How To Install Linux, Apache, MySQL (MariaDB), PHP-FPM (LAMP) Stack on CentOS Stream 9

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PHP Version 8.0.20

This article describes how to install a Web server with application back-end PHP and database back-end MySQL using MariaDB. In continuing the same topic, but with different software from the previous article – How To Install Linux, Nginx, MySQL (MariaDB), PHP-FPM (LEMP) Stack on CentOS Stream 9, where the Web server is Nginx with application back-end PHP-FPM, which is a sort of CGI (FastCGI). In this article, the Web server is Apache and the application is again PHP-FPM, because since the CentOS 8 the Apache mod_php is deprecated.
All the software installed throughout this article is from the CentOS Stream 9 official repositories including the EPEL repository. The machine is installed with a minimal installation of CentOS Stream 9 and there is a how-to here – Network installation of CentOS Stream 9 (20220606.0) – minimal server installation.
Here are the steps to perform:

  1. Install, configure and start the database MariaDB.
  2. Install, configure and start the PHP-FPM and PHP cli.
  3. Install, configure and start the Web server Apache 2.x.
  4. Configure the system – firewall and SELinux.
  5. Test the installation with a phpMyAdmin installation.
  6. Bonus – Apache HTTPS with SSL certificate – self-signed and letsencrypt.

STEP 1) Install, configure and start the database MariaDB.

First, install the MariaDB server by:

dnf install -y mariadb-server

To configure the MariaDB server, the main file is /etc/my.cnf, which just includes all files under the folder /etc/my.cnf.d/

[root@srv ~]# cat /etc/my.cnf
#
# This group is read both both by the client and the server
# use it for options that affect everything
#
[client-server]

#
# include all files from the config directory
#
!includedir /etc/my.cnf.d

[root@srv ~]# ls -altr /etc/my.cnf.d/
total 32
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  295 Mar 25  2022 client.cnf
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  120 May 18 07:55 spider.cnf
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  232 May 18 07:55 mysql-clients.cnf
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  763 May 18 07:55 enable_encryption.preset
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root 1458 Jun 13 13:24 mariadb-server.cnf
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root   42 Jun 13 13:29 auth_gssapi.cnf
drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root 4096 Oct  6 06:34 .
drwxr-xr-x. 81 root root 4096 Oct  6 06:34 ..

The most important file for the MariaDB server is /etc/my.cnf.d/mariadb-server.cnf, where all the server options are included. Under section “[mysqld]” add options to tune the MariaDB server. Supported options could be found here: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mysqld-options/
Add the following options under “[mysqld]” in /etc/my.cnf.d/mariadb-server.cnf
Keep on reading!