Welcome to our comprehensive guide on installing Orchard CMS with LEMP Stack on AlmaLinux 8. In this article, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of setting up and configuring Orchard CMS, a powerful content management system built on the ASP.NET Core framework. By the end of this guide, you will have a fully functional Orchard CMS installation running on your AlmaLinux 8 server, ready for you to create and manage your website content.

1. Introduction

Orchard CMS is an open-source modular and multi-tenant application framework built with ASP.NET Core. It provides a flexible and extensible platform for creating websites and managing their content. With its user-friendly interface and powerful features, Orchard CMS is a popular choice for developers and content creators alike.

In this guide, we will walk you through the process of installing Orchard CMS on AlmaLinux 8, using the LEMP Stack (Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP) as our web server environment. The LEMP Stack provides a robust and efficient platform for running web applications, ensuring high performance and stability.

2. Prerequisites

Before we begin the installation process, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

• A system with AlmaLinux 8 installed and running.
• Root access to the system.
• Docker installed and running. If you haven’t installed Docker yet, you can refer to our guide on installing Docker on AlmaLinux 8.
• LEMP Stack (Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP) installed and running. If you haven’t installed the LEMP Stack yet, you can refer to our guide on installing the LEMP Stack on AlmaLinux 8.

Once you have met the prerequisites, we can proceed with the installation and configuration of Orchard CMS.

3. Creating the Database

The first step in setting up Orchard CMS is to create a database and a user with the necessary privileges. We will be using MySQL for our database management system.

To create the database and user, open a terminal and log in as the root user. Then, execute the following commands:

mysql -u root
CREATE DATABASE orchard;
CREATE USER 'orchard'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON orchard.* TO 'orchard'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quit

Make sure to replace ‘password’ with a strong and secure password for the user. This password will be required during the Orchard CMS installation process.

4. Configuring PHP Settings

Next, we need to configure the PHP settings to ensure optimal performance for Orchard CMS. Open a terminal and execute the following commands to adjust the PHP memory limit, post max size, and upload max filesize:

sed -i 's/memory_limit = .*/memory_limit = 256M/' /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
sed -i 's/post_max_size = .*/post_max_size = 64M/' /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini
sed -i 's/upload_max_filesize = .*/upload_max_filesize = 64M/' /etc/php/7.4/apache2/php.ini

These commands will update the respective values in the PHP configuration file. Feel free to modify these values according to your specific requirements.

Once the PHP settings are configured, we need to enable the PHP module in Nginx and restart the web server. Execute the following commands:

a2enmod php7.4
systemctl restart nginx

5. Installing Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate

To secure your Orchard CMS installation with an SSL certificate, we will use Let’s Encrypt, a free and open certificate authority. This will ensure that your website is accessed over HTTPS, providing a secure connection for your users.

To install the Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate, we first need to install the EPEL repository and the mod_ssl package. Open a terminal and execute the following command:

dnf install epel-release mod_ssl -y

Once the packages are installed, we can proceed with installing the certbot client, which is used to create and manage Let’s Encrypt certificates. Execute the following command:

dnf install python3-certbot-nginx -y

With the certbot client installed, we can now issue the Let’s Encrypt certificate. Replace ‘example.com’ with your domain name and ’email@example.com’ with your email address. Execute the following command:

certbot --nginx --agree-tos --redirect --hsts --staple-ocsp --email email@example.com -d example.com

Follow the prompts to complete the certificate issuance process. The Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate is valid for 90 days and will be automatically renewed by certbot.

