Set up a LAMP Server on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic)

Configure Virtual Hosting 

There are different ways to set up Virtual Hosts, however we recommend the method below.

By default, Apache listens on all IP addresses available to it. We must configure it to listen only on addresses we specify. Even if you only have one IP, it is still a good idea to tell Apache what IP address to listen on in case you decide to add more.

Begin by modifying the NameVirtualHost entry in /etc/apache2/ports.conf as follows:

File excerpt: /etc/apache2/ports.conf

NameVirtualHost 12.34.56.78:80

Be sure to replace "12.34.56.78" with your Linode's public IP address.

Now, modify the default site's virtual hosting in the file /etc/apache2/sites-available/default so that the <VirtualHost > entry reads:

File excerpt: /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

<VirtualHost 12.34.56.78:80>

Configure Name-based Virtual Hosts 

First, create a file in the /etc/apache2/sites-available/ directory for each virtual host that you want to set up. Name each file with the domain for which you want to provide virtual hosting. See the following example configurations for the hypothetical "ducklington.org" and "bucknell.net" domains.

File: /etc/apache2/sites-available/duckington.org

<VirtualHost 12.34.56.78:80>
     ServerAdmin squire@ducklington.org
     ServerName ducklington.org
     ServerAlias www.ducklington.org
     DocumentRoot /srv/www/ducklington.org/public_html/
     ErrorLog /srv/www/ducklington.org/logs/error.log
     CustomLog /srv/www/ducklington.org/logs/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

File: /etc/apache2/sites-available/bucknell.net

<VirtualHost 12.34.56.78:80>
     ServerAdmin squire@bucknell.net
     ServerName bucknell.net
     ServerAlias www.bucknell.net
     DocumentRoot /srv/www/bucknell.net/public_html/
     ErrorLog /srv/www/bucknell.net/logs/error.log
     CustomLog /srv/www/bucknell.net/logs/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Notes regarding this example configuration:

• All of the files for the sites that you host will be located in directories that exist underneath /srv/www You can symbolically link these directories into other locations if you need them to exist in other places.
• ErrorLog and CustomLog entries are suggested for more fine-grained logging, but are not required. If they are defined (as shown above), the logs directories must be created before you restart Apache.

Before you can use the above configuration you'll need to create the specified directories. For the above configuration, you can do this with the following commands:

mkdir -p /srv/www/ducklington.org/public_html
mkdir /srv/www/ducklington.org/logs

mkdir -p /srv/www/bucknell.net/public_html
mkdir /srv/www/bucknell.net/logs

After you've set up your virtual hosts, issue the following commands:

a2ensite ducklington.org
a2ensite bucknell.net

This command symbolically links your virtual host file from sites-available to the sites-enabled directory. Finally, before you can access your sites you must reload Apache with the following command:

/etc/init.d/apache2 reload

Assuming that you have configured the DNS for your domain to point to your Linode's IP address, Virtual hosting for your domain should now work.

If you wanted to disable the duckington.org site, for example issue the following command:

a2dissite ducklington.org

The a2dissite command is the inverse of a2ensite. After enabling, disabling, or modifying any part of your Apache configuration you will need to reload the Apache configuration again with the /etc/init.d/apache2 reload command. You can create as many virtual hosting files as you need to support the domains that you want to host with your Linode.

Install MySQL 

The first step is to install the mysql-server package, which is accomplished by the following command:

apt-get install mysql-server

During the installation you will be prompted for a password. Choose something secure (use letters, numbers, and non-alphanumeric characters) and record it for future reference.

At this point MySQL should be ready to configure and run. While you shouldn't need to change the configuration file, note that it is located at /etc/mysql/my.cnf for future reference.

Configure MySQL and Set Up MySQL Databases 

After installing MySQL, it's recommended that you run mysql_secure_installation, a program that helps secure MySQL. While running mysql_secure_installation, you will be presented with the opportunity to change the MySQL root password, remove anonymous user accounts, disable root logins outside of localhost, and remove test databases. It is recommended that you answer yes to these options. If you are prompted to reload the privilege tables, select yes. Run the following command to execute the program:

mysql_secure_installation

Next, we'll create a database and grant your users permissions to use databases. First, log in to MySQL:

mysql -u root -p

Enter MySQL's root password, and you'll be presented with a MySQL prompt where you can issue SQL statements to interact with the database.

To create a database and grant your users permissions on it, issue the following command. Note, the semi-colons (;) at the end of the lines are crucial for ending the commands. Your command should look like this:

create database lollipop;
grant all on lollipop.* to 'foreman' identified by '5t1ck';

In the example above, lollipop is the name of the database, foreman is the username, and 5t1ck password. Note that database user names and passwords are only used by scripts connecting to the database, and that database user account names need not (and perhaps should not) represent actual user accounts on the system.

With that completed you've successfully configured MySQL and you may now pass these database credentials on to your users. To exit the MySQL database administration utility issue the following command:

quit

With Apache and MySQL installed you are now ready to move on to installing PHP to provide scripting support for your web pages.

Restart Apache 

Finally, restart Apache to make sure everything is loaded correctly:

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart