LEMP is a popular stack of software that is commonly used for hosting web applications. It stands for Linux, Nginx, MySQL, and PHP. In this article, we will guide you through the process of installing LEMP on RockyLinux 8.

Before we begin, make sure that you have a fresh installation of RockyLinux 8. You will also need to be logged in as a user with sudo privileges.

Install Nginx

The first step is to install Nginx, the web server that will host our web application. To do this, open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo dnf update
sudo dnf install nginx

This will download and install Nginx on your system. Once the installation is complete, you can verify that Nginx is running by visiting http://localhost in your web browser. You should see the default Nginx web page.

Install MySQL

Next, we need to install MySQL, the database server that will store our web application’s data. To do this, run the following command in the terminal:

sudo dnf install mysql-server

During the installation, you will be prompted to set a password for the MySQL root user. Make sure to choose a strong password and remember it, as you will need it later.

Once the installation is complete, run the following command to secure your MySQL installation:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

You will be asked to enter the password for the MySQL root user that you set earlier. After that, you will be presented with a series of questions. It is recommended to answer "yes" to all of them, as this will enable some additional security features.

Install PHP

The last piece of the LEMP stack is PHP, the scripting language that will be used by our web application. To install PHP, run the following command in the terminal:

sudo dnf install php php-fpm php-mysqlnd

This will install PHP and the necessary modules for it to work with Nginx and MySQL.

Configure Nginx to work with PHP

Next, we need to configure Nginx to work with PHP. To do this, open the Nginx configuration file using the following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

In the file, find the line that says "location /" and replace it with the following code:

location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
}

This code tells Nginx to pass PHP requests to the PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) service, which will handle them. Save the file and exit the editor.

Test your LEMP stack

To verify that your LEMP stack is working properly, you can create a test PHP file. To do this, open a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo nano /usr/share/nginx/html/info.php

This will open the Nano text editor and create a new file called info.php in the Nginx