6. Configuring Nginx Reverse Proxy

To properly configure Nginx for Orchard CMS, we need to update the Nginx configuration file. Open a terminal and execute the following command to open the Nginx configuration file in a text editor:

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

In the Nginx configuration file, replace the existing contents with the following configuration:

# For more information on configuration, see:
# * Official English Documentation: http://nginx.org/en/docs/
# * Official Russian Documentation: http://nginx.org/ru/docs/

user nginx;
worker_processes auto;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
pid /run/nginx.pid;

# Load dynamic modules. See /usr/share/doc/nginx/README.dynamic.
include /usr/share/nginx/modules/*.conf;

events {
 worker_connections 1024;
}

http {
 log_format main '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
 '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
 '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';

 access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main;

 sendfile on;
 tcp_nopush on;
 tcp_nodelay on;
 keepalive_timeout 65;
 types_hash_max_size 2048;

 include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
 default_type application/octet-stream;

 # Load modular configuration files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory.
 # See http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#include
 # for more information.
 include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
}

Save and exit the file by pressing Ctrl+O, followed by Ctrl+X.

Next, we need to create a new Nginx configuration file for our Orchard CMS installation. Execute the following command to create the file:

vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/orchard.conf

In the new file, add the following configuration:

upstream app {
server 127.0.0.1:8080;
}

server {
listen 80 default_server;
server_name example.com;
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
listen 443 ssl;
server_name example.com;

ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;

include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf;
ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem;

location / {
proxy_pass http://app;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-Port $server_port;
proxy_set_header X-Real-Scheme $scheme;
}
}

Make sure to replace ‘example.com’ with your actual domain name. Save and exit the file by pressing Esc, followed by :wq!, and then Enter.

Finally, restart Nginx to apply the changes:

systemctl restart nginx

7. Enabling HTTP and HTTPS

To allow HTTP and HTTPS connections through the firewall, we need to open the necessary ports. Execute the following commands to enable HTTP (port 80), HTTPS (port 443), and the port used by Orchard CMS (port 8080):

firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port8080/tcp
firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port80/tcp
firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port443/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload

The firewall rules have been updated to allow incoming connections on the specified ports.

8. Installing Orchard CMS using Docker

Now that we have completed the necessary configurations, we can proceed with installing Orchard CMS using Docker. Execute the following command to download and run the Orchard CMS Docker container:

docker run --name orchardcms -p 8080:80 orchardproject/orchardcore-cms-linux:latest

Docker will pull the Orchard CMS image from the Docker Hub and start the container. The -p 8080:80 option maps port 8080 on the host to port 80 inside the container, allowing us to access Orchard CMS through port 8080.

9. Configuring Orchard CMS

With Orchard CMS installed and running, open your web browser and enter the following URL:

http://example.com:8080

Replace ‘example.com’ with your domain name or server IP address. You should see the Orchard CMS configuration page.

Follow the on-screen instructions to configure Orchard CMS. During the configuration process, you will need to provide the database details we created earlier. Use the following information:

• Database Type: MySQL
• Database Server: localhost
• Database Name: orchard
• Database User: orchard
• Database Password: [password created earlier]

Once you have completed the configuration, you will be redirected to the Orchard CMS dashboard. Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Orchard CMS on AlmaLinux 8.

10. Securing Orchard CMS

To further enhance the security of your Orchard CMS installation, consider implementing additional measures such as:

• Regularly updating Orchard CMS and its dependencies to the latest versions.
• Enabling secure connections by redirecting all HTTP traffic to HTTPS.
• Implementing strong password policies for user accounts.
• Regularly backing up your Orchard CMS database and files.

By following these security best practices, you can ensure that your Orchard CMS installation remains secure and protected from potential threats.

11. Conclusion

In this guide, we have covered the step-by-step process of installing Orchard CMS with LEMP Stack on AlmaLinux 8. By following the instructions outlined in this article, you now have a fully functional Orchard CMS installation running on your AlmaLinux 8 server.

Orchard CMS provides a powerful and user-friendly platform for creating and managing website content. With its modular and extensible architecture, it offers endless possibilities for customization and scalability.

We hope this guide has been helpful to you. If you have any questions or encounter any issues during the installation process, feel free to reach out to our support team for assistance.

12. Additional Information

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Now that you have successfully installed Orchard CMS on AlmaLinux 8, it’s time to unleash your creativity and start building your website with ease. Enjoy the power and flexibility of Orchard CMS, and watch your online presence thrive!

Christian Wells