is much easier to install Apache, MySQL and PHP using XAMPP on Ubuntu.

    Cheers

  20. Pete
    June 22, 2010 at 6:04 am


    Thanks mate. Nice guide.