Learn How To Install October 1.0 CMS on an Ubuntu 16.04 LAMP VPS
Table of Contents
- Prerequisites
- Step 1: Add a Sudo User
- Step 2: Update Ubuntu 16.04 System
- Step 3: Install Apache Web Server
- Step 4: Install PHP 7.0
- Step 5: Install MySQL Server
- Step 6: Create Database for October CMS
- Step 7: Install October CMS Files
- Step 8: Complete October CMS Installation
If you are using a different system, please check our other tutorials.
- How to Install October 1.0 CMS on a CentOS 7 LAMP VPS
- How to Install October 1.0 CMS on a Fedora 26 LAMP VPS
- How to Install October 1.0 CMS on a FreeBSD 11 FAMP VPS
- How to Install October 1.0 CMS on an Ubuntu 16.04 LAMP VPS
October 1.0 CMS is a simple and reliable, free and open source Content Management System (CMS) built on the Laravel framework. October 1.0 CMS helps web developers solve problems quickly and efficiently. The platform is fully extendible via plugins; and supports the Twig templating language, built-in image cropping and advanced file management; allowing developers and designers to build both simple and complex web sites quickly and elegantly.
In this tutorial we are going to install October 1.0 CMS on an Ubuntu 16.04 LAMP VPS using Apache web server, PHP 7.0, and a MariaDB database.
Prerequisites
- A clean IT Web Services Ubuntu 16.04 server instance with SSH access
Step 1: Add a Sudo User
We will start by adding a new sudo
user.
First, log into your server as root
:
ssh root@YOUR_INSTANCE_IP_ADDRESS
Add a new user called user1
(or your preferred username):
adduser user1
When prompted, enter a secure and memorable password. You will also be prompted for your “Full Name” and some other details, but you can simply leave them blank by pressing Enter
.
Now check the /etc/sudoers
file to make sure that the sudoers
group is enabled:
visudo
Look for a section like this:
%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
This line tells us that users who are members of the sudo
group can use the sudo
command to gain root
privileges. It should be uncommented by default so you can simply exit the file.
Next we need to add user1
to the sudo
group:
usermod -aG sudo user1
We can verify the user1
group membership and check that the usermod
command worked with the groups
command:
groups user1
Now use the su
command to switch to the new sudo user user1
account:
su - user1
The command prompt will update to indicate that you are now logged into the user1
account. You can verify this with the whoami
command:
whoami
Now restart the sshd
service so that you can login via ssh
with the new non-root sudo user account you have just created:
sudo systemctl restart sshd
Exit the user1
account:
exit
Exit the root
account (which will disconnect your ssh
session):
exit
You can now ssh
into the server instance from your local host using the new non-root sudo user user1
account:
ssh user1@YOUR_INSTANCE_IP_ADDRESS
If you want to execute sudo
without having to type a password every time, then open the /etc/sudoers
file again, using visudo
:
sudo visudo
Edit the section for the sudo
group so that it looks like this:
%sudo ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
Please note: Disabling the password requirement for the sudo user is not a recommended practice, but it is included here as it can make server configuration much more convenient and less frustrating, especially during longer systems administration sessions. If you are concerned about the security implications, you can always revert the configuration change to the original after you finish your administration tasks.
Whenever you want to log into the root
user account from within the sudo
user account, you can use one of the following commands:
sudo -i
sudo su -
You can exit the root
account and return back to your sudo
user account any time by simply typing:
exit
Step 2: Update Ubuntu 16.04 System
Before installing any packages on the Ubuntu server instance, we will first update the system.
Make sure you are logged in to the server using a non-root sudo user and run the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y upgrade
Step 3: Install Apache Web Server
Install the Apache web server:
sudo apt-get -y install apache2
Then use the systemctl
command to start and enable Apache to execute automatically at boot time:
sudo systemctl enable apache2
sudo systemctl start apache2
Check your Apache default site configuration file to ensure that the DocumentRoot
directive points to the correct directory:
sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf
The DocumentRoot
configuration option will look like this:
DocumentRoot "/var/www/html"
We now need to enable the mod_rewrite
Apache module, so ensure that your Apache default site configuration file is still open, and add the following Directory
Apache directives just before the closing </VirtualHost>
tag, so that the end of your configuration file looks like this:
<Directory /var/www/html/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
The most important directive shown above is AllowOverride All
.
