phpMyAdmin is a free open source software written in PHP. It was developed for beginners to manage MySQL and MariaDB databases via the web interface. It has a simple, user-friendly and powerful web interface with which you can manage MySQL databases, user accounts and authorizations, execute SQL statements and import and export data via the web browser.

In this article, we will show you how to install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 22.04 and make it secure.

Requirements

  • A server running Ubuntu 22.04.
  • A root password is set up on the server.

First steps

It is recommended to update your system packages to the latest version. You can update all packages with the following command:

apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y

Once all packages are updated, you can proceed to the next step.

Install Apache, MariaDB and PHP

phpMyAdmin is a PHP-based application that runs on a web server. Therefore, you need to install the LAMP server on your server. You can install it with the following command:

apt-get install apache2 mariadb-server php-fpm libapache2-mod-php php-cli php-mysql php-zip php-curl php-xml php-mbstring php-zip php-gd unzip -y

Once all packages are installed, start the Apache and MariaDB services and enable them so that they are started when the system reboots:

systemctl start apache2 mariadb
systemctl enable apache2 mariadb

When you’re done, you can proceed to the next step.

Install and configure phpMyAdmin

First, visit the official phpMyAdmin website, select the URL of the latest version and download the latest version of phpMyAdmin using the following command:

wget https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz

Once phpMyAdmin is downloaded, unzip the downloaded file with the following command:

tar -xvzf phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz

Next, move the unzipped directory to the /usr/share directory using the following command:

mv phpMyAdmin-5.2.0-all-languages /usr/share/phpmyadmin

Next, create a temporary directory for phpMyAdmin with the following command:

mkdir -p /var/lib/phpmyadmin/tmp

Next, set the ownership rights for the phpMyAdmin directory:

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

Next, copy the phpMyAdmin sample configuration file:

cp /usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.sample.inc.php /usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

Next, install the pwgen tool and generate a secret key using the following command:

apt-get install pwgen -y
pwgen -s 32 1

Output:

cnWfKjqshvQqoxFPcy7W950IM3DPe5C0

Next, you need to edit the config.inc.php file and change the default settings:

nano /usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

Define your secret key and do not comment the following lines:

$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'cnWfKjqshvQqoxFPcy7W950IM3DPe5C0'; /* YOU MUST FILL IN THIS FOR COOKIE AUTH! */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = 'password';

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma__bookmark';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma__relation';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma__table_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma__table_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma__pdf_pages';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma__column_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma__history';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] = 'pma__table_uiprefs';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma__tracking';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig'] = 'pma__userconfig';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['recent'] = 'pma__recent';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['favorite'] = 'pma__favorite';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['users'] = 'pma__users';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['usergroups'] = 'pma__usergroups';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['navigationhiding'] = 'pma__navigationhiding';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['savedsearches'] = 'pma__savedsearches';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['central_columns'] = 'pma__central_columns';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_settings'] = 'pma__designer_settings';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['export_templates'] = 'pma__export_templates';

$cfg['TempDir'] = '/var/lib/phpmyadmin/tmp';

Save and close the file when you’re done.

Create admin user for phpMyAdmin

For security reasons, it is always advisable to create a separate user for managing the database via phpMyAdmin.

First import the phpMyAdmin tables into the MariaDB database with the following command:

mysql < /usr/share/phpmyadmin/sql/create_tables.sql

Next, connect to the MariaDB shell with the following command:

mysql

Once you are connected, grant the PHPMyAdmin database all necessary permissions with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON phpmyadmin.* TO 'pma'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Next, create a user admin with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER myadmin;

Grant the admin user all necessary permissions with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'myadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Delete the permissions and exit the MariaDB shell with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;

Once you’re done, you can proceed to the next step.

