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🌐 Install Nginx + PHP-FPM on a VPS#

Learn how to install and configure Nginx with PHP-FPM on your VPS to create a high-performance web server. This stack is ideal for WordPress, Laravel, Symfony, and other PHP applications.

🎯 Objectives#

  • ✅ Install Nginx and PHP-FPM on Ubuntu/Debian
  • ⚡ Optimize configuration for performance
  • 🔧 Configure virtual hosts for multiple sites
  • 🛠️ Test and validate the installation
  • 🔒 Apply security best practices

🧰 Prerequisites#

  • VPS running Ubuntu 20.04+ or Debian 11+
  • Root or sudo access
  • Active SSH connection
  • Domain name pointing to your VPS (optional for testing)

1️⃣ System preparation#

📦 System update#

# Package update
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Essential tools installation
sudo apt install -y curl wget gnupg2 software-properties-common

🔧 Adding PHP repository (for latest version)#

# Adding Ondrej repository for PHP
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
sudo apt update

2️⃣ Nginx installation#

📥 Web server installation#

# Nginx installation
sudo apt install nginx -y

# Start and enable automatic startup
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

# Status verification
sudo systemctl status nginx

🌐 Basic test#

Open your browser and go to http://your-server-ip. You should see the Nginx welcome page.

# Verify that Nginx is listening on port 80
sudo netstat -tlnp | grep :80

3️⃣ PHP-FPM installation#

📥 PHP and essential extensions installation#

# PHP 8.2 installation with FPM and common extensions
sudo apt install -y php8.2-fpm php8.2-cli php8.2-common php8.2-mysql \
php8.2-zip php8.2-gd php8.2-mbstring php8.2-curl php8.2-xml \
php8.2-bcmath php8.2-intl php8.2-opcache php8.2-readline

# Start and enable PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl start php8.2-fpm
sudo systemctl enable php8.2-fpm

# Status verification
sudo systemctl status php8.2-fpm

# Verify the socket works
sudo ls -la /run/php/

4️⃣ Nginx configuration for PHP#

🗂️ Directory structure#

# Create structure for your sites
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/mysite
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/

📝 Site configuration (virtual host)#

# Create configuration file
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mysite

Complete configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;

    # Replace with your domain name
    server_name mysite.com www.mysite.com;

    # Site root directory
    root /var/www/html/mysite;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    # Site-specific logs
    access_log /var/log/nginx/mysite_access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/mysite_error.log;

    # PHP configuration
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    # Security - block access to sensitive files
    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~ /\.git {
        deny all;
    }

    # Optimization - static file caching
    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|pdf|zip)$ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }

    # URL handling (for WordPress, Laravel, etc.)
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
}

✅ Site activation#

# Site activation (create symbolic link)
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mysite /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Remove default site (optional)
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

# Configuration test
sudo nginx -t

# Nginx reload
sudo systemctl reload nginx

5️⃣ Complete installation test#

📄 PHP test file creation#

# Create a PHP test file
sudo nano /var/www/html/mysite/info.php

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

🌐 Browser tests#

  1. PHP test: http://your-domain/info.php

⚠️ Security: Delete the info.php file after testing!

sudo rm /var/www/html/mysite/info.php

6️⃣ Service changes application#

🔄 Apply changes#

# Restart services
sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm
sudo systemctl restart nginx

# Verify proper operation
sudo systemctl status nginx php8.2-fpm

7️⃣ Maintenance and monitoring#

📊 Monitoring commands#

# Service status
sudo systemctl status nginx php8.2-fpm

# Real-time logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
sudo journalctl -fu php8.2-fpm

# Active PHP-FPM processes
sudo ps aux | grep php-fpm

# Active connections
sudo netstat -an | grep :80

🔧 Management commands#

# Restart without interruption
sudo systemctl reload nginx
sudo systemctl reload php8.2-fpm

# Configuration test before application
sudo nginx -t
sudo php-fpm8.2 -t

✅ Installation summary#

Your Nginx + PHP-FPM server is now operational with:

  • ✅ Nginx optimized and secured
  • ✅ PHP 8.2 with essential extensions
  • ✅ PHP-FPM operational
  • ✅ Virtual hosts configured
  • ✅ Basic security applied
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