Now save and exit the file, and enable the mod_rewrite
Apache module:
sudo a2enmod rewrite
We will restart Apache at the end of this tutorial, but restarting Apache regularly during installation and configuration is certainly a good habit, so let’s do it now:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Step 4: Install PHP 7.0
We can now install PHP 7.0 along with all of the necessary PHP modules required by October CMS:
sudo apt-get -y install php php-gd php-mbstring php-common php-mysql php-imagick php-xml libapache2-mod-php php-curl php-tidy php-zip
Step 5: Install MySQL Server
Install MySQL database server:
sudo apt-get -y install mysql-server
During the MySQL server installation, make sure you enter a secure password for the MySQL root
user. This root
user is different to the root
user in Ubuntu as it is only used for connecting to your database server with full privileges.
Start and enable MySQL server to execute automatically at boot time:
sudo systemctl enable mysql
sudo systemctl start mysql
Secure your MySQL server installation:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, enter the password you created for the MYSQL root
user during installation. Simply answer “Y” to all of the other yes/no questions as the default suggestions are the most secure options.
Step 6: Create Database for October CMS
Log into the MySQL shell as the MySQL root
user by running the following command:
sudo mysql -u root -p
To access the MySQL command prompt, simply enter the MySQL root
password when prompted.
Run the following queries to create a MySQL database and database user for October CMS:
CREATE DATABASE october_db CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
CREATE USER 'october_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'UltraSecurePassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON october_db.* TO 'october_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;
You can replace the database name october_db
and username october_user
with something more to your liking, if you prefer. Also, make sure that you replace “UltraSecurePassword” with an actually secure password.
Step 7: Install October CMS Files
Change your current working directory to the default web directory:
cd /var/www/html/
If you get an error message saying something like 'No such file or directory'
then try the following command:
cd /var/www/ ; sudo mkdir html ; cd html
Your current working directory will now be: /var/www/html/
. You can check this with the pwd
(print working directory) command:
pwd
Now use wget
to download the October CMS installation package:
sudo wget http://octobercms.com/download
List the current directory to check that you have successfully downloaded the file:
ls -la
Remove index.html
:
sudo rm index.html
Let’s quickly install unzip
so we can unzip the file:
sudo apt-get -y install unzip
Now uncompress the zip archive:
sudo unzip download
Move all of the installation files to the web root directory:
sudo mv install-master/* /var/www/html
Change ownership of the web files to avoid any permissions problems:
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data * ./
Restart Apache again:
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Now we’re ready to move on to the final step.
Step 8: Complete October CMS Installation
It’s time to visit the IP address of your server instance in your browser, or if you’ve already configured your IT Web Services DNS settings (and given it enough time to propagate) you can simply visit your domain instead.
To access the October CMS installation page, enter your IT Web Services instance IP address into your browser address bar, followed by /install.php
:
http://YOUR_INSTANCE_IP_ADDRESS/install.php
Most of the installation options are self explanatory, but here are a few pointers to help you along:
- Wait for the
System Check
to complete, then click on theAgree & Continue
button to agree to the October CMS license agreement. - Select
MySQL
as theDatabase Type
and enter the following database values:MySQL Host: localhost MySQL Port: 3306 Database Name: october_db MySQL Login: october_user MySQL Password: UltraSecurePassword
When you are confident you have entered the correct database details, click the
Administrator
button to continue. - Enter appropriate Administration login details, as shown below:
First Name: <admin first name> Last Name: <admin last name> Email Address: <admin email address> Admin Login: <admin username> Admin Password: <admin password> Confirm Password: <same admin password>
Click
Continue
. - The October CMS installer will ask if you want to set up a demo site. If you are new to October CMS then you should probably select
Start from a Theme
so you can see an example of how themes work. If you are an expert, selectStart from scratch
to start with a blank canvas. - If you have chosen to start from a theme, you will be shown a selection of themes to choose from. Once you have decided on a good starter theme, simply click on the
Install
button for your particular theme, and then clickConfirm
. - October CMS will look busy, doing lots of installer type stuff, but you will eventually be greeted with a
Congratulations!
page, informing youInstallation has been successfully completed!
.
For security purposes, make sure you delete the install.php
file and the /install_files/
directory from your webroot directory:
sudo rm -rf ./install.php ./install_files/
To access the Administration Area simply click on the /backend
link on the confirmation page, and enter your username and password. If you aren’t redirected to the Administration Area, you can enter the admin address manually instead:
http://YOUR_INSTANCE_IP_ADDRESS/backend
You are now ready to start adding your content and configuring the look and feel of your site. Make sure you check out the excellent October CMS documentation for more information about how to build and configure your site.
Need help?
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Please contact us and we’ll provide you the best possible quote!