Step-by-Step Guide to Installing and Configuring LNMP (Nginx, MySQL, PHP) on Linux

Below is a complete, command‑line guide for setting up the LNMP (Linux‑Nginx‑MySQL‑PHP) stack on a fresh Linux system.

1. Install and Deploy Nginx

Prepare the environment and install required development libraries:

yum -y install pcre-devel zlib-devel openssl openssl-devel

Add a dedicated nginx user: useradd -s /sbin/nologin nginx -M Extract the source, configure, compile and install:

tar zxf nginx-$NVERSION.tar.gz -C /usr/src/</code>
<code>./configure --user=nginx --group=nginx --prefix=/usr/local/nginx \
    --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_ssl_module</code>
<code>make -j 4</code>
<code>make install

Copy the default configuration and create a symbolic link for the nginx binary:

cp /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf.default</code>
<code>ln -s /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx /usr/sbin

Configure Nginx to work with PHP (excerpt of nginx.conf):

user  nginx;</code>
<code>worker_processes  8;</code>
<code>events { worker_connections 1024; }</code>
<code>http {</code>
<code>    include       mime.types;</code>
<code>    default_type  application/octet-stream;</code>
<code>    sendfile        on;</code>
<code>    keepalive_timeout  65;</code>
<code>    server {</code>
<code>        listen       80;</code>
<code>        server_name  localhost;</code>
<code>        location / {</code>
<code>            root   html;</code>
<code>            index  index.html index.htm;</code>
<code>        }</code>
<code>        location ~ \.(php|php5)?$ {</code>
<code>            root           /usr/local/nginx/html;</code>
<code>            fastcgi_pass   127.0.0.1:9000;</code>
<code>            fastcgi_index  index.php;</code>
<code>            fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  /usr/local/nginx/html$fastcgi_script_name;</code>
<code>            include        fastcgi_params;</code>
<code>        }</code>
<code>        error_page   500 502 503 504  /50x.html;</code>
<code>        location = /50x.html { root   html; }</code>
<code>    }</code>
<code>}

2. Install and Deploy MySQL

Remove any existing MySQL packages:

rpm -e mysql --nodeps</code>
<code>rpm -e mysql-server --nodeps

Install build tools: yum -y install cmake ncurses-devel Add a dedicated mysql user: useradd -s /sbin/nologin -M mysql Extract, configure, compile and install MySQL:

tar zxf mysql-$MVERSION.tar.gz -C /usr/src/</code>
<code>cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local/mysql \
      -DSYSCONFDIR=/etc -DDEFAULT_CHARSET=utf8 \
      -DDEFAULT_COLLATION=utf8_general_ci -DWITH_EXTRA_CHARSETS=all</code>
<code>make -j 4</code>
<code>make install

Post‑installation configuration:

chown -R mysql:mysql /usr/local/mysql/   # set ownership</code>
<code>mv /etc/my.cnf /etc/my.cnf.old</code>
<code>cp support-files/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf</code>
<code>/usr/local/mysql/scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql \
      --basedir=/usr/local/mysql/ --datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data/</code>
<code>echo "PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin" >> /etc/profile   # add to PATH</code>
<code>. /etc/profile   # reload profile</code>
<code>cp /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server /etc/init.d/mysqld</code>
<code>chmod +x /etc/init.d/mysqld</code>
<code>chkconfig --add mysqld

3. Install PHP

Install required development libraries:

yum -y install zlib-devel libxml2-devel libjpeg-turbo-devel freetype-devel \
    libpng-devel gd-devel libcurl-devel

Extract, configure, compile and install PHP with many extensions (including FPM):

tar zxf php-$PVERSION.tar.gz -C /usr/src/</code>
<code>./configure --prefix=/usr/local/php \
    --with-mysql=mysqlnd --with-mysqli=mysqlnd --with-pdo-mysql=mysqlnd \
    --with-freetype-dir --with-jpeg-dir --with-png-dir --with-zlib \
    --with-libxml-dir=/usr --enable-xml --disable-rpath \
    --enable-bcmath --enable-shmop --enable-sysvsem \
    --enable-inline-optimization --with-curl --enable-mbregex \
    --enable-fpm --enable-mbstring --with-gd --with-gettext \
    --enable-gd-native-ttf --with-openssl --with-mhash \
    --enable-pcntl --enable-sockets --with-xmlrpc \
    --enable-zip --enable-soap --enable-short-tags \
    --enable-static --with-fpm-user=nginx --with-fpm-group=nginx \
    --enable-fpm --enable-ftp --enable-opcache=yes</code>
<code>make -j 4</code>
<code>make install

Copy the production php.ini and set up PHP‑FPM configuration:

cp /usr/src/php-$PVERSION/php.ini-production /usr/local/php/php.ini</code>
<code>cd /usr/local/php/etc/</code>
<code>cp php-fpm.conf.default php-fpm.conf

4. Start Services

Start Nginx and open port 80 in the firewall:

nginx</code>
<code>firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=80/tcp --permanent</code>
<code>firewall-cmd --reload</code>
<code>netstat -anlpt | grep nginx

Start MySQL and enable it at boot:

service mysqld start</code>
<code>chkconfig mysqld on</code>
<code>netstat -anlpt | grep mysqld

Start PHP‑FPM:

/usr/local/php/sbin/php-fpm</code>
<code>netstat -anlpt | grep php-fpm

5. Test the LNMP Stack

Create a simple PHP test page:

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /usr/local/nginx/html/index.php

Open a browser and navigate to http://your_server_ip/ to see the PHP information page, confirming that Nginx, MySQL, and PHP are all working together.

Thank you for reading; feel free to leave a comment or share this guide with others.