Free Tier: Install Apache and PHP on an Ubuntu Instance
In this tutorial, you use an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Free Tier account to set up a
compute instance on the latest version of Ubuntu. Then, you install an Apache web server and PHP
and access your new server from the internet. Finally, this tutorial covers all the steps
necessary to set up a virtual network for your host and connect the host to the
internet.
Key tasks include how to:
Set up a compartment for your development work.
Install your Ubuntu instance and connect it to your Virtual Cloud Network (VCN).
Set up an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure virtual cloud network and related network
services required for your host to connect to the internet.
Set up ssh encryption keys to access your Ubuntu server.
Configure ingress rules for your VCN.
Configure Apache and PHP 8 on your instance.
Connect to your instance from the internet.
Here is a simplified diagram of the setup for your Linux VM.
To get started installing an instance with the Create a VM instance workflow,
follow these steps:
Important
The steps provided are for a Free Tier account. If you are using
a paid account, the steps might differ from those shown here.
Click the Oracle Cloud icon to go to the main landing
page.
Scroll down to Launch Resources.
Select Create a VM instance workflow.
The Create compute instance page is displayed. The
page sections include
Name and
Compartment
Placement
Security
Image and shape
Networking
Add SSH keys
Boot volume
Choose the Name and Compartment.
Initial Options
Name:<name-for-the-instance>
Create in compartment:<your-compartment-name>
Enter a value for the name or use the system supplied default. For
compartment, select the compartment you created.
Review the Placement settings.
Take the default values. An availability domain is assigned to you.
The data might look similar to the following:
Availability domain
Availability domain: AD-1
Capacity type: On-demand capacity
Fault domain: Let Oracle choose the best fault
domain
Note
For Free Tier, use the Always Free Eligible option for availability
domain.
Review the Security settings.
Take the default settings.
The data might look similar to the following:
Security
Shielded instance: Disabled
Confidential computing: Disabled
Review the Image and shape settings. Change the
operating system image.
Click Edit.
Click Change Image.
Click Ubuntu.
Select Canonical Ubuntu 22.04 or a later version.
Click Select Image.
Note
The following is sample data for an AMD virtual machine. The actual values
might differ.
Image and shape
Image: Canonical Ubuntu 22.04
Image build:<current-build-date>
Shape: VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro
OCPU: 1
Memory (GB): 1
Network bandwidth (Gbps): 0.48
Note
For Free Tier, use Always Free Eligible shape
options.
Continue to the next section.
Review the Networking settings. Make the following
changes to the default.
Click Edit.
Primary Network: Select Create new
virtual cloud network.
New virtual cloud network name: Take the
generated VCN name or provide a name.
Create in compartment:
<your-compartment-name>.
Subnet: Select Create new public
subnet.
New subnet name: Take the generated subnet name
or provide a name.
Create in compartment:
<your-compartment-name>.
CIDR block: Take the default value (for example,
10.0.0.0/24).
Public IPv4 address, take the default value of
Assign a public IPv4 address.
Continue to the next section.
Review the Add SSH keys settings. Take the default
values provided by the workflow.
Select the Generate a key pair for me
option.
Click Save Private Key and Save Public
Key to save the private and public SSH keys for this
compute instance.
If you want to use your own SSH keys, select one of the options to provide
your public key.
Note
Put your private and public key files in a safe location. You can't
retrieve keys again after the compute instance has been created.
Review the Boot volume settings.
Uncheck the Specify a customer boot volume size setting.
Check the Use in-transit encryption setting.
Uncheck the Encrypt this volume with a key that you manage setting.
Click Create to create the instance. Provisioning the system might take
several minutes.
You have successfully created an Ubuntu Linux instance.
3. Enable Internet Access 🔗
The Create a VM Instance wizard automatically creates a VCN for your VM. You
add an ingress rule to your subnet to allow internet connections on port 80.
Follow these steps to select your VCN's public subnet and add the ingress rule.
Open the navigation menu and click Networking, and then click Virtual Cloud Networks.
Select the VCN you created with your compute instance.
With your new VCN displayed, click <your-subnet-name> subnet link.
The public subnet information is displayed with the Security Lists at the
bottom of the page. A link to the Default Security
List for your VCN is displayed.
Click the Default Security List link.
The default Ingress Rules for your VCN are displayed.
Click Add Ingress Rules.
An Add Ingress Rules dialog is displayed.
Fill in the ingress rule with the following information.
Fill in the ingress rule as follows:
Stateless: Checked
Source Type: CIDR
Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0
IP Protocol: TCP
Source port range: (leave-blank)
Destination Port Range: 80
Description: Allow HTTP connections
Click Add Ingress Rules. Now HTTP connections are allowed. Your VCN
is configured for Apache server.
Click Add Ingress Rules.
Now HTTP connections are allowed. Your VCN is configured for Apache
server.
You have successfully created an ingress rule that makes your instance available from the
internet.
4. Set up Apache and PHP 🔗
Next install and configure Apache web server and PHP to run on your Ubuntu Linux
instance.
To install and set up Apache and PHP, perform the following steps:
Open the navigation menu and click Compute. Under Compute, click Instances.
Click the link to the instance you created in the previous step.
From the Instance Details page look under the Instance Access
section, the Public IP Address field. Write down the public IP
address the system created for you. You use this IP address to connect to
your instance.
Open a Terminal or Command Prompt window.
Change into the directory where you stored the ssh encryption
keys you created before.
Connect to your instance with this SSH command.
Copy
ssh -i <your-private-key-file> ubuntu@<x.x.x.x>
Since you identified your public key when you created the instance, this
command logs you into your instance. You can now issue sudo
commands to install and start your server.
Install Apache Server.
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sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install apache2
Next start Apache.
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sudo systemctl restart apache2
Update firewall settings.
The Ubuntu firewall is disabled by default. However, you still need to update
your iptables configuration to allow HTTP traffic. Update
iptables with the following commands.
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sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo netfilter-persistent save
The commands add a rule to allow HTTP traffic and saves the changes to the
iptables configuration files.
You can now test your server.
You can test your server from the command line with curl
localhost. Or, you can connect your browser to your public IP
address assigned to your instance:
http://<x.x.x.x>. The page looks
similar to:
Install PHP 8 with the following commands.
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sudo apt -y install php libapache2-mod-php
Verify installation and restart Apache.
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$ php -v
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2
Add a PHP test file to your instance.
Create the file:
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sudo vi /var/www/html/info.php
In the file, input the following text and save the file:
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<?php
phpinfo();
?>
Connect to
http://<your-public-ip-address>/info.php.
The browser produces a listing of PHP configuration on your instance similar
to the following.
Tip
The image will differ due to operating system updates.
Note
After you are done testing, remove info.php from the system.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Apache and PHP 8 on an Oracle Cloud
Infrastructure instance.
What's Next 🔗
You have successfully installed and deployed an Apache web server and PHP on Oracle Cloud
Infrastructure using a Linux instance.
To explore more information about development with Oracle products, check out these
sites: