How to Set Up a LEMP Stack (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP)

# Install all components
apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install nginx mysql-server php-fpm php-mysql php-cli php-curl php-xml php-mbstring -y

# Start services
systemctl start nginx mysql php*-fpm
systemctl enable nginx mysql php*-fpm

# Secure MySQL
mysql_secure_installation

Configure Nginx to process PHP — edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/default and add inside the server block:

location ~ .php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php-fpm.sock;
}

Reload Nginx:

systemctl reload nginx

Test PHP:

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > /var/www/html/info.php

Visit http://YOUR_SERVER_IP/info.php in your browser. Delete the file after testing:

rm /var/www/html/info.php