Install LAMP, WordPress, And Moodle 5.1 On Debian

So, you're looking to create your own online learning platform or website? Great! This guide will walk you through setting up a complete environment for WordPress and Moodle on Debian, including configuring MySQL and Apache. We'll cover everything from the initial system preparation to the final verification, ensuring you have a smooth and successful installation. Let's dive in!

Important Security Note: Throughout this guide, we'll use example passwords. Always use strong, unique passwords for your actual installations to keep your system secure.

1️⃣ Preparing Your Debian System: The Foundation for Success

Before we jump into the installation process, it's crucial to prepare your system. This involves updating the system packages and installing some essential tools that will make the process much smoother. Think of this as laying the groundwork for your online empire. In this section, we'll walk through the necessary steps to get your Debian system ready for the installation of MySQL, Apache, WordPress, and Moodle 5.1. Make sure your Debian system is up-to-date, as this ensures you have the latest security patches and software versions, reducing the risk of compatibility issues down the line. The command sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y is your best friend here. It fetches the newest package lists and upgrades any outdated packages. This command might take some time, depending on how recently you updated your system. Don't worry; it's time well spent. Next, you'll need to install some basic tools that will assist you throughout the installation process. These tools include wget, curl, git, unzip, sudo, and nano. wget and curl are used for downloading files from the internet, which will be essential for grabbing the WordPress and Moodle packages. git is a version control system that's useful for cloning repositories, particularly for Moodle. unzip does exactly what it says: it unzips compressed files. sudo allows you to execute commands with administrative privileges, and nano is a simple text editor that you can use to configure files. Install these tools using the command sudo apt install wget curl git unzip sudo nano -y. The -y flag automatically answers "yes" to any prompts, which can save you some time. Once these tools are installed, you'll have a solid foundation for the rest of the installation process. Preparing your system thoroughly ensures that you'll encounter fewer problems later on, making the entire experience much more enjoyable and efficient. So, take your time, follow the steps carefully, and get ready to build your online platform!

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install wget curl git unzip sudo nano -y

2️⃣ Installing MySQL 8.4: The Database Powerhouse

MySQL will serve as the backbone for your WordPress and Moodle installations, storing all the data and content. Installing MySQL involves adding the official MySQL repository to your system, installing the server, securing the installation, and creating databases and users for WordPress and Moodle. It might sound like a lot, but we'll break it down step by step. The first step is to add the official MySQL repository. This ensures that you're installing the latest version of MySQL from a trusted source. To do this, you'll use the echo command to add the repository information to your system's software sources. This involves creating a new file in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory that tells your system where to find the MySQL packages. After adding the repository, you need to update your system's package list. This is done using the sudo apt update command, which fetches the latest information about available packages from all configured repositories, including the one you just added for MySQL. Once the package list is updated, you can install the MySQL server using the command sudo apt install mysql-server -y. The -y flag automatically answers "yes" to any prompts, making the installation process smoother. During the installation, you might be asked to set a root password for MySQL. Make sure to choose a strong password and keep it in a safe place. After the installation, it's crucial to start and enable MySQL. Starting MySQL ensures that the server is running, while enabling it makes sure that MySQL starts automatically whenever your system boots up. These steps are accomplished using the sudo systemctl start mysql and sudo systemctl enable mysql commands. You can check the status of MySQL using sudo systemctl status mysql to confirm that it's running correctly. Now that MySQL is installed and running, you need to secure the installation. This is done using the sudo mysql_secure_installation command. This script will guide you through several security-related questions, such as setting a strong root password, removing anonymous users, disabling remote root login, and removing the test database. It's highly recommended to answer "yes" to all these questions to ensure the security of your MySQL installation. Finally, you'll need to create databases and users for WordPress and Moodle. This involves logging into the MySQL shell using the command sudo mysql -u root -p and executing SQL commands to create the databases and users. For WordPress, you'll create a database named wordpress and a user named wpuser with a strong password. You'll then grant all privileges on the wordpress database to the wpuser. Similarly, for Moodle, you'll create a database named moodle and a user named moodleuser with a strong password, granting all privileges on the moodle database to the moodleuser. By following these steps, you'll have a fully functional and secure MySQL installation ready to support your WordPress and Moodle platforms. Remember to always use strong passwords and keep them secure to protect your data.