Create Apache Virtual Host for phpMyAdmin

Next, you need to create a configuration file for an Apache virtual host for phpMyAdmin. You can create it with the following command:

nano /etc/apache2/conf-available/phpmyadmin.conf

Paste the following lines:

Alias /phpmyadmin /usr/share/phpmyadmin


    Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
    DirectoryIndex index.php

    
        
            AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
        
        
            SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
        

        php_value include_path .
        php_admin_value upload_tmp_dir /var/lib/phpmyadmin/tmp
        php_admin_value open_basedir /usr/share/phpmyadmin/:/etc/phpmyadmin/:/var/lib/phpmyadmin/:/usr/share/php/php-gettext/:/usr/share/php/php-php-gettext/:/usr/share/javascript/:/usr/share/php/tcpdf/:/usr/share/doc/phpmyadmin/:/usr/share/php/phpseclib/
        php_admin_value mbstring.func_overload 0
    
    
        
            AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
        
        
            SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
        

        php_value include_path .
        php_admin_value upload_tmp_dir /var/lib/phpmyadmin/tmp
        php_admin_value open_basedir /usr/share/phpmyadmin/:/etc/phpmyadmin/:/var/lib/phpmyadmin/:/usr/share/php/php-gettext/:/usr/share/php/php-php-gettext/:/usr/share/javascript/:/usr/share/php/tcpdf/:/usr/share/doc/phpmyadmin/:/usr/share/php/phpseclib/
        php_admin_value mbstring.func_overload 0
    



# Authorize for setup

    
        
            AuthType Basic
            AuthName "phpMyAdmin Setup"
            AuthUserFile /etc/phpmyadmin/htpasswd.setup
        
        Require valid-user
    


# Disallow web access to directories that don't need it

    Require all denied


    Require all denied


    Require all denied

Save and close the file when you’re done, then activate the phpMyAdmin configuration file with the following command:

a2enconf phpmyadmin.conf

Next, you’ll need to reload the Apache service for the changes to take effect:

systemctl reload apache2

You can check the status of the Apache service with the following command:

systemctl status apache2

You should see the following output:

? apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2022-08-06 09:58:37 UTC; 11min ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
    Process: 91902 ExecReload=/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 90122 (apache2)
      Tasks: 7 (limit: 2242)
     Memory: 14.3M
        CPU: 423ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ??90122 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??91906 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??91907 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??91908 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??91909 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??91910 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ??91911 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Aug 06 09:58:37 ubuntu2204 systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
Aug 06 09:58:37 ubuntu2204 apachectl[90121]: AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 2>
Aug 06 09:58:37 ubuntu2204 systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.
Aug 06 10:09:41 ubuntu2204 systemd[1]: Reloading The Apache HTTP Server...
Aug 06 10:09:41 ubuntu2204 apachectl[91905]: AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 2>
Aug 06 10:09:41 ubuntu2204 systemd[1]: Reloaded The Apache HTTP Server.

Accessing phpMyAdmin

Now phpMyAdmin is installed and configured. You can now open your web browser and access phpMyAdmin via the URL http://your-server-ip/phpmyadmin. You should see the phpMyAdmin login screen:

How to Install and Secure phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu linux ubuntu

Enter your admin username and password and click on the “Login ” button. On the following page you will see the phpMyAdmin dashboard:

How to Install and Secure phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu linux ubuntu

Enable two-factor authentication

It’s a good idea to secure phpMyAdmin with two-factor authentication. You can use the authentication and authorization functions in .htaccess to do this.

First edit the phpMyAdmin configuration file:

nano /etc/apache2/conf-available/phpmyadmin.conf

Add the line “AllowOverride All” to the following server block:

    Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
    DirectoryIndex index.php
    AllowOverride All

Save and close the file when you’re done, then restart the Apache service:

systemctl restart apache2

Next, create an .htaccess file and define the Apache authentication type:

nano /usr/share/phpmyadmin/.htaccess

Add the following lines:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Restricted Files"
AuthUserFile /usr/share/phpmyadmin/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

Save and close the file, then create a user with the following command:

htpasswd -c /usr/share/phpmyadmin/.htpasswd phpuser

You will be prompted to set a password (see below):

New password: 
Re-type new password: 
Adding password for user secureuser

Test phpMyAdmin two-factor authentication

At this point, phpMyAdmin is secured with two-factor authentication. To test it, open your web browser and access phpMyAdmin via the URL http://your-server-ip/phpmyadmin . You will be asked for the additional username and password (see below):

How to Install and Secure phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu linux ubuntu

After entering your username and password, you will be redirected to the normal phpMyAdmin login page.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and secured phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 22.04. Now you can install phpMyAdmin in your development environment and manage your database via the web browser.

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