This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install and configure MyBB bulletin board Forum software on Ubuntu.
MyBB is a free, open-source forum software powering thousands of engaging and vibrant communities online. It enables individuals and webmasters to set up community bulletin boards in minutes to stay in touch with group of people or ideas.
MyBB is a highly customization with advanced plugin system, built-in template and theme editor, Powerful and convenient tools for forum moderators and features that you can’t find in some of the traditional forum platforms.
Some of the features included with MyBB are:
- phpBB bulletin board and permission system
- CMS features allowing the creation of new pages and blocks
- Clean administration interface
- Many ready to use features: Photo Gallery, Downloads, Knowledge Base, Links, Chat.
- Multi-language and multi-template ready
- Lots of community modifications
- .and many others.
To get started with installing MyBB, follow the steps below:
Install Apache2
MyBB is PHP-based and requires a webserver. The most popular open source web server in use today is Apache2. To install Apache2, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt-get install apache2
After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
To test Apache2 setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see Apache2 default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Apache2 is working as expected.
Install MariaDB Database Server
MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with MyBB. To install MariaDB run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.
Run these on Ubuntu
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
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
Restart MariaDB server
To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon to MariaDB server
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message
Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
PHP 7.2 may not be available in 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 7.2
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2
sudo apt update
Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2 libapache2-mod-php7.2 php7.2-common php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-pgsql php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-imagick php7.2-bcmath php7.2-gmp php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Apache2.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/apache2/php.ini
Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below are great settings to apply in your environments.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
After making the change above, save the file and close out.
To restart Apache2, run the commands below
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
To test PHP 7.2 settings with Apache2, create a phpinfo.php file in Apache2 root directory by running the commands below
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Save the file. then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php
/phpinfo.php
You should see PHP default test page.
Create MyBB Database
Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First create a MyBB database.
Run the commands below to logon to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called mybb
CREATE DATABASE mybb;
Create a database user called mybbuser with new password
CREATE USER 'mybbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the mybbuser database.
GRANT ALL ON mybb.* TO 'mybbuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download MyBB Latest Release
Next, continue below to download MyBB package. To download, go to the link below and download the latest version.
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into Apache2 root directory.
wget unzip mybb_1821.zip sudo mv Upload /var/www/mybb
Change or modify the directory permission to fit Apache2 configuration.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/mybb sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/mybb
Configure Apache2
Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for MyBB. This file will control how users access MyBB content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called mybb.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/mybb.conf
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.
<VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot /var/www/mybb ServerName example.com ServerAlias www.example.com <Directory /var/www/mybb/> Options FollowSymlinks AllowOverride All Require all granted </Directory> ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined </VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Enable the MyBB and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo a2ensite mybb.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see MyBB setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
Continue below at the Welcome screen.
Then validate that all requirements are met and proceed.
Next, type in the database username, database name and password. then proceed.
After that, setup the main site configurations and continue
From there setup the site admin account and complete the setup.
After that, all should be installed and ready to use
Enjoy!
Run the commands below to delete the install directory
sudo rm -rf /var/www/mybb/install
Congratulation! You have successfully installed MyBB bulletin board on Ubuntu 18.04.
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