How to Install Lighttpd with PHP and MariaDB on CentOS/RHEL 6/5

Lighttpd is an alternative to Apache. It is a opensource web server. Lighttpd is popular for its low memory and cpu uses, This can be best option for high traffic sites. PHP is a programming language used server-side programming. MariaDB is an alternative of MySQL with various of enhancements.

Step 1: Add Required Yum Repositories

Before starting setup, make sure that we have required yum repositories added in our system. We recommend to add MariaDB, EPEL and REMI yum repositories in our system.

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https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/#mirror=nus
https://tecadmin.net/top-5-yum-repositories-for-centos-rhel-systems/#centalt-repo
https://tecadmin.net/top-5-yum-repositories-for-centos-rhel-systems/#remi-repo

Step 2: Install Lighttpd

Lets start with the installation of lighttpd web server with fastcgi support using following command

# yum install lighttpd lighttpd-fastcgi

Now edit Lighttpd configuration file /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf and update following values.

server.use-ipv6 = "disable"
server.max-fds = 2048

Now start Lighttpd service

# service lighttpd start

Step 3: Install MariaDB

Assuming that you have already added MariaDB yum repositories, Let’s use the following command to install MariaDB on your system

# yum install MariaDB-server MariaDB-client

Start MaraiDB service

# service mysql start

Complete the post installation setup to secure your MariaDB

# mysql_secure_installation

Step 4: Install PHP and PHP-FPM

Install PHP, PHP-FPM and php-mysql packages using below command

# yum --enablerepo=epel,remi install php php-fpm php-mysql

Edit configuration file /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf an update following values

 listen = 127.0.0.1:9000
 user = lighttpd
 group = lighttpd

Step 5: Configure FASTCGI and PHP-FPM

Enable PHP5 in Lighttpd, Edit the php configuration file /etc/php.ini and uncomment following line

 cgi.fix_pathinfo=1

Now edit Lighttpd modules configuration /etc/lighttpd/modules.conf and uncomment following line to enable fastcgi support

 include "conf.d/fastcgi.conf"

Now edit Lighttpd fastcgi configuration file /etc/lighttpd/conf.d/fastcgi.conf and add following values

fastcgi.server += ( ".php" =>
        ((
                "host" => "127.0.0.1",
                "port" => "9000",
                "broken-scriptfilename" => "enable"
        ))
)

Restart all services using following commands and enable them to auto start on system boot

# service lighttpd restart
# service php-fpm restart

# chkconfig lighttpd on
# chkconfig php-fpm on

Step 6: Verify Setup

At this point we have successfully completed all the configuration. Lets create an info.php file in your document root with following content.

<?php
phpinfo();
?>