Joomla is a popular open-source content management system (CMS) that allows you to create and manage websites and web applications. In this article, we will explain how to install Joomla with Nginx on Rocky Linux.

Before you begin, make sure that you have a Rocky Linux server that is connected to the internet, and that you have a non-root user with sudo privileges.

To install Joomla with Nginx on Rocky Linux, you first need to install the LEMP stack (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, and PHP) by running the following command:

sudo dnf install nginx mariadb-server mariadb php-fpm php-mysqlnd

This command will install the Nginx web server, the MariaDB database server, and the PHP scripting language, which are required to run Joomla.

Once the LEMP stack is installed, you need to start the Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP-FPM services and enable them to start automatically at boot time by running the following commands:

sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadb
sudo systemctl start php-fpm
sudo systemctl enable php-fpm

These commands will start the Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP-FPM services, and enable them to start automatically when the server is restarted.

Next, you need to secure the MariaDB installation by running the mysql_secure_installation script. This script will guide you through the process of setting a root password, disabling remote root logins, and removing anonymous users and test databases.

To run the mysql_secure_installation script, you need to log in to the MariaDB console by running the following command:

sudo mysql -u root

Once you are logged in to the MariaDB console, you can run the mysql_secure_installation script by typing the following command:

mysql_secure_installation

This script will ask you a series of questions to configure the MariaDB server securely. You can answer these questions according to your preferences, but it is recommended to set a strong root password and disable remote root logins.

Once you have secured the MariaDB installation, you need to create a database and a user for Joomla by running the following commands:

CREATE DATABASE joomla;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON joomla.* TO 'joomlauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

These commands will create a new database named joomla, create a new user named joomlauser with the password your_password, and grant the user full privileges on the joomla database.

Now that the LEMP stack and the MariaDB database are installed and configured, you can download and install Joomla by running the following commands:

wget <https://downloads.joomla.org/>...
tar -xzf joomla.tar.gz
sudo mv joomla /var/www/html

These commands will download the latest version of Joomla, extract it, and move it to the /var/www/html

directory, which is the default web root directory on Rocky Linux.

Next, you need to configure Nginx to serve the Joomla files by creating an Nginx server block file. To do this, you can run the following commands:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/joomla.conf

This command will create a new server block file named joomla.conf in the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory, and open it in the nano text editor.

In the joomla.conf file, you need to add the following configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html/joomla;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name your_server_ip;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }
    location ~ \\.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm/www.sock;
    }
}

This configuration will tell Nginx to listen on port 80, serve the Joomla files from the /var/www/html/joomla directory, and pass requests for PHP files to the PHP-FPM service.

Once you have added the configuration to the joomla.conf file, you need to save the file and exit the nano editor.

Now that the server block file is created, you need to test the Nginx configuration and restart the Nginx service by running the following commands:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

These commands will check the Nginx configuration for syntax errors, and restart the Nginx service to apply the changes.

Once the Nginx service is restarted, you can access the Joomla installation wizard by opening a web browser and navigating to the URL http://your_server_ip. This will open the Joomla installation wizard, where you can provide the database details and complete the installation process.

To add Let’s Encrypt SSL to the Joomla setup on Rocky Linux, you first need to install the certbot utility by running the following command:

sudo dnf install certbot

This command will install the certbot utility, which is a tool that can be used to obtain and renew SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt.

Once certbot is installed, you need to stop the Nginx service by running the following command:

sudo systemctl stop nginx

This command is necessary because certbot needs to bind to port 80 in order to verify the domain ownership and issue the SSL certificate. Since Nginx is already listening on port 80, you need to stop the Nginx service temporarily.

Next, you need to run the certbot utility to obtain an SSL certificate for your domain. To do this, you can run the following command:

sudo certbot certonly --standalone -d your_domain

This command will start the certbot utility in standalone mode, and request an SSL certificate for the domain your_domain.

certbot will verify the domain ownership by binding to port 80 and serving a verification file. Once the domain ownership is verified, certbot will issue an SSL certificate and store it in the /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain directory.

Once the SSL certificate is issued, you can start the Nginx service again by running the following command:

sudo systemctl start nginx

Now that the SSL certificate is obtained and the Nginx service is running, you need to configure Nginx to use the SSL certificate and redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS. To do this, you need to edit the joomla.conf server block file that you created earlier by running the following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/joomla.conf

In the joomla.conf file, you need to add the following lines to the server block:

server {
    listen 80;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}
server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    root /var/www/html/joomla;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name your_domain;
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain/privkey.pem;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }
    location ~ \\.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm/www.sock;
    }
}

This configuration will add a new server block that listens on port 80 and redirects all HTTP traffic to HTTPS. It also adds the SSL certificate and key to the existing server block that listens on port 443.

Once you have added the SSL configuration to the joomla.conf file, you need to save the file and exit the nano editor.

Now that the Nginx configuration is updated, you need to test it for syntax errors and restart the Nginx service by running the following commands:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

These commands will check the Nginx configuration for syntax errors, and restart the Nginx service to apply the changes.

Once the Nginx service is restarted, you can access the Joomla installation wizard by opening a web browser and navigating to the URL https://your_domain. This will open the Joomla installation wizard, where you can provide the database details and complete the installation process.

In conclusion, installing Joomla with Nginx on Rocky Linux is a straightforward process that involves installing the LEMP stack, securing the MariaDB installation, creating a database and user for Joomla, and configuring Nginx to serve the Joomla files. Once Joomla is installed, you can use it to create and manage websites and web applications.