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mysql.gpg] https://repo.mysql.com/apt/debian/ $(lsb_release -sc) mysql-8.0" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mysql.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mysql-server -y
sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl enable mysql
sudo systemctl status mysql
sudo mysql_secure_installation

For WordPress:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'WpS3cur3!2025';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

For Moodle:

CREATE DATABASE moodle DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'moodleuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Moodl3S3cur3!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON moodle.* TO 'moodleuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

3️⃣ Installing Apache and PHP: The Web Server Duo

Now that your database is ready, it's time to set up the web server and the scripting language that will power your WordPress and Moodle sites. Apache is one of the most popular web servers, and PHP is a widely-used scripting language, especially in the context of web development. Together, they form a powerful duo that will handle the requests and serve your websites. Installing Apache and PHP involves installing the necessary packages, starting and enabling Apache, and verifying that everything is running smoothly. This section will guide you through each of these steps to ensure that your web server is set up correctly. The first step is to install Apache and PHP along with the necessary PHP extensions. These extensions provide additional functionality that WordPress and Moodle need to operate correctly. The command sudo apt install apache2 php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql php-curl php-xml php-gd php-mbstring php-zip php-intl php-soap php-xmlrpc php-cli php-json -y installs Apache, PHP, and a variety of common PHP extensions. The -y flag automatically answers "yes" to any prompts, simplifying the installation process. Once the packages are installed, you need to start and enable Apache. Starting Apache ensures that the web server is running, while enabling it makes sure that Apache starts automatically whenever your system boots up. These steps are accomplished using the sudo systemctl start apache2 and sudo systemctl enable apache2 commands. You can check the status of Apache using sudo systemctl status apache2 to confirm that it's running correctly. With Apache and PHP installed and running, you're one step closer to having your WordPress and Moodle sites up and running. Make sure to follow each step carefully to avoid any issues down the line. Next, we'll move on to installing WordPress, so let's keep the momentum going!

sudo apt install apache2 php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql php-curl php-xml php-gd php-mbstring php-zip php-intl php-soap php-xmlrpc php-cli php-json -y
sudo systemctl start apache2
sudo systemctl enable apache2
sudo systemctl status apache2

4️⃣ Installing WordPress: Your Content Management System

WordPress is a powerful and flexible content management system (CMS) that makes it easy to create and manage websites. Installing WordPress involves downloading the latest version, extracting the files, setting the correct permissions, and configuring Apache to serve your WordPress site. Let's walk through each step to get WordPress up and running on your Debian server. This section will cover everything from downloading the WordPress package to configuring Apache so that it serves your WordPress site correctly. The first step is to navigate to the web server's document root directory, which is typically /var/www/html. You can do this using the command cd /var/www/html. This directory is where you'll place the WordPress files. Next, you need to download the latest version of WordPress. You can do this using the wget command followed by the URL of the latest WordPress package. The command sudo wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz downloads the latest WordPress version as a compressed tarball. Once the download is complete, you need to extract the files from the tarball. This is done using the tar command with the -xvzf flags. The command sudo tar -xvzf latest.tar.gz extracts the contents of the latest.tar.gz file into a directory named wordpress. After extracting the files, you can remove the tarball using the command sudo rm latest.tar.gz, as it's no longer needed. Now, you need to set the correct ownership and permissions for the WordPress files. This ensures that the web server can access and modify the files as needed. The command sudo chown -R www-data:www-data wordpress changes the ownership of the wordpress directory and all its contents to the www-data user and group, which is the user and group that Apache runs under. The command sudo chmod -R 755 wordpress sets the permissions of the wordpress directory and its contents to 755, which means that the owner can read, write, and execute, the group can read and execute, and others can read and execute. The next step is to configure Apache to serve your WordPress site. This involves creating a virtual host configuration file for WordPress. You can do this using the sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf command, which opens the wordpress.conf file in the nano text editor. In the wordpress.conf file, you'll need to add the virtual host configuration. This configuration tells Apache how to serve your WordPress site. The configuration includes directives such as ServerAdmin, DocumentRoot, ServerName, and <Directory>. The ServerAdmin directive specifies the email address of the webmaster. The DocumentRoot directive specifies the directory where the WordPress files are located. The ServerName directive specifies the domain name for your WordPress site. The <Directory> directive specifies the directory permissions for the WordPress directory. After adding the virtual host configuration, you need to enable the site and the mod_rewrite module. The mod_rewrite module is used for creating SEO-friendly URLs in WordPress. The commands sudo a2ensite wordpress.conf and sudo a2enmod rewrite enable the WordPress site and the mod_rewrite module, respectively. Finally, you need to restart Apache to apply the changes. This is done using the command sudo systemctl restart apache2. To access your WordPress site in a web browser, you'll need to add the domain name to your /etc/hosts file. This file maps domain names to IP addresses. You can edit the /etc/hosts file using the command sudo nano /etc/hosts. Add the line 127.0.0.1 midominio.local to the /etc/hosts file, replacing midominio.local with your desired domain name. This tells your system to resolve midominio.local to your local machine. You can now access your WordPress site by opening a web browser and navigating to http://midominio.local. You should see the WordPress installation screen, where you can complete the installation process. By following these steps, you'll have a fully functional WordPress site running on your Debian server. Remember to choose a strong password for your WordPress administrator account and keep it secure to protect your site.

