🌐 How To Set Up LEMP Stack on DigitalOcean (Nginx + MariaDB + PHP)

LEMP = Linux + Nginx + MariaDB + PHP
Perfect for hosting WordPress, Laravel, Piwigo or any PHP website.

🪄 Step 1: Connect to your Droplet

After creating your Droplet on DigitalOcean, connect to it using SSH:

ssh root@your_droplet_ip

ssh root@your_droplet_ip

If it asks for confirmation, type yes.
Now you’re inside your Ubuntu Server! 💻

🔄 Step 2: Update your system

Always start with updates to get the latest security fixes:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

🌍 Step 3: Install Nginx (Web Server)

Nginx serves your website to visitors

sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

Check it’s working:
👉 Open your browser and visit http://your_droplet_public_ip . you should see the “Welcome to Nginx!” page.

🗄️ Step 4: Install MariaDB (Database Server)

MariaDB stores your website’s data.

sudo apt install mariadb-server
sudo systemctl enable --now mariadb
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl status mariadb

sudo apt install mariadb-server
sudo systemctl enable --now mariadb
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl status mariadb

Secure your Database Server here MariaDB (this step is interactive):

sudo mariadb_secure_installation

sudo mariadb_secure_installation

Suggested answers:

Set root password: Y

Remove anonymous users: Y

Disallow root login remotely: Y

Remove test database: Y

Reload privilege tables: Y

✅ Done! MariaDB is now safe and running.

✅ After Running It

You can test that it’s working:

sudo mysql -u root -p

sudo mysql -u root -p

🧠 Step 5: Install PHP (to process dynamic pages)

PHP makes your website interactive.

sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql -y

sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql -y

Check PHP version:

php -v

php -v

🏗️ Step 6: Create your website folder

We’ll make a test site folder called demo.com (replace with your own domain).

📁 /var/www/demo.com/html

This is the recommended structure for production:

/var/www/
├── demo.com/
│ ├── html/
│ ├── logs/
│ └── backups

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/demo.com
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/demo.com
chmod -R 755 /var/www/demo.com

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/demo.com
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/demo.com
chmod -R 755 /var/www/demo.com

✅ Cleaner & professional – Each site gets its own folder
✅ Matches how Nginx is structured in /etc/nginx/sites-available/
✅ Easier to manage multiple websites
✅ Easier permissions and backups
✅ Avoids mixing files with the default /var/www/html

Open Vim or Nano Editor

sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/demo.com

sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/demo.com

Paste this code to demo.com

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name demo.com www.demo.com;
    root /var/www/demo.com;

    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    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;
    }
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name demo.com www.demo.com;
    root /var/www/demo.com;

    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    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 and test Nginx:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/demo.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t
systemctl reload nginx

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/demo.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t
systemctl reload nginx

Add a PHP test page:

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /var/www/demo.com/index.php

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /var/www/demo.com/index.php

Then visit: 👉 http://your_droplet_public_ip
You should see a PHP info page — success! 🎉

🔒 Step 7 — Setup SSL with Let’s Encrypt

Install and set up Certbot

apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
certbot --nginx -d demo.com -d www.demo.com
systemctl enable certbot.timer

apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
certbot --nginx -d demo.com -d www.demo.com
systemctl enable certbot.timer

To test auto-renew:

certbot renew --dry-run

certbot renew --dry-run

🧱 Step 8 — Firewall Setup & PHP Extensions

🔥 Enable Firewall for Security

UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) protects your server from unwanted access.
Run:

ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
ufw enable
ufw status

ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
ufw enable
ufw status

✅ This keeps SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS open — blocking everything else.

🧩 Install Useful PHP Extensions

Now, install all recommended PHP extensions for web apps:

sudo apt install php8.3-mysql php8.3-curl php8.3-zip php8.3-xml php8.3-mbstring php8.3-gd php8.3-intl php8.3-imagick -y

sudo apt install php8.3-mysql php8.3-curl php8.3-zip php8.3-xml php8.3-mbstring php8.3-gd php8.3-intl php8.3-imagick -y

Each one has a purpose:

Extension Purpose

php8.3-mysql Connect PHP to MariaDB
php8.3-curl Communicate with APIs
php8.3-zip Handle ZIP files (plugins/themes)
php8.3-xml Parse XML, RSS, and feeds
php8.3-mbstring Handle Unicode and multibyte text
php8.3-gd Create and resize images
php8.3-intl Support multiple languages
php8.3-imagick Advanced image editing and compression

Restart PHP-FPM to apply changes

sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Confirm Imagick is working:

php -m | grep imagick

php -m | grep imagick

It should output:

imagick

✅ You’re Done!

Congratulations 👏 🎉 Your LEMP Stack is ready fully optimized and secure.

You now have:

Nginx (Web Server)

MariaDB (Database)

PHP 8.3 + Extensions + Imagick

UFW Firewall + Deployment of SSL Certificates