How to install Laravel on Ubuntu

In this article, we will show you how to install Laravel on Ubuntu 20.04, from preparation to the setup of public directories.

Prerequisites

There are three tasks to perform before installing Laravel on a dedicated server with Ubuntu:

1. Create an account with sudo privileges and activate the Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW).
2. Download the Composer package manager, which we will need to further install Laravel and its components on the server.
3. Install the LEMP software stack and MySQL database management system on the dedicated server.

After that, also execute two commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

This is necessary in order to install all the latest and up-to-date updates for the system. When the preparatory work is done, you can proceed directly to installing the framework.

Laravel installation guide for Ubuntu 20.04

You can always find the most up-to-date version of Laravel in various repositories, but the best way is to use Github, since it has the largest community and free maintenance. To download from there, use the command:

cd /var/www
git clone https://github.com/laravel/laravel.git

Now switch to the framework directory and use the Composer manager to load all the dependencies it needs to work:

cd /var/www/laravel
sudo composer install

And finally, set all necessary permissions for new files through the console:

chown -R www-data.www-data /var/www/laravel
chmod -R 755 /var/www/laravel
chmod -R 777 /var/www/laravel/storage

That's it, there is nothing complicated about installing Laravel on VPS, everything is done in a few easy steps. But this is not the end, because we still need to configure the environment, the DBMS, and the webserver.



How to set up the environment

At this point, we need to create a Laravel configuration file, and we recommend simply renaming the .evn.example file .env. Command:

mv .env.example .env

Now generate a base64 random number encryption key, it is required by the Illuminate service:

php artisan key:generate

You will get the message "Application key set successfully", after which you can start editing the configuration file. Open it with the command:

nano .env

You will see a list with many different variables, and we don't need to edit them all. We only pay attention to these parameters:

• APP_NAME: The name of the application used by the notification and messaging services.
• APP_ENV: the current environment.
• APP_KEY: unique encryption key, which is automatically generated during Laravel installation through Composer. Do not change it.
• APP_DEBUG: determines whether client-side debugging data will be shown.
• APP_URL: the base URL of the application used to generate links to the application.
• DB_DATABASE: name of the database.
• DB_USERNAME: account name to connect to the database.
• DB_PASSWORD: database connection password.

All of these values are initially configured for the local Laravel Homestead development environment. You can change them if the system is intended to be developed, tested, or run in a production environment. For development and testing, the APP_DEBUG option should be enabled, and you will also need to set the development or testing parameters to emphasize the focus of the work. But in the production environment, the APP DEBUG option should be disabled to prevent the end user from getting important data about your application. After editing, don't forget to save your changes.

Correctly configuring the MySQL database

The first thing we do is create a MySQL database for our framework:

CREATE DATABASE laravel;

And then immediately create a new account with the full set of rights:

CREATE USER 'laravel'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your-password';
GRANT ALL ON laravel.* to 'laravel'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

After these manipulations are completed, leave the MySQL shell:

Quit

Then edit the familiar .env file and update the database settings:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=laravel
DB_USERNAME=laravel
DB_PASSWORD=your-password

How to configure the Apache webserver for Laravel

The next step is to edit the Apache virtual host configuration file and update Document Root:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

In this file we add the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:80>
 
        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        DocumentRoot /var/www/laravel/public
 
        <Directory />
            	Options FollowSymLinks
            	AllowOverride None
        </Directory>
        <Directory /var/www/laravel>
            	AllowOverride All
        </Directory>
 
        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
 
</VirtualHost>

And at the end, restart the webserver so that all the changes you made start working.

Final settings: how to access the framework's web interface

By default, you can access Laravel through port 80. If you're using a firewall, you can go to the control panel at http://your-domen.com, http://ip-server-address. That's the end of our material, thank you for your attention!