In the first part of the “Your Own FreeBSD Server” series, we installed a web server using Apache, and in the second part, we installed it using Nginx. In this tutorial, we’ll install the PHP interpreter and a database system based on MariaDB.
Installing PHP
FreeBSD 14 includes PHP versions 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, and 8.5.
For this tutorial, I installed version 8.4. pkg install php84 php84-xml php84-mbstring php84-mysqli php84-gd php84-gettext php84-gd php84-ftp
Next, copy the sample PHP configuration file to the same location:
cp /usr/local/etc/php.ini-production /usr/local/etc/php.ini
To enable PHP-FPM to run as a service at system startup, add the following line:
sysrc php_fpm_enable=”YES”
to the file:
nano /etc/rc.conf
And restart the service & check the PHP version:
service php-fpm start
service php-fpm status
php-fpm -v
Now configure Apache to work with PHP.
nano /usr/local/etc/apache24/modules.d/001_mod-php.conf
by adding the following entry:
<IfModule dir_module>
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
<FilesMatch “\.php$”>
SetHandler application/x-httpd-php
</FilesMatch>
<FilesMatch “\.phps$”>
SetHandler application/x-httpd-php-source
</FilesMatch>
</IfModule>
Restart Apache:
apachectl configtest
apachectl restart
You can check your PHP configuration and running modules by adding to the file:
nano /usr/local/www/apache24/data/info.php
the contents into it:
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
Check its contents in a web browser at:
your-ip/info.php
or
your-domain/info.php
Installing SQL
FreeBSD includes MySQL 8.4 LTS and MariaDB 11.8 packages, which I personally recommend.
pkg install mariadb118-server
Add the line:
sysrc mysql_enable=”YES”
to the file:
nano /etc/rc.conf
Then restart the SQL service:
service mysql-server start
service mysql-server status
After installation, MariaDB does not include a password for the root user, so you need to set one immediately. Execute the command:
mysql_secure_installation
When prompted for the root password, simply press ENTER:
Enter current password for root (enter for none):Now you can define the MariaDB authentication protocol:
If you already have your root account protected, you can safely answer ‘n’.
Switch to unix_socket authentication [Y/n]
By entering Y (Yes), you can change the root password:
Change the root password? [Y/n]
New password:Re-enter new password:
Password updated successfully!A series of questions about MariaDB configuration and security are then displayed. You can answer each one with Y:
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
Remove test database and access it? [Y/n] Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] YThe script will then complete, and MariaDB will be ready for use.
First login as root:
mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
…
MariaDB [(none)]>
Create a user named ‘pawel’:
CREATE USER ‘pawel’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘mypassword’;
Create a new database named database1:
CREATE DATABASE database1;
Grant user ‘pawel’ access to database ‘database1’:
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON database1.* TO ‘pawel’@’localhost’;
To exit MariaDB:
exit;
To check the MariaDB version:
mysql -v
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection ID is 14
Server version: 11.8.3-MariaDB FreeBSD Ports
The MariaDB database system and PHP interpreter have been installed correctly. Next time we will install the SSL/TSL certificate of the FreeBSD 14 system.
