How to install and configure XAMPP and phpMyAdmin on an Ubuntu VPS.

Update the package index and apply pending upgrades:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

This command reads the repositories configured in /etc/apt/sources.list, downloads updated manifests, and installs newer versions of already-installed packages. It can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes.

Install basic utilities we’ll use along the way:

sudo apt install -y curl wget unzip software-properties-common

Install the Nginx package:

sudo apt install -y nginx

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

Navigating to http://YOUR_IP in a browser should show the default “Welcome to nginx” page. If a firewall is blocking access, allow HTTP/HTTPS ports (80 and 443):

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw enable

Install the server:

sudo apt install -y mariadb-server

Run the security assistant to remove insecure defaults:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Answer the prompts as follows:

• Enter current password for root: leave blank (press Enter)
• Switch to unix_socket authentication: n
• Change the root password?: Y — set a strong password and save it
• Remove anonymous users?: Y
• Disallow root login remotely?: Y
• Remove test database?: Y
• Reload privilege tables now?: Y

Create a separate administrative user for phpMyAdmin (safer than using root):

sudo mysql -u root -p

Inside the MariaDB prompt:

CREATE USER 'admin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'REPLACE_THIS_PASSWORD';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'admin'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Install PHP and the most common extensions:

sudo apt install -y php-fpm php-mysql php-mbstring php-zip php-gd \
  php-curl php-xml php-bcmath php-intl

On Ubuntu 24.04 this installs PHP 8.3 by default. Confirm with:

php -v

Verify that the PHP-FPM socket is active:

sudo systemctl status php8.3-fpm

It should show active (running). The socket lives at /run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock — that path is what Nginx will reference.

Create the web directory and set permissions:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/local
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/local

Create the site configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/local

Paste the content below (replace your_domain.com with your domain or the VPS IP):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_domain.com;

    root /var/www/local;
    index index.php index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }

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

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

Enable the site, disable the default, and reload Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/local /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

The nginx -t command validates syntax before the reload. If it shows syntax is ok and test is successful, you’re good to go.

Create a test file to confirm PHP is being processed:

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" | sudo tee /var/www/local/info.php

Navigate to http://YOUR_IP/info.php in a browser. You should see the colorful phpinfo() page with full version details. Once confirmed, delete the file — it exposes information that should not be public:

sudo rm /var/www/local/info.php

Install the package:

sudo apt install -y phpmyadmin

During installation:

• When asked Web server to reconfigure automatically, select nothing (neither Apache nor Lighttpd) — press Tab and Enter to skip. Nginx is not on the list.
• At Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common: Yes
• Set a password for phpMyAdmin’s internal user

Create a symlink from phpMyAdmin into the web directory:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/phpmyadmin /var/www/local/phpmyadmin

Navigate to http://YOUR_IP/phpmyadmin in a browser. Log in with the admin user and the password set in Step 07.