Installing Fuel CMS with Nginx and Let's Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu

Fuel CMS is a flexible, user-friendly content management system built on the CodeIgniter framework. This guide will take you through the steps of installing Fuel CMS on an Ubuntu 22.04 server with Nginx and securing it with Let’s Encrypt SSL.

Step 1: Initiating Instance Creation

Creating a New Instance
- To create a new instance, click on the blue “Create” button located in the top-right corner of the page.
- Select “Add New Instance” to begin setting up a new virtual machine.

Shape.host Resources dashboard showing the Create menu and available instance templates.

Step 2: Choosing a Location

Select a Data Center
- On the “Create New Instance” page, choose your preferred data center location. For example, you might select “Amsterdam, Netherlands”.

Shape.host instance form with Amsterdam selected as the data center location.

Step 3: Selecting a Plan

Choose a Plan
- Pick a plan that meets your requirements. Options vary in specifications and price, from $3.5 to $22 per month, offering different CPU, memory, storage, and bandwidth.
Choose an Operating System
- Scroll to the “Choose an image” section and select Ubuntu 22.04 from the list of available distributions.

Shape.host instance form with the $22 monthly plan and Ubuntu image selected.

Step 4: Authentication Method

Select an Authentication Method
- Choose between SSH keys (recommended for better security) or a password for root access. In this guide, we’ll proceed with the password option.
Complete Instance Creation
- Click the “Create Instance” button at the bottom of the page to finalize the setup.

Shape.host instance form showing authentication, hostname and instance creation options.

Step 5: Connecting to Your Instance

Retrieve SSH Credentials
- Note the IP address of your newly created instance from the Shape.host dashboard.
Connect via SSH
Open a terminal on your local machine and use the following command to connect to your instance:

ssh root@your_instance_ip

Replace your_instance_ip with the actual IP address of your instance.

A server running Ubuntu 22.04 with root access.
A domain name pointing to your server.
Basic knowledge of command-line operations.

Step 6: Update System Packages

First, update your system’s package index and upgrade installed packages:

apt update
apt upgrade -y

Terminal showing APT package management commands and output.

Step 7: Install Nginx, PHP, and Dependencies

Install Nginx, PHP, and necessary PHP extensions:

apt install nginx php-fpm php-mysql php-xml php-mbstring php-zip php-curl unzip -y

Step 8: Install MariaDB

Install MariaDB server:

apt install mariadb-server -y

Secure MariaDB installation:

mysql_secure_installation

Terminal showing mysql commands or output during Install MariaDB.

Follow the prompts to set the root password and secure your installation.

Step 9: Create a Database for Fuel CMS

mysql -u root -p

Terminal showing mariadb commands or output during Create a Database for Fuel CMS.

Create a new database and user for Fuel CMS:

CREATE DATABASE fuelcms;
CREATE USER 'fuelcmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON fuelcms.* TO 'fuelcmsuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Terminal showing SQL database and user configuration commands.

Replace your_password with a strong password of your choice.

Step 10: Download and Install Fuel CMS

Navigate to the web root directory and download Fuel CMS:

cd /var/www/html
wget https://github.com/daylightstudio/FUEL-CMS/archive/master.zip
unzip master.zip
mv FUEL-CMS-master fuelcms
cd fuelcms

Terminal showing the MariaDB/MySQL interactive database session.

Set the correct permissions:

chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/fuelcms
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/fuelcms

Terminal showing file ownership or permission commands.

Step 11: Configure Nginx for Fuel CMS

Create a new Nginx configuration file for Fuel CMS:

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/fuelcms

Terminal showing nano commands or output during Configure Nginx for Fuel CMS.

Add the following configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_domain;

    root /var/www/html/fuelcms;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php-fpm.sock;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Terminal showing the GNU nano editor and configuration text.

Enable the site configuration by creating a symlink:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/fuelcms /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Terminal showing the Nginx site configuration symlink command for Fuel CMS.

Test the Nginx configuration:

nginx -t

Terminal showing Nginx configuration test output.

Reload Nginx to apply the changes:

systemctl reload nginx

Terminal showing systemd service management commands or output.

Step 12: Complete Fuel CMS Installation

Open your web browser and navigate to http://your_domain. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Fuel CMS installation, providing the database details you configured earlier.

Step 13: Secure Fuel CMS with Let’s Encrypt SSL

Install Certbot and the Nginx plugin:

apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Obtain an SSL certificate:

certbot --nginx -d your_domain -d www.your_domain

Terminal showing Certbot certificate commands and messages.

Certbot will automatically configure SSL for your Nginx site.

Step 14: Allow SSH in Firewall

To ensure you don’t lose access to your server, allow SSH through the firewall:

ufw allow ssh
ufw allow http
ufw allow https
ufw enable

Terminal showing firewall configuration commands and rules.

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