How to Install Concrete5 on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx

This article describes steps one can take to install and use Concrete5 CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

Concrete5 is a popular and widely used open-source content management system based on PHP. It is designed to allow webmasters and users to create powerful and dynamic content websites.

Looking for an alternative content management system to WordPress? Concrete5 may be a great place to start.

If you’re looking for a functional, high-performance content management platform to manage your websites or blogs and 100% free, you’ll find Concrete5 to be useful.

This post covers installing the latest version of Concrete5, which at the time of writing is version 8.2.1

How to install Concrete5 CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support

As described above, Concrete5 is a popular and widely used open-source content management system based on PHP. It is designed to allow webmasters and users to create powerful and dynamic content websites.

Below is how to install and use it on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

Install Nginx

Concrete5 requires a webserver and the second most popular webservers in used today is Nginx. So, go and install Nginx on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

Install MariaDB

Concrete5 also requires a database server and MariaDB is a great place to start when looking for an open-source database server.

To install it run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

  • Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
  • Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
  • New password: Enter password
  • Re-enter new password: Repeat password
  • 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

Install PHP-FPM and Related Modules

PHP 7.1 isn’t available on Ubuntu default repositories. In order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.1

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.1

sudo apt update

Run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 FPM and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.1-fpm php7.1-common php7.1-mbstring php7.1-xmlrpc php7.1-soap php7.1-gd php7.1-xml php7.1-intl php7.1-mysql php7.1-cli php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-zip php7.1-curl

After install PHP, run the commands below to open Nginx PHP default file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/cli/php.ini

Then make the change the following lines below in the file and save.

memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
max_execution_time = 240
max_input_vars = 1500
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0

Create Concrete5 Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers.

First run the commands below to create Concrete5 database.

Run the commands below to logon to the database server. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called concrete5

CREATE DATABASE concrete5;

Create a database user called concrete5user with new password

CREATE USER 'concrete5user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON concrete5.* TO 'concrete5user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download Concrete5 Latest Release

Next, visit Concrete5 site and download the latest version. After downloading, run the commands below to extract the download file into Nginx root directory.

cd /tmp && wget --trust-server-names  -O concrete5.zip
unzip concrete5.zip
sudo mv concrete5-8.2.1 /var/www/html/concrete5

Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Concrete5 to function.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/concrete5/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/concrete5/

Configure Nginx Site

Finally, configure Nginx server block configuration file for Concrete5. This file will control how users’ access Concrete5 content.

Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called concrete5

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/concrete5

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and root location.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html/concrete5;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$request_uri /index.php;        
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

}

Save the file and exit.

Enable Concrete5 server block

After configuring the server block above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/concrete5 /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

To load all the settings above, restart Apache2 by running the commands below.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Next, open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see Concrete5 setup wizard to complete.

Please follow the wizard carefully.


concrete5 ubuntu

Then confirm all the requirements are met

concrete5 ubuntu install

Finally, enter your site info and the database connection settings and click Install Concrete5 to complete

Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Concrete5 on Ubuntu server.