Installation and Configuration of Apache 2.4 with MariaDB 10.11 and PHP 8.4

n this post, I will explain how to install and configure Apache 2.4 with MariaDB 10.11 and PHP 8.4 to improve the execution performance of our code. PHP-FPM interprets the PHP code only once, then reuses the cached version stored in memory.

What is PHP-FPM?

FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) is an alternative implementation of PHP FastCGI with additional features useful for high-traffic websites. Some of its capabilities include:

• Advanced process management for easy start/stop handling
• Ability to start process threads with different user IDs, group IDs, chroot environments, and php.ini configurations
• Emergency restart in case of accidental cache destruction
• Support for accelerated uploads
• Slow log for tracking unusually slow script executions
• Special function fastcgi_finish_request() for stopping and flushing data while continuing long processes
• Dynamic/static thread creation

Installation Steps

Installing MariaDB 10.11

MariaDB is an open-source database management system derived from MySQL. To install it, run:

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https curl

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

sudo curl -o /etc/apt/keyrings/mariadb-keyring.pgp 'https://mariadb.org/mariadb_release_signing_key.pgp'

sudo apt update

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-backup

mysql_secure_installation

Installing Apache 2.4

To install the latest available version of Apache on Ubuntu 18.04:

apt -y install apache2 libapache2-mod-fcgid
apache2ctl configtest
nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
ServerName MyServer

Installing PHP 8.4 as PHP-FPM

To install PHP 8, enable the repository:

apt install -y software-properties-common

add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

apt install -y php8.4-fpm libapache2-mod-fcgid

Configuring PHP-FPM Settings

Edit the php.ini file:

nano /etc/php/8.4/fpm/php.ini

Modify the following values:

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
memory_limit = 512M
upload_max_filesize = 200M
post_max_size = 200M
max_execution_time = 360
max_input_time = 360
date.timezone = America/La_Paz

Configuring Apache to Use PHP-FPM

Enable necessary modules:

a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif

a2enconf php8.4-fpm

Edit the virtual host configuration:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Add:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

    <FilesMatch "\.php$">
        SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php/php8.4-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
    </FilesMatch>
</VirtualHost>

Restart Apache:

systemctl restart apache2.service

Testing the Configuration

Create a test PHP file:

sh

nano /var/www/html/info.php

Add:

php

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Access the file via your browser:

References:

• Instalación, configuración de Apache 2.4 con MariaDB 10.11 y PHP 8.4
• PHP: FastCGI Process Manager (FPM) – Manual