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Install Nginx + PHP-FPM + MySQL on Debian/Ubuntu	Set up a LEMP stack on your Arcline VPS for hosting PHP applications and WordPress.	vps	2

Install Nginx + PHP-FPM + MySQL

This guide walks through setting up a LEMP stack (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP) on your Arcline VPS. This is the foundation for hosting WordPress, Laravel, and most PHP applications.

Prerequisites

A VPS provisioned through Arcline
SSH access with sudo privileges (see Initial VPS Setup)
A domain pointed to your VPS IP (see Point Your Nameservers)

Step 1 — Install Nginx

Nginx is the web server. It's lightweight, fast, and handles concurrent connections much better than Apache.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx -y

Verify it's running:

sudo systemctl status nginx

Visit your VPS IP in a browser — you should see the default Nginx welcome page.

Step 2 — Install MySQL (MariaDB)

MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MySQL that's faster and more open:

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client -y

Run the security script:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts:

Set a root password
Remove anonymous users: Y
Disallow root login remotely: Y
Remove test database: Y
Reload privilege tables: Y

Verify the installation:

sudo mysql -u root -p

You should get a MariaDB prompt. Type exit to quit.

Step 3 — Install PHP-FPM

PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) runs PHP scripts. Install the version appropriate for your needs:

# PHP 8.3 (recommended for most applications)
sudo apt install php8.3-fpm php8.3-mysql php8.3-curl php8.3-gd php8.3-mbstring php8.3-xml php8.3-xmlrpc php8.3-zip php8.3-intl php8.3-bcmath -y

For WordPress, the required extensions are: mysql, curl, gd, mbstring, xml, zip.

Verify PHP-FPM is running:

sudo systemctl status php8.3-fpm

Step 4 — Configure Nginx for PHP

Create a site configuration file:

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

Replace example.com with your actual domain:

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/ =404;
    }

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

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

Create the web root and enable the site:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/example.com
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 5 — Test PHP processing

Create a test file:

echo "<?php phpinfo();" > /var/www/example.com/info.php

Visit http://example.com/info.php in your browser — you should see the PHP information page.

Remove this file after testing — it exposes sensitive server information:

rm /var/www/example.com/info.php

Step 6 — Set up SSL with Let's Encrypt

Install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Obtain a certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com

Follow the prompts. Certbot will automatically modify your Nginx config to serve HTTPS and set up auto-renewal. Verify the renewal timer:

sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

Directory structure summary

/var/www/example.com/        # Web root — your site files go here
├── index.php                # Main entry point
├── wp-admin/                # (WordPress) admin panel
├── wp-content/              # (WordPress) themes, plugins, uploads
└── ...                      # Your application files

/etc/nginx/
├── sites-available/         # All site configs (enabled via symlink)
│   └── example.com
└── sites-enabled/           # Active site configs
    └── example.com → ../sites-available/example.com

Troubleshooting

Nginx fails to start: Check syntax with sudo nginx -t. Look at the error log: sudo journalctl -u nginx.

PHP not processing: Verify the PHP-FPM socket path matches in both your Nginx config and PHP-FPM pool config: sudo nano /etc/php/8.3/fpm/pool.d/www.conf — look for listen =.

MySQL connection refused: Make sure MySQL is running: sudo systemctl status mariadb. Check the socket: sudo mysql -u root -p -S /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock.

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