How to Install Laravel on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS

In this article, We are going to cover How to Install Laravel on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS

Introduction

Laravel is open source web framework for PHP. It is used to create overall web tasks and easy for app development.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS
• SSH Access with sudo privileges

Install curl, zip , unzip and common packages

sudo apt install curl zip unzip software-properties-common

Install an Apache2 on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS if not installed

sudo apt install apache2

Step 1: Install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS

Install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

if you are using Apache web server, Install php 7.4 with Apache on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS using below commands

sudo apt update

sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php

Restart an Apache service to take effect

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Install php 7.4 modules required for Laravel on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

sudo apt install php7.4-common php7.4-cli php7.4-gd php7.4-mysql php7.4-curl php7.4-intl php7.4-mbstring php7.4-bcmath php7.4-imap php7.4-xml php7.4-zip 

Install PHP 7.4 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS using PPA

Install php 7.4 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS using PPA with php modules

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

sudo apt update

sudo apt install php7.4-common php7.4-cli php7.4-gd php7.4-mysql php7.4-curl php7.4-intl php7.4-mbstring php7.4-bcmath php7.4-imap php7.4-xml php7.4-zip

Check the PHP version using command line

php -v

Output:

PHP 7.4.9 (cli) (built: Aug  7 2020 14:29:36) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.9, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Step 2: Install MySQL on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS

Install MySQL on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS using below command, this will install default MySQL on it.

sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

If you want install specific MySQL Version like 5.7 or 8 then follow below articles

How to Install MySQL 5.7 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

How to Install MySQL 8.0 on Ubuntu 18.04/16.04

How to Install MariaDB on Ubuntu 18.04/16.04 LTS

Secure the MySQL Installation

MySQL Server comes with a script mysql_secure_installation this can do multiple security related operations,

Run the below script on command prompt. you’ll first be need to enter the root password which you created during MySQL setup.

You will be asked to opt VALIDATE PASSWORD PLUGIN or not. This enables we to test MySQL Passwords and improve security.

Next, you have to enter yes or No to below security features,

• Change the password for root ? ((Press Y|Y for Yes, any other key for No)
• Remove anonymous users? (Press Y|Y for Yes, any other key for No)
• Disallow root login remotely? (Press Y|Y for Yes, any other key for No)
• Remove test database and access to it? (Press Y|Y for Yes, any other key for No)
• Reload privilege tables now? (Press Y|Y for Yes, any other key for No)

mysql_secure_installation

Step 3: Install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu

If you want to install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu then follow below article

How to Install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 18.04/16.04

Step 4: Install PHP Composer on Ubuntu

Install composer to install all dependencies for laravel application using curl

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php

Output:

All settings correct for using Composer
Downloading...

Composer (version 1.10.10) successfully installed to: /root/composer.phar
Use it: php composer.phar

Move composer.phar to /usr/local/bin directory

sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Make executable to composer

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/composer

To check composer version

Composer -v

Step 4: Install Laravel on Ubuntu

Navigate to cd /var/www/ directory

cd /var/www/html

Download the Latest Laravel from GitHub in /var/www/html directory

git clone https://github.com/laravel/laravel.git

Now Navigate to laravel folder

cd /var/www/html/laravel

OR

you can clone your laravel project from GitHub/Bitbucket and you can install compose into your project directory

Install all dependencies using composer

sudo composer install

once all dependencies installed, set the permissions

chown -R www-data.www-data /var/www/html/laravel

chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/laravel

chmod -R 777 /var/www/html/laravel/storage

We have covered Install Laravel on Ubuntu.

Step 5: Creating Database and User in MySQL

Login to MySQL , create a database and user in MySQL for Laravel Project

mysql -u root -p

mysql> create database laraveldb;

mysql> CREATE USER 'dbuser'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'fosstechnix@123';

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON . TO 'dbuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

mysql> exit

Step 6: Setting up Environment for Laravel Project

By default laravel create .env.example file, rename it to .env to set all environment settings for your laravel project

sudo mv .env.example .env

Generate the base64 key for your laravel project

php artisan key:generate

Output:

php artisan key:generate
Application key set successfully.

open the .env file and set your project configuration

sudo nano .env

APP_NAME=fosstechnixDev
APP_ENV=Dev
APP_KEY=base64:La/otbbUH6wpP/ObQqSMMu9QQvab8Sg1nMJwX+dbgAw=
APP_DEBUG=true
APP_URL=http://localhost

change the Database Settings

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=laraveldb
DB_USERNAME=dbuser
DB_PASSWORD=fosstechnix@123

Step 7: Apache Configuration for Laravel

open the default virtual host file and update you project’s path into it

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

update the virtual host configuration as shown below

<VirtualHost *:80>
        
        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        DocumentRoot /var/www/html/laravel/public


        <Directory />
                Options FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride None
        </Directory>
        <Directory /var/www/html/laravel/public>
                AllowOverride All
        </Directory>

        
        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

        </VirtualHost>

Restart Apache2 service to take effect

sudo systemctl restart apache2

We have covered Install Laravel on Ubuntu.

Step 8: Access Laravel UI

Now access Laravel application UI using Server IP or Domain Name

http://server_IP

Uninstalling Laravel and Composer

To uninstall/remove Laravel and composer from Ubuntu

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/composer 

Troubleshooting

Error: laravel the requested url was not found on this server:404

Solution:

sudo a2enmod rewrite

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Conclusion:

We have covered, How to Install Laravel on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 LTS, Install php and MySQL, Installing composer and laravel, creating MySQL db and user for laravel project, creating environment settings and Apache configuration for laravel.