A LAMP stack is the combination of the most frequently used software packages to host dynamic websites. This is the basis on which Linux Web hosting servers run.
LAMP is an abbreviation that uses the first letter of each of the packages included in it: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP.
Let's explain:
Linux: Usually CentOS in the hosting environment, but can also be Ubuntu.
Apache: This is the actual server component of the LAMP stack, and is the world's most used webserver software.
MySQL: This is the database component. MySQL is a relational database management system.
PHP: PHP stands for 'Hypertext Pre-Processing' and is classified as a server-side scripting language. It allows the creating of dynamic, database-driven websites and CMS systems like Wordpress, Joomla, Magento and so forth. There are several ways to install a LAMP stack, most require that the components be installed one by one.
We will be using Tasksel to install LAMP as it will streamline the installation. Tasksel is a tool in Ubuntu / Debian, which helps to install multiple related packages as a coordinated task, thereby simplifying it.
Step 1: Update your system. In terminal, run the following command: sudo apt-get update Your server will now get the updated package lists from the repositories.
Step 2: Install Tasksel Install Tasksel if it is not installed yet, by running the following command in your Terminal: sudo apt-get install tasksel
You can accept all the prompts and let the installation complete.
Step 3: Install LAMP The last step is to let Tasksel install the LAMP stack: sudo tasksel install lamp-server
Taskel will now install the LAMP stack, by downloading and installing all the required packages automatically.
Step 4: Configuration While the interaction between Tasksel and the user is minimal, there will be prompts when certain information is required, depending on what is being installed. While installing LAMP, you will be required to supply a password for the 'root' user in MySQL. You can leave this blank if you want, but this is not advisable.
Once you have completed this step, the installation will finish within a couple of seconds. Your server is now ready to host websites, and you can upload your website to the following folder: /var/www/html You can host more than one domain from the same VPS by creating Virtual Hosts. This will point each domain to it's own folder from which it's website is served.