Automad is a fast, responsive, flat content management system (CMS) and template engine written in PHP. All its content is stored in text files instead of a database. It offers features that may not be available to other PHP based CMS, like WordPress Joomla or Drupal.
For one, it doesn’t need a database server, call it database-less CMS. It browser-based dashboard offers an intuitive way of managing your sites. Configure system settings, upload images or write a blog post by using a clean and responsive user interface.
For more about Automad, please check it homepage.
This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install Automad on Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.10 / 18.04 LTS with Apache2 and PHP 7.2 support.
When you’re ready to get Automad working, continue with the steps below:
Step 1: Install Apache2 HTTP Server on Ubuntu
Apache2 HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. so install it, since Automad needs it.
To install Apache2 HTTP on Ubuntu server, run the commands below.
sudo apt update sudo apt 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.
Step 2: Install PHP 7.2 and Related Modules
PHP 7.2 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories for some systems. if you need 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-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-sqlite3 php7.2-soap php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-curl 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 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.
Step 3: Restart Apache2
After installing PHP and related modules, all you have to do is restart Apache2 to reload PHP configurations.
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.
Step 4: Download Automad Latest Release
Next, visit Automad site and download the latest package. or run the commands below to download Automad pckages from github.
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file and move it into a new Automad root directory. After that, change into Automad root directory to install PHP required packages.
cd /tmp/ unzip b218af08c7ce.zip sudo mv marcantondahmen-automad-b218af08c7ce /var/www/html/automad
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Automad to function properly.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/automad/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/automad/
Step 5: Configure Apache2 Automad Site
Finally, configure Apache2 configuration file for Automad. This file will control how users access Automad content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called automad.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/automad.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/automad/
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/html/automad/>
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.
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below
Step 6: Enable the Automad Site and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below, then restart Apache2 server.
sudo a2ensite automad.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite
Restart Apache2
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
Next, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see Automad page. Login and change your password.
Automad is a databaseless flat file content management system. It’s structure allowed you to have just the amount of functionality you needed in a flat file CMS solution, adding extensions (blade packs) for further functionality, whilst allowing setup on simple servers with no database.
Create the admin account username and password. You must download the file to your local server.
Create User Account
Before you can make use of the Automad dashboard, you have to register the first user by following these steps:
- Create an user account using the form below and download the created file to your computer.
- Move the downloaded file to the “/config” directory within your Automad installation.
(via a file browser, FTP or SSH)
After completing these steps, the dashboard should be ready to use. Other users can be added later via the system preferences.
Copy the downloaded file to your /config directory.
sudo cp accounts.php /var/www/html/automad/config/
Enjoy!
Now you can logon to the dashbard:
/dashboard
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