How to Set Up a Laravel Application on Your VPS

How to Set Up a Laravel Application on Your VPS

Laravel is a powerful PHP framework for building web applications. This guide will walk you through setting up Laravel on your VPS.

Step 1: Update Your System

Start by updating your system to ensure you have the latest packages.

• Run the following commands:

  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
  

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

Laravel requires PHP, a web server (NGINX or Apache), Composer, and a database like MySQL.

• Install PHP and extensions:

  sudo apt install php-cli php-mbstring php-xml php-bcmath php-curl unzip -y
  

• Install a web server (e.g., NGINX):

  sudo apt install nginx -y
  

• Install MySQL:

  sudo apt install mysql-server -y
  

• Install Composer (dependency manager for PHP):

  curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
  sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
  

Step 3: Secure MySQL and Create a Database

Secure MySQL and set up a database for Laravel.

• Run the MySQL secure installation wizard:

  sudo mysql_secure_installation
  

• Log in to MySQL:

  sudo mysql -u root -p
  

• Create a database and user:

  CREATE DATABASE laravel_db;
  CREATE USER 'laravel_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'securepassword';
  GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON laravel_db.* TO 'laravel_user'@'localhost';
  FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
  EXIT;
  

Step 4: Download and Set Up Laravel

• Navigate to your web directory:

  cd /var/www
  

• Use Composer to create a new Laravel project:

  composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel laravel-app
  

• Assign permissions to the Laravel directory:

  sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/laravel-app
  sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/laravel-app/storage
  sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/laravel-app/bootstrap/cache
  

Step 5: Configure the .env File

• Navigate to the Laravel directory:

  cd /var/www/laravel-app
  

• Open the .env file to configure your database settings:

  nano .env
  

• Update the database configuration as follows:

  DB_CONNECTION=mysql
  DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
  DB_PORT=3306
  DB_DATABASE=laravel_db
  DB_USERNAME=laravel_user
  DB_PASSWORD=securepassword
  

• Save and exit.

Step 6: Configure NGINX to Serve Laravel

Set up an NGINX server block for your Laravel application.

• Create a new server block:

  sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/laravel-app
  

• Add the following configuration:

  server {
      listen 80;
      server_name yourdomain.com;
  
      root /var/www/laravel-app/public;
      index index.php index.html;
  
      location / {
          try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
      }
  
      location ~ \.php$ {
          include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
          fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
          fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
          include fastcgi_params;
      }
  
      location ~ /\.ht {
          deny all;
      }
  }
  

• Enable the server block and test the configuration:

  sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/laravel-app /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
  sudo nginx -t
  

• Reload NGINX:

  sudo systemctl reload nginx
  

Step 7: Run Laravel Migrations

• Navigate to the Laravel project directory and run migrations:

  cd /var/www/laravel-app
  php artisan migrate
  

Step 8: Test Your Laravel Application

• Open your browser and navigate to your domain (e.g., http://yourdomain.com).
• You should see the Laravel welcome page.

Conclusion

You have successfully set up a Laravel application on your VPS. Laravel is now ready to serve your web application. For enhanced performance and security, consider setting up HTTPS and caching solutions.