How to Install LEMP on Ubuntu: Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL

curl -sSL https://cp.lv/scripts/ustanovit-lemp-ubuntu.sh | sudo bash

wget -qO- https://cp.lv/scripts/ustanovit-lemp-ubuntu.sh | sudo bash

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

# 1. Update the system
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y

# 2. Nginx, MySQL, PHP-FPM and the extensions a CMS needs
sudo apt-get install -y nginx mysql-server php-fpm php-mysql \
  php-cli php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-zip
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx mysql

# 3. Site root and a test index.php
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com
echo "<?php phpinfo();" | sudo tee /var/www/example.com/index.php > /dev/null

# 4. server block (quoted 'EOF' leaves Nginx variables alone)
sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com > /dev/null << 'EOF'
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/example.com;
    index index.php index.html;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
    }

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

# 5. Enable the site
sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example.com
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx
echo "LEMP is ready: open http://example.com"

LEMP is the combination of Linux, Nginx, MySQL and PHP — the standard environment for PHP sites (WordPress, Laravel, custom projects). Below is a ready sequence of commands for Ubuntu 22.04/24.04. The whole process takes 10–15 minutes.

What you need first

• A VPS with Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 and SSH access.
• A user with sudo rights (do not work as root permanently).
• A domain whose A record points to the server IP (for a production site).

Start by updating the system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 1. Install Nginx

sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

Check the status and open the firewall ports:

sudo systemctl status nginx
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw enable

Open the server IP in a browser — the “Welcome to nginx” page should appear.

Step 2. Install MySQL

sudo apt install mysql-server -y
sudo systemctl enable --now mysql

Run the interactive hardening script for the database server:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Set the root password, remove anonymous users, disallow remote root login and drop the test database. Then create a database and a dedicated user for the site:

sudo mysql

CREATE DATABASE app_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'app_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON app_db.* TO 'app_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 3. Install PHP-FPM

Nginx cannot process PHP itself — it passes requests to the PHP-FPM process over a socket.

sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql -y

Check the version and the service name (on Ubuntu 24.04 it is php8.3-fpm):

php -v
systemctl status php8.3-fpm

A useful set of extensions for a CMS:

sudo apt install php-cli php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-zip -y

Step 4. Configure the server block

Create the site root and a test file:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/example.com
echo "<?php phpinfo();" | sudo tee /var/www/example.com/index.php

Open the config /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com in an editor:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com

File contents:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/example.com;
    index index.php index.html;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
    }

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

Or write the whole config with a single command — copy it and paste it into the console (the quotes around 'EOF' matter, so that the Nginx variables $uri stay as they are):

sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com > /dev/null << 'EOF'
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/example.com;
    index index.php index.html;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
    }

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

Enable the site and reload Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 5. Test PHP

Open http://example.com — you will see the phpinfo() page with the PHP version and the loaded modules. Make sure mysqli or pdo_mysql is in the list. After the check, delete the test file: it exposes your server configuration.

sudo rm /var/www/example.com/index.php

Quick component check

FAQ

Why does the site output PHP code as plain text? Nginx is not passing the request to PHP-FPM. Check the location ~ \.php$ block and the socket path in fastcgi_pass.

What causes a 502 Bad Gateway error? Usually PHP-FPM is not running or the wrong socket is set. Run systemctl status php8.3-fpm and compare the .sock file name with the config.

How do I find the PHP version on my Ubuntu? Run php -v. Ubuntu 22.04 ships PHP 8.1 by default, Ubuntu 24.04 ships PHP 8.3. The service and socket names depend on the version.

Can I use MariaDB instead of MySQL? Yes. MariaDB is compatible and installs with apt install mariadb-server. The client commands and SQL are identical.

LEMP runs well even on a small server, but for production traffic pick an NVMe disk and enough RAM. Ready-made plans are on the VPS hosting page, and for busy sites there is WordPress VPS.