cd /var/www/html
sudo wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
sudo tar -xvzf latest.tar.gz
sudo rm latest.tar.gz
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data wordpress
sudo chmod -R 755 wordpress

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/wordpress
    ServerName midominio.local

    <Directory /var/www/html/wordpress/>
        AllowOverride All
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/wordpress_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/wordpress_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

sudo a2ensite wordpress.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2
sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add the following line to /etc/hosts:

127.0.0.1 midominio.local

Access WordPress: http://midominio.local

5️⃣ Installing Moodle 5.1 from Git: Setting Up Your Learning Environment

Moodle, a popular open-source learning management system, provides a robust platform for online courses and education. Installing Moodle involves cloning the Moodle repository from Git, creating a data directory, setting permissions, and installing dependencies using Composer. This section will guide you through each of these steps to get Moodle 5.1 up and running on your Debian server. We'll cover everything from cloning the Moodle repository to configuring the initial settings in the Moodle web interface. The first step is to navigate to the /var/www directory, which is where you'll clone the Moodle repository. You can do this using the command cd /var/www. Next, you need to clone the Moodle repository from Git. The command sudo git clone -b MOODLE_501_STABLE git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git moodle clones the Moodle repository into a directory named moodle. The -b MOODLE_501_STABLE flag specifies that you want to clone the Moodle 5.1 stable branch. After cloning the repository, you need to create a data directory for Moodle. This directory is where Moodle will store uploaded files and other data. The command sudo mkdir -p /var/moodledata creates the /var/moodledata directory. The -p flag tells mkdir to create parent directories if they don't exist. Now, you need to set the correct ownership and permissions for the data directory. This ensures that Moodle can access and write to the directory. The command sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/moodledata changes the ownership of the /var/moodledata directory and all its contents to the www-data user and group. The command sudo chmod -R 777 /var/moodledata sets the permissions of the /var/moodledata directory and its contents to 777, which means that everyone can read, write, and execute. Note that setting permissions to 777 is generally not recommended for security reasons, but it's often necessary for Moodle to function correctly. You also need to set the correct ownership and permissions for the Moodle files themselves. The command sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/moodle changes the ownership of the Moodle directory and all its contents to the www-data user and group. The command sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/moodle sets the permissions of the Moodle directory and its contents to 755, which means that the owner can read, write, and execute, the group can read and execute, and others can read and execute. The next step is to install the dependencies using Composer, a dependency management tool for PHP. Navigate to the Moodle directory using the command cd /var/www/moodle. Then, run the command sudo composer install --no-dev --classmap-authoritative. This command installs the necessary PHP libraries and other dependencies that Moodle needs to run. The --no-dev flag tells Composer to skip installing development dependencies, and the --classmap-authoritative flag tells Composer to use a classmap for autoloading, which can improve performance. By following these steps, you'll have the Moodle files and data directory set up correctly. Next, we'll move on to the initial Moodle configuration through the web interface.

cd /var/www
sudo git clone -b MOODLE_501_STABLE git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git moodle
sudo mkdir -p /var/moodledata
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/moodledata
sudo chmod -R 777 /var/moodledata
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/moodle
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/moodle
cd /var/www/moodle
sudo composer install --no-dev --classmap-authoritative

