‍Flarum is a cutting-edge, open-source forum software built with PHP and Laravel. It offers a modern, fast, and user-friendly alternative to traditional forum platforms. With features like real-time discussions, extensibility, and a responsive design, Flarum has gained popularity among developers and forum administrators. In this article, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of installing Flarum on an Ubuntu 23.10 server.

Before we begin, please ensure that you have access to a system running Ubuntu 23.10 with root privileges. Let’s dive into the installation process.

Prerequisites

To install Flarum on your Ubuntu 23.10 server, you’ll need the following components:

1. Web Server: You’ll need a web server to host your Flarum installation. In this guide, we’ll be using the LAMP stack, which consists of Linux, Apache, MySQL (or MariaDB), and PHP.
2. PHP: Flarum is built with PHP, so you’ll need to have PHP installed on your server. We recommend using PHP version 7.4 or newer.
3. Database: Flarum requires a database to store its data. You can choose either MySQL or MariaDB as your database server.
4. Composer: Composer is a PHP dependency manager that Flarum relies on. Install Composer on your server to manage Flarum’s dependencies.

Step 1: Update the Server

Before we begin installing Flarum, let’s update the package repository information on your Ubuntu 23.10 server. Open a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

These commands will update your server with the latest package versions and security patches.

Step 2: Create a Flarum Database

Next, we need to create a database for Flarum. Open the MySQL shell by running the following command:

mysql -u root -p

Replace password with a strong and secure password. Once you’re in the MySQL shell, create a new database and user with the following commands:

CREATE DATABASE flarum;
CREATE USER 'flarum'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Make sure to replace password with a secure password of your choice. Grant all privileges to the Flarum database using the following command:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON flarum.* TO 'flarum'@'localhost';

After granting the privileges, flush the privileges and exit the MySQL shell:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

With this, you have successfully created a Flarum database and user.

Step 3: Install Composer

Composer is a powerful tool that manages the dependencies of PHP projects, including Flarum. To install Composer, run the following command:

curl -s https://getcomposer.org/installer | php

This command will download and install Composer on your server. Once the installation is complete, move the Composer binary file to the /usr/local/bin/ directory:

sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

To verify the Composer installation, run the following command:

composer -V

You should see the Composer version displayed in the output.

Step 4: Install Flarum

Now that we have all the prerequisites in place, let’s proceed to install Flarum on your Ubuntu 23.10 server.

1. Create a directory for Flarum inside the Apache web directory:

sudo mkdir /var/www/html/flarum

2. Navigate to the Flarum directory:

cd /var/www/html/flarum

3. Download the latest version of Flarum using Composer:

sudo composer create-project flarum/flarum. --stability=beta

4. Install all PHP dependencies:

sudo composer install

5. Change the ownership of the Flarum directory to the Apache user:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/flarum/

6. Set the appropriate permissions for the Flarum directory:

sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/flarum/

Congratulations! Flarum has been successfully installed on your Ubuntu 23.10 server.

Step 5: Configure Flarum with Apache

To configure Flarum with Apache, we’ll create a virtual host configuration file for the Flarum site.

1. Open the Flarum virtual host configuration file in a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/flarum.conf

2. Replace (flarum.domainhere.info) with your actual domain name.
3. Add the following lines to the configuration file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin flarum.domainhere.info
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/flarum/public
ServerName flarum.domainhere.info
DirectoryIndex index.php
<Directory /var/www/html/flarum/public/>
Options +FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

4. Enable the Flarum virtual host and the Apache rewrite module:

sudo a2ensite flarum
sudo a2enmod rewrite

5. Restart Apache to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Confirm that Apache has restarted successfully:

sudo systemctl status apache2

With this, you have configured Flarum to work with Apache.

Step 6: Secure Flarum with Let’s Encrypt SSL

To secure your Flarum installation with Let’s Encrypt SSL, you’ll need to install the Certbot client.

1. Install the Certbot Let’s Encrypt client:

sudo apt-get install python3-certbot-apache -y

2. Run the Certbot command to install the Let’s Encrypt SSL for your Flarum site:

sudo certbot --apache -d flarum.domainhere.info

Replace flarum.domainhere.info with your actual domain name. You’ll be prompted to provide your email address and accept the terms.

Once the SSL installation is complete, you will see a success message confirming the deployment of the certificate.

Step 7: Final Configuration and Installation

Now that your Flarum installation is secured with SSL, you can access it using your domain name. Open your browser and navigate to https://flarum.domainhere.info.

1. Fill in the database details you created earlier.
2. Create an admin account for Flarum.
3. Click on the “Install” button.

Once the installation is complete, you will be redirected to the Flarum dashboard.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Flarum on your Ubuntu 23.10 server. You can now start customizing and managing your Flarum forum.

Remember, if you need reliable and scalable hosting solutions for your Flarum forum, Shape.host offers Linux SSD VPS services that can meet your requirements. Visit Shape.host to explore the hosting plans and unleash the full potential of Flarum.

Happy forum building!

Christian Wells