9. PHP, LAMP and LEMP Step by Step

9.6 LEMP on Ubuntu

By Ravindra Bagale · Last updated: 27 September 2026

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx mysql-server php-fpm php-mysql php-gd php-mbstring php-xml
sudo service nginx start
sudo service mysql start
sudo systemctl enable nginx mysql
sudo mysql_secure_installation

Then enable PHP in the Ubuntu default site — edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/default: add index.php to the index line and un-comment the PHP block so it reads:

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

sudo nginx -t && sudo service nginx reload
echo "<?php phpinfo();" | sudo tee /var/www/html/info.php
curl -s http://localhost/info.php | grep -m1 "PHP Version"

A dedicated server block (/etc/nginx/sites-available/phpapp):

ls /run/php/                      # note the socket name, e.g. php8.3-fpm.sock (24.04) or php8.1-fpm.sock (22.04)
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/phpapp
sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/phpapp > /dev/null <<'EOF'
server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;
    server_name _;
    root /var/www/phpapp;
    index index.php index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php-fpm.sock;
    }
}
EOF
sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/phpapp /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/phpapp
sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mysite
sudo nginx -t && sudo service nginx reload

/run/php/php-fpm.sock is a symlink to the versioned socket; if it does not exist on your system, replace it with the exact name shown by ls /run/php/.