How to Install PhpMyAdmin with Free Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu 22.04

phpMyAdmin is a free, open-source, and web-based application used for managing databases via a web browser. It provides a simple and user-friendly web interface that helps database administrators to perform several tasks, manage user accounts and privileges, import and export data, execute SQL statements, and much more. It is written in PHP which gives beginner users the ability to interact with their MySQL databases.

In this tutorial, we will explain how to install phpMyAdmin with Nginx on Ubuntu 22.04.

Prerequisites

• A server running Ubuntu 22.04.
• A valid domain name is pointed with your server.
• A root password is configured on your server.

Install Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP

First, you will need to install the Nginx web server, MariaDB, PHP, and other required PHP extensions in your server. You can install all of them with the following command:

apt-get install nginx mariadb-server php php-cli php-mysql php-mbstring php-zip php-gd php-json php-curl php-fpm -y

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

Install phpMyAdmin

By default, the phpMyAdmin package is available in the Ubuntu 22.04 default repository. You can install it by just running the following command:

apt-get install phpmyadmin -y

During the installation, you will be asked to select the web server as shown below:

Since we are using the Nginx web server, you can just hit TAB, and then ENTER to bypass this prompt. You will be asked to configure a database for phpMyAdmin to use.

Select Yes and hit Enter to continue. You will be asked to choose and confirm a password for the phpMyAdmin application as shown below:

Provide your desired password and hit Enter to finish the installation.

Configure MariaDB Database

By default, the MariaDB is not secured. So secure the MariaDB and set the MariaDB root password with the following command:

mysql_secure_installation

Answer all the questions as shown below:

Enter current password for root (enter for none): 
Set root password? [Y/n] Y
New password: 
Re-enter new password: 
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y

After securing the MariaDB, it is recommended to create a separate user to connect the phpMyAdmin and manage the database.

To do so, log in to the MariaDB shell with the following command:

mysql -u root -p

Provide your root password when prompt then create a new user with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> create user [email protected] identified by 'password';

Next, grant all the privileges to the user with the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> grant all privileges on *.* to [email protected] with grant option;

Next, flush the privileges and exit from the MariaDB shell using the following command:

MariaDB [(none)]> flush privileges;

MariaDB [(none)]> exit;

Once you are finished, you can proceed to the next step.

Configure Nginx for phpMyAdmin

Next, you will need to create an Nginx virtual host server block to host phpMyAdmin. You can create it using the following command:

nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/phpmyadmin.conf

Add the following lines:

server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80;
  server_name phpmyadmin.example.com;
  root /usr/share/phpmyadmin/;
  index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

  access_log /var/log/nginx/phpmyadmin_access.log;
  error_log /var/log/nginx/phpmyadmin_error.log;

  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php;
  }

  location ~ ^/(doc|sql|setup)/ {
    deny all;
  }

  location ~ .php$ {
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
  }

  location ~ /.ht {
    deny all;
  }
}

Save and close the file. Then, check the Nginx for any syntax error with the following command:

nginx -t

You should get the following output:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Finally, restart the Nginx service to apply the changes:Advertisement

systemctl restart nginx

You can also check the Nginx status using 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 Sun 2022-06-12 04:37:05 UTC; 6s ago
       Docs: man:nginx(8)
    Process: 20020 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -q -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 20021 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 20022 (nginx)
      Tasks: 2 (limit: 2292)
     Memory: 2.6M
        CPU: 33ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
             ??20022 "nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on;"
             ??20023 "nginx: worker process" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" "" ""

Jun 12 04:37:05 ubuntu systemd[1]: Starting A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server...
Jun 12 04:37:05 ubuntu systemd[1]: Started A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server.

Next, change the ownership and permission of the phpMyAdmin directory:

chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/phpmyadmin/

chmod -R 755

Secure phpMyAdmin with Let’s Encrypt SSL

Before starting, you will need to install the Certbot client to download and install Let’s Encrypt SSL.

First, add the Certbot repository with the following command:

add-apt-repository ppa:ahasenack/certbot-tlssni01-1875471

Next, update the repository and install the Certbot client using the following command:

apt-get update -y

apt-get install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Once the Certbot has been installed, run the following command to download and install the Let’s Encrypt SSL for your domain:

certbot --nginx -d phpmyadmin.example.com

You will be asked to provide your email 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 phpmyadmin.example.com
Waiting for verification...
Cleaning up challenges
Deploying Certificate to VirtualHost /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/phpmyadmin

Next, select whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS:

Please choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, removing HTTP access.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.Advertisement

Redirecting all traffic on port 80 to ssl in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/phpmyadmin

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Congratulations! You have successfully enabled https://phpmyadmin.example.com

You should test your configuration at:
https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=phpmyadmin.example.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IMPORTANT NOTES:
 - Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at:
   /etc/letsencrypt/live/phpmyadmin.example.com/fullchain.pem
   Your key file has been saved at:
   /etc/letsencrypt/live/phpmyadmin.example.com/privkey.pem
   Your cert will expire on 2022-09-12. 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"
 - 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

Access phpMyAdmin

Now, open your web browser and type the URL https://phpmyadmin.eample.com. You will be redirected to the phpMyAdmin login page:

Provide your admin username, password, and click on the Go button. You should see the phpMyAdmin default dashboard on the following page:

Conclusion

Congratulations! you have successfully installed phpMyAdmin and secured it with Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu 22.04. You can now connect to phpMyAdmin, manage your databases and perform several tasks through the web browser.