6️⃣ Initial Moodle Configuration: Setting Up Your Learning Platform

With the files in place and dependencies installed, it's time for the initial Moodle configuration. This is done through the web interface and involves setting up the database connection, creating an administrator account, and configuring site settings. This section will walk you through each step of the initial Moodle configuration, ensuring that your learning platform is set up correctly and ready for use. To start the configuration, open a web browser and navigate to http://moodle.local. You should see the Moodle installation page. The first step is to select the language for the installation process. Choose your preferred language and click "Next". Next, Moodle will ask you to confirm the paths for the web root and the data directory. The web root should be /var/www/moodle, and the data directory should be /var/moodledata. Verify that these paths are correct and click "Next". Now, you need to configure the database connection. Select "MySQL (mysqli)" as the database driver. Enter localhost as the database host, moodle as the database name, moodleuser as the database user, and Moodl3S3cur3! as the database password. Set the table prefix to mdl_. Click "Next". Moodle will then check the server environment to ensure that all the necessary PHP extensions and settings are configured correctly. If any issues are detected, you'll need to resolve them before proceeding. Next, you'll see the copyright notice and the GNU General Public License. Read the terms and click "Continue" to proceed. Moodle will then install the database tables. This process may take a few minutes. After the database tables are installed, you'll need to create an administrator account. Enter a username (e.g., admin), a strong password (e.g., Adm!nM00dle2025), your first name, last name, and email address. Click "Update profile". Finally, you'll need to configure the site settings, including the site name, short name, summary, time zone, and support email address. Enter the appropriate values for your site and click "Save changes". Congratulations! You've successfully completed the initial Moodle configuration. You can now log in to your Moodle site using the administrator account you created. By following these steps, you'll have a fully functional Moodle installation ready for you to start creating courses and managing your learning environment. Remember to regularly back up your Moodle data and keep your system secure to protect your platform.

URL: http://moodle.local

Database configuration:

Data directory: /var/moodledata

Administrator user: admin

Secure password: Adm!nM00dle2025

Complete site settings: name, summary, time zone, and support email.

7️⃣ Final Verification: Ensuring Everything Works Smoothly

After installing and configuring MySQL, Apache, WordPress, and Moodle, it's essential to verify that everything is working as expected. This final verification step will help you catch any issues early on and ensure that your online platform is running smoothly. This section will guide you through the steps to verify your installation, including checking the status of services, accessing your websites, and confirming directory permissions. The first step is to check the status of the MySQL and Apache services. You can do this using the sudo systemctl status mysql and sudo systemctl status apache2 commands. These commands will show you whether the services are running and if there are any errors. If the services are running correctly, you should see a green checkmark ✅ next to the service name. Next, you should access your WordPress and Moodle sites in a web browser to ensure that they are accessible. Navigate to http://midominio.local to access your WordPress site and http://moodle.local to access your Moodle site. If the sites load correctly, you should see the WordPress or Moodle homepage. Again, a green checkmark ✅ indicates success. You should also verify that the directory permissions are set correctly. This is especially important for the Moodle data directory, which needs to be writable by the web server. You can check the permissions using the ls -l /var/moodledata command. The permissions should be set to 777, and the owner and group should be www-data. ✅ Finally, you should confirm that PHP and the required extensions are installed correctly. You can do this by creating a PHP file in the WordPress or Moodle directory that contains the following code:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Save the file as info.php and access it in a web browser by navigating to http://midominio.local/info.php or http://moodle.local/info.php. This will display a page with detailed information about your PHP installation, including the installed extensions. Verify that all the required extensions are listed. If they are, ✅

By completing these verification steps, you can be confident that your LAMP, WordPress, and Moodle installation is set up correctly and ready for use. If you encounter any issues, review the previous steps and check the error logs for more information.

sudo systemctl status mysql ✅
sudo systemctl status apache2 ✅

WordPress: http://midominio.local ✅

Moodle: http://moodle.local ✅

Directory permissions: correct ✅

PHP and required extensions: installed ✅

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully installed LAMP, WordPress, and Moodle 5.1 on Debian. This comprehensive guide has taken you through each step of the process, from preparing your system to verifying the final installation. You now have a powerful platform for creating websites, online courses, and learning environments. Remember to keep your system updated and secure, and enjoy building your online presence! For more information on web servers and related technologies, visit https://www.digitalocean.com/community.