How to Install phpBB on Ubuntu 24.04

phpBB is a free and open-source forum software that is used to build a PHP bulletin board website where users can share threads and messages. It offers a user-friendly interface, which makes it a good choice for beginners. Users can use different add-ons to add new features to their forum without writing any code. They can also change the appearance of their phpBB site by using pre-made templates.

Moreover, phpBB serves as a place for communities to communicate, work together, and share information on different topics. In this tutorial, we’ll demonstrate how to install phpBB on Ubuntu 24.04. 

Installing phpBB on Ubuntu 24.04

phpBB stands for “PHP Bulletin Board”. It lets people create and manage online discussion forums easily and efficiently. To install phpBB on Ubuntu 24.04, you must go through the below-listed steps:

Step 1: Update the System

It’s a good practice to update your system before installing new software to ensure compatibility, enhance security, and benefit from the latest features and bug fixes:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Installing LAMP

Now run the following command to install LAMP on Ubuntu as it is the prerequisite for the php bulletin board:

apt install apache2 mariadb-server php libapache2-mod-php php-gd php-curl openssl php-imagick php-intl php-json php-ldap php-common php-mbstring php-mysql php-imap php-sqlite3 php-net-ftp php-zip unzip php-pgsql php-ssh2 php-xml wget unzip -y

This command installs Apache, MariaDB, PHP, and the required PHP extensions. It also installs utilities like wget and unzip for downloading and extracting files:

Step 3: Starting and Enabling Services

Let’s start the Apache2 and MariaDB by executing the following command:

sudo systemctl start apache2 && sudo systemctl start mariadb

After this, enable both the services using the command:

sudo systemctl enable apache2 && sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Step 4: Creating a New Database for phpBB

To set up a database for phpBB, we need to access MySQL using the below command:

sudo mysql

Next, we create a database named ultahost:

CREATE DATABASE ultahost;

Let’s switch to the newly created database named ultahost using the following command:

USE ultahost;

After switching to the desired database, run the below command to create a new user:

CREATE USER user1;

Next, give the new user full access to the database you just created:

GRANT ALL ON ultahost.* to 'user1'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '1212';

Refresh the privileges to make sure MySQL applies the changes you made:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Then exit the MySQL database:

EXIT;

Step 5: Installing phpBB Ubuntu 24.04

After setting up the database, execute the command below to download phpBB on Ubuntu:

wget https://download.phpbb.com/pub/release/3.3/3.3.7/phpBB-3.3.7.zip

Now extract the downloaded phpBB file using the unzip command:

unzip phpBB-3.3.7.zip

Now move the phpBB3 directory to the /var/www/html/phpbb location, which is typically the web server’s root folder for hosting websites:

sudo mv phpBB3 /var/www/html/phpbb

Step 6: Changing File Permissions

Run the following commands to change the ownership of the phpbb directory to the Apache web server user:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/phpbb

Next, set the permissions of the phpbb directory to allow the owner and group to read, write, and execute, while others can only read and execute:

sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/phpbb

Step 7: Creating an Apache Virtual Host for phpBB

Now create an Apache virtual host for phpBB:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/phpbb.conf

In this file, specify the following lines of code to configure Apache for phpBB:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin admin@domain_name
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/phpbb
ServerName domain_name.com
<Directory /var/www/html/phpbb>
Options FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/phpbb_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/phpbb_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Step 8: Restarting Apache

Now run this command to enable the phpBB site configuration, activate the rewrite module, and restart Apache to apply the changes:

sudo a2ensite phpbb && sudo a2enmod rewrite && sudo systemctl restart apache2

Accessing phpBB Web Interface

Once you’re done with the installation, you can access the phpBB web interface by specifying the domain name or IP address:

http://domain_name/phpbb

You’ll be navigated to the following page:

Switch to the Install tab and then click on the Install button to begin the phpBB installation process:

Specify all necessary configurations, like administration configuration, database configuration, and click on the submit button to complete the installation:

Click on the Take me to the ACP link to redirect to the phpBB dashboard:

Now you can post messages, engage in discussions, and interact with users.

Conclusion

phpBB provides a simple way of creating and managing online communities and discussion platforms. Its easy-to-use interface and wide range of features let users build and customize forums to fulfill their needs. You can install phpBB on Ubuntu 24.04 by setting up the LAMP stack, creating a database for phpBB, configuring file permissions, and setting up Apache for hosting. Once you complete the installation, phpBB offers a user-friendly interface for managing and moderating discussions. In this article, we explained how to install and access the phpBB on Ubuntu 24.04.

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