How to Setup ImpressPages CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx

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

ImpressPages is a user-friendly open-source content management system (CMS) built on the LAMP or LEMP stack. It comes with a flat, crisp and clear design to impress your users.

Whether you’re creating a personal or business website, ImpressPages can help you manage great content on every device. Website management made easy with true inline editing and drag n’ drop interface.

There are many content management systems that will help you manage your content. and not just WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. If you’re looking for something else, you may want to look at ImpressPages.

For more on ImpressPages, please visit its home page

How to install ImpressPages on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support

As described above, ImpressPages is a user-friendly open-source content management system (CMS) built on the LAMP or LEMP stack. It comes with a flat, crisp and clear design to impress your users.

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

Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is the second most popular web server in use. so install it, since ImpressPages needs it.

To install Nginx HTTP on Ubuntu 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

To test Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see Nginx default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.


nginx default home page test

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open source database servers to use with Magento. 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 17.10 and 18.04 LTS

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

mariadb welcome

Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules

PHP 7.1 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-FPM

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

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open PHP default config file for Nginx.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/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
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, save the file and close out.

After installing PHP and related modules, all you have to do is restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations.

To restart Nginx, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Create ImpressPages Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for ImpressPages to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank ImpressPages database.

To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called impress

CREATE DATABASE impress;

Create a database user called impressuser with new password

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

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON impress.* TO 'impressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download and Install ImpressPages

Run the commands below to download ImpressPages content.

cd /tmp && wget 
unzip ImpressPages_5_0_3.zip
sudo mv ImpressPages /var/www/html/impress

Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.

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

Configure Nginx ImpressPages Site

Finally, configure Nginx configuration file for ImpressPages. This file will control how users access ImpressPages content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called impress

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

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/impress;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
       }

    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;
     }
}

Save the file and exit.

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

Enable the ImpressPages Site

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below, then restart Nginx server.

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

Restart Nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Next, open your brwoser and go to the URL. and continue with the installation.


Click Next to start the installation wizard.

impresspages ubuntu

Type in the database connection info and create an administor account to manage the platform in the backend. and continue

impresspages ubuntu install

After entering the info above, click Finish to install the CMS.

impresspages ubuntu setup

You’ll find the private website configuration system in admin

Enjoy!