Flarum is the next-generation forum software that makes online discussions fun. It is simple, fast, and free. The source code of Flarum is hosted on GitHub. This guide will walk you through the installation process of Flarum on an Ubuntu system with PHP, MySQL as a database, and Nginx as a web server.
Requirements
Before you install Flarum, it is important to check whether your server meets the requirements. To run Flarum, you need:
- Apache (with
mod_rewrite
enabled) or Nginx. Nginx is used in this course. - PHP 7.1 with the following extensions:
dom
,gd
,json
,mbstring
,openssl
,pdo_mysql
,tokenizer
. - MySQL version 5.6 or higher or MariaDB version 10.0.5 or higher. MySQL is used in this tutorial.
Prerequisites
- An Ubuntu 18.04 LTS operating system.
- A non-root user with
sudo
rights.
First steps
Check your Ubuntu version:
lsb_release -ds # Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS
Set up the time zone:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
Update the packages of your operating system (software). This is an important first step because it ensures that you have the latest updates and security fixes for the standard software packages of your operating system:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Install some important packages that are necessary for basic Ubuntu operating system management:
sudo apt install -y curl wget vim git unzip socat bash-completion apt-transport-https
Step 1 – Install PHP and the necessary PHP modules
Install PHP and the necessary PHP extensions:
sudo apt install -y php7.2 php7.2-cli php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-mbstring php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-mysql php7.2-curl
Check the PHP version:
php --version # PHP 7.2.19-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 (cli) (built: Jun 4 2019 14:48:12) ( NTS ) # Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group # Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies # with Zend OPcache v7.2.10-0ubuntu0.18.04.1, Copyright (c) 1999-2018, by Zend Technologies
Step 2 – Install MySQL and create a Flarum database
Install MySQL:
sudo apt install -y mysql-server
Check the MySQL version:
mysql --version # mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.27, for Linux (x86_64) using EditLine wrapper
Run the script mysql_secure_installation
to increase the security of your MySQL installation:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Log in to MySQL as root user:
sudo mysql -u root -p # Enter password:
Create a new MySQL database and a database user and memorize the access data:
mysql> CREATE DATABASE dbname; mysql> GRANT ALL ON dbname.* TO 'username' IDENTIFIED BY 'password'; mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES; mysql> quit
NOTE: Replace dbname
and username
with suitable names for your installation. Replace password
with a secure password.
Step 3 – Install the acme.sh client and obtain a Let’s Encrypt certificate (optional)
It is not necessary to secure your website with HTTPS, but it is good practice to protect your website traffic. To get a TLS certificate from Let’s Encrypt, we’ll use the acme.sh client. Acme.sh is a simple UNIX shell software that allows you to obtain TLS certificates from Let’s Encrypt without any dependencies.
Download and install acme.sh:
sudo su - root git clone https://github.com/Neilpang/acme.sh.git cd acme.sh ./acme.sh --install --accountemail [email protected] source ~/.bashrc cd ~
Check the version of acme.sh:
acme.sh --version # v2.8.2
Obtain RSA and ECC/ECDSA certificates for your domain/hostname:
# RSA 2048 acme.sh --issue --standalone -d example.com --keylength 2048 # ECDSA acme.sh --issue --standalone -d example.com --keylength ec-256
If you want fake certificates for testing, you can add the flag --staging
to the above commands.
After you have executed the above commands, your certificates and keys will be located in:
- For RSA:
/home/username/example.com
directory. - For ECC/ECDSA:
/home/username/example.com_ecc
directory.
To list your issued certificates, you can do the following:
acme.sh --list
Create a directory to store your certificates. We will use the /etc/letsencrypt
directory.
mkdir -p /etc/letsecnrypt/example.com
sudo mkdir -p /etc/letsencrypt/example.com_ecc
Install/copy the certificates to /etc/letsencrypt directory.
# RSA acme.sh --install-cert -d example.com --cert-file /etc/letsencrypt/example.com/cert.pem --key-file /etc/letsencrypt/example.com/private.key --fullchain-file /etc/letsencrypt/example.com/fullchain.pem --reloadcmd "sudo systemctl reload nginx.service" # ECC/ECDSA acme.sh --install-cert -d example.com --ecc --cert-file /etc/letsencrypt/example.com_ecc/cert.pem --key-file /etc/letsencrypt/example.com_ecc/private.key --fullchain-file /etc/letsencrypt/example.com_ecc/fullchain.pem --reloadcmd "sudo systemctl reload nginx.service"
All certificates are automatically renewed every 60 days.
After you have received the certificates, leave the root user and return to the normal sudo user:
exit
Step 4 – Install and configure Nginx
Install Nginx:
sudo apt install -y nginx
Check the version:
sudo nginx -v # nginx version: nginx/1.14.0 (Ubuntu)
Configure Nginx for Flarum. Start sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/flarum.conf
and fill the file with the following configuration:
server {
listen [::]:443 ssl;
listen 433 ssl;
listen [::]:80;
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
root /var/www/flarum/public;
index index.php;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
}
location ~* .php$ {
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
Save the file and close your editor.
Activate the new flarum.conf
configuration by linking the file to the sites-enabled
directory:
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/flarum.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Test the configuration:
sudo nginx -t
Reload Nginx:
sudo systemctl reload nginx.service
Step 5 – Install Composer
Download Composer, the dependency manager for PHP, and install it:
php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');" php -r "if (hash_file('sha384', 'composer-setup.php') === 'baf1608c33254d00611ac1705c1d9958c817a1a33bce370c0595974b342601bd80b92a3f46067da89e3b06bff421f182') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;" php composer-setup.php php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');" sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
Check the version:
composer --version # Composer version 1.9.1 2019-11-01 17:20:17
Step 6 – Install Flarum
Create a document root directory where Flarum should be installed:
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/flarum
Change the ownership of the directory /var/www/flarum
to johndoe:
sudo chown -R johndoe:johndoe /var/www/flarum
Navigate to the document root directory:
cd /var/www/flarum
Download the latest version of Flarum via composer:
composer create-project flarum/flarum . --stability=beta
NOTE: If you install Flarum via Composer, you may run out of disk space. If this happens, you will need to set up swap.
Change the ownership of the /var/www/flarum
directory to www-data:
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/flarum
Step 7 – Finish the installation
Open your website in a web browser and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Set up your forum by entering your details below:
You will then be redirected to the Flarum forum frontend: