Our previous tutorial showed students and new users how to install Evolution CMS with Apache2 and PHP support. This post shows you how to run Evolution with Nginx and PHP-FPM Support.
Perfect for those who want to run Nginx HTTP server instead.
Evolution CMS claims to be the world’s fastest, most customizable content management platform built with PHP which is focus on speed, security and flexibility.
If you are looking for a CMS platform that is easy to install, simple to maintain and flexible, then Evolution is a good place to start. With Evolution, you get a platform that separates registered web users and groups from administration users and can grant some web users granular access to pages in the backend.
This CMS platform is fast and lightweight, gives webmasters modular and extensible features to collaborate and automate engaging experiences with users across multiple devices, including mobile.
For more about Evolution, please check their Homepage
This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install Evolution on Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.10 and 18.04 LTS.
To get started with installing Evolution, follow the steps below:
Install Nginx HTTP Server
Evolution requires a web server and Nginx HTTP server is probably the second most popular open source web server available today. To install Nginx server, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install nginx
After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used 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
Now that Nginx is installed. to test whether the web server is working, open your browser and browse to the URL below.
If you see the page above, then Nginx is successfully installed.
Install MariaDB Database Server
Evolution also requires a database server to store its content. If you’re looking for a truly open source database server, then MariaDB is a great place to start. 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 16.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mysql.service sudo systemctl start mysql.service sudo systemctl enable mysql.service
Run these on Ubuntu 18.10 and 18.04 LTS
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
Next, run the commands below to secure the database server with a root password if you were not prompted to do so during the installation.
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
Now that MariaDB is installed, to test whether the database server was successfully installed, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
type the root password when prompted.
If you see a similar screen as shown above, then the server was successfully installed.
Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules
Evolution is a PHP based CMS and PHP is required. However, PHP 7.2-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To run PHP 7.2-
FPM on Ubuntu 16.04 and previous, you may need to run the commands below:
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-FPM and related modules.
sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mysql php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip
After installing PHP 7.2-FPM, run the commands below to open PHP default configuration file for Nginx.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini
The lines below is a good settings for most PHP based CMS. Update the configuration file with these and save.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On short_open_tag = On cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0 memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Everytime you make changes to PHP configuration file, you should also restart Nginx web server. To do so, run the commands below:
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Now that PHP is installed, to test whether it’s functioning, create a test file called phpinfo.php in Nginx default root directory. ( /var/www/html/)
sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
Then type the content below and save the file.
<?php phpinfo( ); ?>
Next, open your browser and browse to the server’s hostname or IP address followed by phpinfo.php
/phpinfo.php
You should see PHP default test page.
Create Evolution CMS Database
Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for Evolution to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank Evolution database.
To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called evolution
CREATE DATABASE evolution;
Create a database user called evolutionuser with a new password
CREATE USER 'evolutionuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON evolution.* TO 'evolutionuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Download Evolution Latest Release
To get Evolution latest release you may want to go and download from its download page. Or use the commands below to use wget and get it downloaded.
Once downloaded extract the downloaded content into the newly created Evolution directory.
cd /tmp wget sudo unzip master.zip sudo mv evolution-master /var/www/html/evolution
Next, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Evolution root directory and give Nginx control.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/evolution/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/evolution/
Configure Nginx
Finally, configure Nginx site configuration file for Evolution. This file will control how users access Evolution content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called evolution
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/evolution
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.
server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
root /var/www/html/evolution;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
client_max_body_size 100M;
location / {
root /var/www/html/evolution;
if (!-e $request_filename) {
rewrite ^/(.*)$ /index.php?q=$1 last;
}
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
location ^~ /data {
deny all;
}
}
Save the file and exit.
Enable the Evolution and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/evolution /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo systemctl restart nginx.service
Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see Evolution setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
Then follow the on-screen instruction to complete the setup.
Next, select to perform a new installation. then click Next to continue.
Choose your installation language and click Next
Next, type in the database information created above and continue. You will have to validate each step before you’re allowed to continue.
After that install all components selected and continue.
Finally, click Install
That should install Evolution CMS. Logon with the admin credentials created above and you’re done!
Congratulation! You have successfully installed Evolution CMS on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04.
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