How to Install ProcessWire CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Apache

This article describes steps one can take to install ProcessWire CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Apache support.

ProcessWire is a flexible, lightweight and simple content management system based on PHP. It is designed for ease of use to allow webmasters and owners create powerful and dynamic content websites.

If you’re looking for a simple and straightforward content management platform to manage your websites or blogs and 100% free, you’ll find ProcessWire to be useful. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install ProcessWire CMS on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP support.

This post covers installing the latest version of ProcessWire, which at the time of writing was at 3.0.62

How to install ProcessWire on Ubuntu Linux with Apache support

As described above, ProcessWire is a flexible, lightweight and simple content management system based on PHP. It is designed for ease of use to allow webmasters and owners create powerful and dynamic content websites.

Below is how to install it on Ubuntu Linux with Apache support.

Install Apache2

ProcessWire requires a webserver to function and the most popular webserver in use today is Apache2. So, go and install Apache2 on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt install apache2

After installing Apache2, run the commands below to disable directory listing.

sudo sed -i "s/Options Indexes FollowSymLinks/Options FollowSymLinks/" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Next, run the commands below 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

Install MariaDB

ProcessWire also requires a database server to function. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start. 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

Restart MariaDB server

sudo systemctl restart mysql.service

Install PHP 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 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.1 libapache2-mod-php7.1 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 7.1, run the commands below to open PHP-FPM default file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/apache2/php.ini

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

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

Create ProcessWire Database

Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create ProcessWire 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 processdb

CREATE DATABASE processdb;

Create a database user called processuser with new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON processdb.* TO 'processuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download ProcessWire Latest Release

Next, visit ProcessWire site and download the latest version.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into Apache2 root directory.

cd /tmp && wget 
unzip master.zip
sudo mv processwire-master /var/www/html/processwire

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

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

Configure Apache2

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for ProcessWire. This file will control how users access ProcessWire content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called processwire.conf

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/processwire.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/html/processwire
     ServerName example.com
     ServerAlias www.example.com

     <Directory /var/www/html/processwire/>
        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 ProcessWire and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo a2ensite processwire.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite

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

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see ProcessWire setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.

Then follow the on-screen instructions until you’ve successfully installed ProcessWire.

Choose the Classic profile to install

Then validate that all the requirements are met

Then type in the database connection information and continuee

Then create an admin username and password

Finish the process and enjoy ProcessWire

To access the admin page, go to /processwire/

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