LAMP Stack

The LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MariaDB, and PHP) is the classic combination for hosting web applications and dynamic websites. This image ships all four components pre-installed and configured to work together, ready for you to deploy your application.

Software included

Component	Version
Apache	2.4.x
MariaDB	Latest stable
PHP	8.4
PHP extensions	cli, mysql, curl, gd, mbstring, xml, zip, bcmath, intl
Ubuntu	24.04 LTS

Environment variables

This image takes no deploy-time variables. MariaDB is installed with socket authentication for root, and no application database is created. Create one after first boot:

sudo mariadb -e "CREATE DATABASE app;"
sudo mariadb -e "CREATE USER 'app'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '<password>';"
sudo mariadb -e "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON app.* TO 'app'@'localhost';"

Getting started

1. Connect to your VM

ssh ubuntu@<your-vm-ip>

2. Verify services are running

There is no first-boot configuration. All services start immediately.

systemctl status apache2
systemctl status mariadb
php --version

3. Access the default web page

Open a browser and navigate to:

http://<your-vm-ip>

4. Deploy your application

Place your application files in the web root:

sudo cp -r my-app/* /var/www/html/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/

5. Set up a database

On a fresh install, no password is required. Authentication uses the system socket. Connect as root:

sudo mariadb

Create a database and user for your application:

CREATE DATABASE myapp CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'myapp'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '<strong-password>';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myapp.* TO 'myapp'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Managing the LAMP stack

# Restart Apache
sudo systemctl restart apache2

# Restart MariaDB
sudo systemctl restart mariadb

# View Apache logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log

# View MariaDB logs
sudo journalctl -u mariadb -f

Key directories and files:

Path	Purpose
`/var/www/html/`	Default web root
`/etc/apache2/sites-available/`	Apache virtual hosts
`/etc/php/8.4/apache2/php.ini`	PHP configuration for Apache
`/etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/`	MariaDB configuration

To create a virtual host for a domain, add a configuration file to /etc/apache2/sites-available/ and enable it:

sudo a2ensite myapp.conf
sudo systemctl reload apache2

Security

Port 80 is open by default. UFW is enabled.

After setting up HTTPS, restrict HTTP traffic:

sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw delete allow 80/tcp