When looking for a next-generation forum platform, you might want to take a look at Vanilla Forums software. It’s simple, and efficient and makes online discussion easy and fun. To get Vanilla Forums software installed with Nginx, and PHP 7.2-FPM support, this post should be a great place to start… Individuals and webmasters can use Vanilla Forums software to set up communities in minutes to stay in touch with groups of people or ideas. This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users an easy way to get Vanilla Forums working on Ubuntu 16.04 / 18.10 and 18.04 with Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP 7.2-FPM support. To get started with installing Vanilla Forums, follow the steps below:

Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is probably the second most popular web server in use. so install it since Vanilla Forums needs it. To install Nginx HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below. After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots. To test the Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address and you should see the Nginx default test page as shown below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Vanilla Forums. To install MariaDB run the commands below. After installing MariaDB, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots. Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Run these on Ubuntu 18.04 and 18.10 LTS After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access. When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter Set root password? [Y/n]: Y New password: Enter password Re-enter new password: Repeat password Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Restart MariaDB server To test if MariaDB is installed, type the commands below to logon into the MariaDB server Then type the password you created above to sign on. if successful, you should see MariaDB welcome message

PHP 7.2-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories. Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules. After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open the PHP default config file for Nginx. Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below is a great setting to apply in your environment. After making the change above, save the file and close it. After installing PHP and related modules, all you have to do is restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations. To restart Nginx, run the commands below

Create Vanilla Forums Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required for Vanilla Forums to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank Vanilla Forums database. To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below. Then create a database called vanilla Create a database user called vanillauser with a new password Then grant the user full access to the database. Finally, save your changes and exit.

Download Vanilla Forums Latest Release

To get Vanilla Forums’ latest release you may want to use the GitHub repository. Install git and Composer packages by running the commands below. After installing git above, change into the Nginx root directory and download Vanilla Forums packages from Github. Always replace the branch number with the latest branch. Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for Vanilla Forums to function.

Configure Nginx

Finally, configure the Apahce2 site configuration file for Vanilla Forums. This file will control how users access Vanilla Forums content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called vanilla Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location. Save the file and exit.

Enable the Vanilla Forums and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below To load all the settings above, restart Nginx by running the commands below. Then open your browser and browse to the server domain name. You should see the Vanilla Forums setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully. Type the database name and database user password. You should also create an admin portal account and complete the installation. That should install Vanilla Forums software. Congratulation! You have successfully installed Vanilla Forums on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 and may work on the upcoming 18.10. That’s it! You may also like the post below: