How to Install Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) on CentOS/RHEL 7

Written by Rahul, Updated on April 22, 2020

LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Its is used for hosting websites written with PHP programming language and using MySQL as backend database server. This article will help you to install Apache 2.4, MySQL 8 and PHP 7.3 on CentOS 7 and RedHat 7 systems. You may also use video tutorial on Youtube for installation instruction’s.

Recommended Article:

15 Best Security Tips for LAMP Stack (Apache-MySQL-PHP) for Linux

Step 1 – Prerequsitis

The two most popular rpm repositories REMI and EPEL have most of the updated packages. They are also providing the latest packages for LAMP setup. Enable both repositories on your system using the following commands on your CentOS 7 system.

rpm -Uvh http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/Packages/e/epel-release-7-11.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh http://rpms.famillecollet.com/enterprise/remi-release-7.rpm

Step 2 – Install Apache Server

Apache or HTTP is the most popular web server used on Linux based systems. Let’s install Apache web server using the following command by enabling EPEL and REMI yum repositories.

yum --enablerepo=epel,remi install httpd

Now start httpd service and enable to start on boot using commands.

systemctl enable httpd.service
systemctl start httpd.service

Step 3 – Install MySQL Server

First, add MySQL yum repository in your system using the following command. You may also visit repo.mysql.com to find repository rpms for other operating systems. The below command will work with CentOS and RedHat 7.

rpm -Uvh  https://repo.mysql.com/mysql80-community-release-el7-1.noarch.rpm

The default MySQL 8 repository is enabled for installation. To change edit repository configuration file (/etc/yum.repos.d/mysql-community.repo) and enable/disable repositories as per requirements.

Then install the MySQL server and other dependency packages.

yum install mysql-server

After installation enable MySQL service and start it.

systemctl enable mysqld.service
systemctl start mysqld.service

The installer generated a temporary password for MySQL root user and copied to log file. You can find this password using the below command.

grep "A temporary password" /var/log/mysqld.log  | tail -n1

[Some text hidden] A temporary password is generated for [email protected]: Eif;=YpBy2h#

Apply security on newly installed MySQL server. This will also prompt you to change the temporary password with a new password.

mysql_secure_installation

MySQL security wizzard

Enter password for user root:  [Enter password here found in log file]
The existing password for the user account root has expired. Please set a new password. 
New password: [Enter new password]
Re-enter new password: [Re-enter new password]

Change the password for root?   - n
Remove anonymous users?   - y
Disallow root login remotely?    - y
Remove test database and access to it?    - y
Reload privilege tables now?   - y

MySQL has been installed on your system. After this install PHP.

Step 4 – Install PHP

Now, install PHP packages with enabling EPEL and REMI repositories using the following command.

yum --enablerepo=epel,remi-php74 install php

Then install required PHP modules. Use the following command to list available modules and install it.

yum --enablerepo=remi-php74 list php-*
yum --enablerepo=remi-php74 install php-mysql php-xml php-xmlrpc php-soap php-gd

After installing php and other php modules restart Apache service.

systemctl restart httpd.service

Step 5 – Allow Port in Firewall

Finally open firewall ports for HTTP (80) and HTTPS (443) services using the following command.

firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=https
firewall-cmd --reload

Step 6 – Check Installed Version

Let’s check the installed versions of packages on the system using following commands one by one.

php -v

PHP 7.4.5 (cli) (built: Apr 14 2020 12:54:33) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies

httpd -v

Server version: Apache/2.4.6 (CentOS)
Server built:   Aug  8 2019 11:41:18

mysql -V

mysql  Ver 8.0.19 for Linux on x86_64 (MySQL Community Server - GPL)

Now you have successfully configured LAMP setup on your CentOS or RedHat 7 system.