Ubuntu 16.04: LAMP w/ NodeJS & WP-CLI

ubuntu16.04-lamp-nodejs-wp-cli.md

Ubuntu 16.04 LAMP w/ NodeJS & WP-CLI

Setup LAMP stack

Apache

apt-get update
apt-get install apache2

nano /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dir.conf

• Add index.php to beginning of DirectoryIndex list (remove from place in list further down)

a2enmod rewrite headers expires

nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

• Change AllowOverride None to AllowOverride All within <Directory /var/www/> block

service apache2 restart

PHP

apt-get install php libapache2-mod-php php-mcrypt php-mysql -y
apt-get install php-cgi php-cli php-common php-curl php-gd -y

MySQL

apt-get install mysql-server

mysql_secure_installation

• n
• n
• y
• y
• y
• y

Accessing remote MySQL databases

ssh www-data@SERVER_IP_ADDRESS -L 42001:localhost:3306

• 3306 is default mysql port

• 42001 is a free (unless you are running something else on this port, highly unlikely!)

• allows local access to remote mysql server for easier creation of db's and users

NodeJS

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Install Yarn

Follow the instructions on the Yarn website to install yarn onto the server.

Git

apt-get install git

Adding sites to Apache

Note: tld means Top-Level Domain i.e. .com, .co.uk, .io etc, make sure to replace .tld with your domain's TLD extension

cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/

• if creating one site on box:

cp 000-default.conf my-site.domain.tld.conf
nano my-site.domain.tld.conf

ServerName my-site.domain.tld
ServerAdmin harry@harryfinn.co.uk
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/

a2dissite 000-default.conf
a2ensite my-site.domain.tld.conf

• if creating multiple (i.e. staging and qa):

cp 000-default.conf my-site-staging.domain.tld.conf
nano my-site-staging.domain.tld.conf

ServerName my-site-staging.domain.tld
ServerAdmin harry@harryfinn.co.uk
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/staging

cp 000-default.conf my-site-qa.domain.tld.conf
nano my-site-qa.domain.tld.conf

ServerName my-site-qa.domain.tld
ServerAdmin harry@harryfinn.co.uk
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/qa

a2dissite 000-default.conf
a2ensite my-site-staging.domain.tld.conf my-site-qa.domain.tld.conf

• Ensure directories specified above (each DocumentRoot path) are created by www-data user, once this user is setup using the instructions below.

Setting up www-data user

nano /etc/passwd

• www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/bin/bash

passwd www-data

• Enter www-data user password

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www

Preventing root user from ssh'ing onto server

(As root user)

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

• Change PermitRootLogin yes to PermitRootLogin no

service ssh restart

Disconnect from server and try root user ssh, will be given permission denied message. Use www-data user the su to swap to the root user when required.

Installing WP-CLI

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar
chmod +x wp-cli.phar

su

• swap to root in order to move wp-cli

mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp

exit

• swap back to www-data

Update server hostname to FQDN

• Run hostname to see what the currently set hostname is set to
• Run hostnamectl set-hostname mysite.com to change the hostname (permanently, otherwise will reset on reboot)
• Note: Important that this step is performed before setting you your mail server!

Setting up mail-out only (loopback) emails from server

apt-get install mailutils

• Set mail configuration type to Internet Site
• Set system mail name to FQDN i.e. mysite.com, ensure you DO NOT add any subdomains in front i.e. www. as this will invalidate the mail record
• As root:
• nano /etc/postfix/main.cf and change inet_interfaces to:

inet_interfaces = loopback-only

• Then change mydestination to:

mydestination = localhost.$mydomain, $mydomain

• Finally, restart postfix (mail sending service) service postfix restart
• To check that the server is sending out emails correctly you can run the following command:

echo "This is the body of the email" | mail -s "This is the subject line" my_email@emailaddress.com