MediaWiki is an open-source wiki software written in PHP. It allows you to create your own self-hosted wiki website on the server. It is one of the most popular wiki platforms due to its simplicity and customizability. Currently, it is used by many companies to manage their wiki pages. It provides a versatile and free tool for publishing content on the internet.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to install MediaWiki with Nginx web server and Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu 20.04.
Prerequisites
- A server running Ubuntu 20.04.
- A valid domain name pointed with your server IP.
- A root password is configured on the server.
Getting Started
First, update the system packages to the updated version by running the following command:
apt-get update -y
Once all the packages are updated, you can proceed to the next step.
Install Nginx, MariaDB and PHP
MediaWiki requires Nginx web server, MariaDB database server, PHP, and other extensions. You can install all of them with the following command:
apt-get install nginx mariadb-server php php-fpm php-mbstring php-xml php-json php-mysql php-curl php-intl php-gd php-mbstring texlive imagemagick unzip -y
Once all the packages are installed, install the Composer with the following command:
apt-get install composer -y
Next, edit the php.ini file and change the default settings:
nano /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
Change the following lines:
memory_limit = 512M post_max_size =32M upload_max_filesize = 32M date.timezone = Asia/Kolkata
Save and close the file then restart the PHP-FPM to apply the changes:
systemctl restart php7.4-fpm
Once you are finished, you can proceed to the next step.
Create a MariaDB Database
MediaWiki uses MariaDB as a database backend so you will need to create a database and user for MediaWiki.
First, connect to the MariaDB with the following command:
mysql
Once you are connected, create a database and user with the following command:
MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE mediadb;
MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mediadb.* TO 'mediauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
Next, flush the privileges and exit from the MariaDB with the following command:
MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;
Once you are finished, you can proceed to the next step.
First. go to the MediaWiki website and pick the latest version of the MediaWiki. Then, run the following command to download it to your server:
wget https://releases.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.35/mediawiki-1.35.2.zip
Once the download is completed, unzip the downloaded file with the following command:
unzip mediawiki-1.35.2.zip
Next, move the extracted directory to the Nginx web root directory with the following command:
mv mediawiki-1.35.2 /var/www/html/mediawiki
Next, change the directory to the MediaWiki and install all PHP dependencies with the following command:
cd /var/www/html/mediawiki
composer install --no-dev
Once all the dependencies are installed, set proper permission and ownership with the following command:
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/mediawiki
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/mediawiki
Once you are finished, you can proceed to the next step.
Configure Nginx for MediaWiki
Next, you will need to create an Nginx virtual host configuration file for MediaWiki. You can create it with the following command:
nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/wiki.conf
Add the following lines:
server {
listen 80;
server_name wiki.example.com;
root /var/www/html/mediawiki;
index index.php;
error_log /var/log/nginx/mediawiki.error;
access_log /var/log/nginx/mediawiki.access;
location / {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php;
}
location ~ /.ht {
deny all;
}
location ~ .php$ {
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
}
}
Save and close the file then verify the Nginx for any syntax error with the following command:
nginx -t
You should see the following output:
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
Next, restart the Nginx service to apply the changes:
systemctl restart nginx
You can also verify the status of the Nginx with the following command:
systemctl status nginx
You should see the following output:
? nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-06-02 05:06:48 UTC; 3s ago
Docs: man:nginx(8)
Process: 24594 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -q -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 24605 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 24606 (nginx)
Tasks: 2 (limit: 2353)
Memory: 2.8M
CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
??24606 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on;
??24607 nginx: worker process
Jun 02 05:06:48 ubuntu2004 systemd[1]: Starting A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server...
Jun 02 05:06:48 ubuntu2004 systemd[1]: Started A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server.
Now, open your web browser and type the URL http://wiki.example.com. You will be redirected to the following page:
Now, click on the set up the wiki button. You should see the following page:
Here, choose your wiki language and click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:
Now, click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:Advertisement
Now, provide your database details and click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:
Select use the same account as for installation and click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:
Now, provide your wiki site name, username, and password. Then, click on the Continue button. You should see the following page:
Click on the Continue button to start the installation. You should see the following page:
Click on the Continue button. Once the installation is finished, you should see the following page:
Now, click on the download button to download the LocalSettings.php file to your system. Then, copy this file to your server inside the MediaWiki root directory and set proper permission with the following command:
chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php
Next, go back to your web browser and click on enter your wiki. You should see the MediaWiki dashboard on the following page:
Secure MediaWiki with Let’s Encrypt SSL
Next, you will need to install the Certbot client package to install the manage the Let’s Encrypt SSL.
First, install the Certbot with the following command:
apt-get install python3-certbot-nginx -y
Once the installation is finished, run the following command to install the Let’s Encrypt SSL on your website:
certbot --nginx -d wiki.example.com
You will be asked to provide a valid email address and accept the term of service as shown below:
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log Plugins selected: Authenticator nginx, Installer nginx Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices) (Enter 'c' to cancel): [email protected] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please read the Terms of Service at https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.2-November-15-2017.pdf. You must agree in order to register with the ACME server at https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (A)gree/(C)ancel: A - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Would you be willing to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about our work encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Y)es/(N)o: Y Obtaining a new certificate Performing the following challenges: http-01 challenge for wiki.example.com Waiting for verification... Cleaning up challenges Deploying Certificate to VirtualHost /etc/nginx/conf.d/wiki.conf
Next, choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS as shown bellow:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1: No redirect - Make no further changes to the webserver configuration. 2: Redirect - Make all requests redirect to secure HTTPS access. Choose this for new sites, or if you're confident your site works on HTTPS. You can undo this change by editing your web server's configuration. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press 'c' to cancel): 2
Type 2 and hit Enter to finish the installation. You should see the following output:
Redirecting all traffic on port 80 to ssl in /etc/nginx/conf.d/wiki.conf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Congratulations! You have successfully enabled https://wiki.example.com You should test your configuration at: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=wiki.example.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - IMPORTANT NOTES: - Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/wiki.example.com/fullchain.pem Your key file has been saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/wiki.example.com/privkey.pem Your cert will expire on 2021-12-30. To obtain a new or tweaked version of this certificate in the future, simply run certbot again with the "certonly" option. To non-interactively renew *all* of your certificates, run "certbot renew" - Your account credentials have been saved in your Certbot configuration directory at /etc/letsencrypt. You should make a secure backup of this folder now. This configuration directory will also contain certificates and private keys obtained by Certbot so making regular backups of this folder is ideal. - If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by: Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt: https://letsencrypt.org/donate Donating to EFF: https://eff.org/donate-le - We were unable to subscribe you the EFF mailing list because your e-mail address appears to be invalid. You can try again later by visiting https://act.eff.org.
Now, your website is secured with Let’s Encrypt SSL. You can access it securely using the URL https://wiki.example.com.
Conclusion
Congratulations! you have successfully installed MediaWiki with Nginx and Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu 20.04. You can now easily host your own wiki site with MediaWiki.
