Install phpBB on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP Support

phpBB is a free flat-forum bulletin board software written in PHP. It enables individuals and webmasters to set up community bulletin boards in minutes to stay in touch with group of people or ideas. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users an easy way to get phpBB working on Ubuntu 17.04 | 17.10 with Nginx, MariaDB and PHP support.

phpBB requires the LAMP / LEMP stack to function. It is easy to setup and maintain and completely free… Many reputable online forum communities use this software to run their bulletin boards…

If you’re looking for a feature-rich, efficient and free community bulletin board, then you may want to consider phpBB.

To get started with installing phpBB, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Install Nginx

phpBB is PHP-based and requires a webserver… So, go and install Nginx on Ubuntu by running the commands below:

sudo apt install nginx

Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

Step 2: Install MariaDB

phpBB also requires a database server to function.. and MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it run the commands below.

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
New password: Enter password
Re-enter new password: Repeat 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

Restart MariaDB server

sudo systemctl restart mariadb.service

Step 3: Install PHP-FPM and Related Modules

phpBB, a PHP-based software will require the below PHP modules. To install PHP and related modules run the commands below

sudo apt install php-fpm php-common php-mbstring php-xmlrpc php-soap php-gd php-xml php-intl php-mysql php-cli php-mcrypt php-ldap php-zip php-curl

After installing PHP, run the commands below to open Nginx PHP default file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/fpm/php.ini            # Ubuntu 17.10
sudo nano /etc/php/7.0/fpm/php.ini            # Ubuntu 17.04

Then change the following lines below in the file and save. You may increase the value to suite your environment.

max_execution_time = 180
max_input_time = 60
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 64M

Step 4: Create phpBB Database

Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First create a phpBB database.

Run the commands below to logon to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then create a database called phpbb

CREATE DATABASE phpbb;

Create a database user called phpbbuser with new password

CREATE USER 'phpbbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON phpbb.* TO 'phpbbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download phpBB Latest Release

Next, continue below to download phpBB package. To download, run the commands below.

After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into Nginx root directory.

cd /tmp && wget https://www.phpbb.com/files/release/phpBB-3.2.1.zip
unzip phpBB-3.2.1.zip
sudo mv phpBB3 /var/www/html/phpbb

Change or modify the directory permission to fit Nginx configuration.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/phpbb
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/phpbb

Step 6: Configure Nginx

Finally, configure Apahce2 site configuration file for phpBB. This file will control how users access phpBB content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called phpbb

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/phpbb

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html/phpbb;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ @rewriteapp;        
    }

    location /install/ {
     try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrite_installapp;
    }

    location ~ \.php(/|$) {
    fastcgi_split_path_info  ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    fastcgi_index            index.php;
    fastcgi_pass             unix:/var/run/php/php7.1-fpm.sock;     #Ubuntu 17.10
 #  fastcgi_pass             unix:/var/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock;     #Ubuntu 17.04
    include                  fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param   PATH_INFO       $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param   SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_param DOCUMENT_ROOT $realpath_root;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /install/app.php$is_args$args;
    }

     location @rewrite_installapp {
      rewrite ^(.*)$ /install/app.php/$1 last;
     }

}

Save the file and exit.

Step 7: Enable the phpBB and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/phpbb /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Step 8 : Restart Nginx

To load all the settings above, restart Nginx by running the commands below.

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see phpBB setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.