Free Tier: Install Apache and PHP on an Oracle Linux Instance
In this tutorial, you use an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Free Tier account to set up an Oracle Linux instance. Then, you install an Apache web server with PHP and access your new server from the internet.
This tutorial covers all the steps necessary to set up a virtual network for your host and connect the host to the internet. Key tasks include how to:
Set up a compartment for your development work.
Set up a new Virtual Cloud Network (VCN).
Install your Oracle Linux instance.
Configure the OCI VCN and related network services required for your host to connect to the internet.
Set up ssh encryption keys to access your Oracle Linux instance.
Configure ingress rules for your VCN.
Install Apache and PHP on your instance.
Connect to your instance from the internet.
Here is a simplified diagram of the setup for your Linux instance.
To get started installing an instance with the Create a VM instance workflow, follow these steps:
Important
The steps provided are for a Free Tier account. If you are using a paid account, the steps might differ from those shown here.
Open the navigation menu and select Compute. Under Compute, select Instances.
Click Create Instance.
The Create compute instance page is displayed.
Choose the Name and Compartment.
Initial Options
Name:<name-for-the-instance>
Enter a name for your instance. Avoid entering confidential information.
Create in compartment:<your-compartment-name>
Select your compartment. Use the compartment created in the preceding step.
Review the Placement settings.
Take the default values. An availability domain is assigned to you.
The default values are similar to the following:
Availability domain: AD-1
Capacity type: On-demand capacity
Fault domain: Let Oracle choose the best fault domain
Note
For Free Tier, use the Always Free Eligible option for availability domain.
Review the Security settings.
Take the default settings.
The default values are similar to the following:
Shielded instance: Disabled
Confidential computing: Disabled
Review the Image and shape settings. Click Edit.
Note
The following is sample data for an Ampere A1 virtual machine. The actual values might differ.
Keep the default Oracle Linux 8 image.
Click Change Shape.
Select Virtual Machine.
For shape series select Ampere.
Select VM.Standard.A1.Flex the "Always Free" shape.
Select 1 OCPUs.
Click Select Shape.
Selected values are similar to the following:
Image: Oracle Linux 8
Image build:<current-build-date>
Shape: VM.Standard.A1.Flex
OCPU: 1
Memory (GB): 6
Network bandwidth (Gbps): 1
Note
For Free Tier, use Always Free Eligible shape options.
Review the Networking settings. Select the VCN you created in the preceding step. The networking values are similar to the following:
Virtual cloud network: <your-vcn>
Subnet: <pubic-subnet-for-your-vcn>
Launch options: -
DNS record: Yes
Use network security groups to control traffic: No
Assign a public IPv4 address: Yes
Private IPv4 address: Automatically assigned on creation
IPv6 address: Not available
Review the Add SSH keys settings. Take the default values provided by the workflow.
Select the Generate a key pair for me option.
Click Save Private Key and Save Public Key to save the private and public SSH keys for this compute instance.
If you want to use your own SSH keys, select one of the options to provide your public key.
Note
Put your private and public key files in a safe location. You can't retrieve keys again after the compute instance has been created.
Review the Boot volume settings.
Select the Use in-transit encryption setting. Leave the other two settings blank.
Review the Block Volume settings. Take the default values provided by the workflow which does not select any block volumes. You can add block volumes later.
Click Create to create the instance. Provisioning the system might take several minutes.
You have successfully created an Oracle Linux instance to run an Apache Web Server.
4. Enable Internet Access 🔗
The Create a VM Instance wizard automatically creates a VCN for your VM. You
add an ingress rule to your subnet to allow internet connections on port 80.
Follow these steps to select your VCN's public subnet and add the ingress rule.
Open the navigation menu and click Networking, and then click Virtual Cloud Networks.
Select the VCN you created.
With your new VCN displayed, click <your-public-subnet-name> subnet link.
The public subnet information is displayed with the Security Lists at the bottom of the page. A link to the Default Security List for your VCN is displayed.
Click the Default Security List link.
The default Ingress Rules for your VCN are displayed.
Click Add Ingress Rules.
An Add Ingress Rules dialog is displayed.
Fill in the ingress rule with the following information.
Stateless: Checked
Source Type: CIDR
Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0
IP Protocol: TCP
Source port range: (leave-blank)
Destination Port Range: 80
Description: Allow HTTP connections
Click Add Ingress Rules.
Now HTTP connections are allowed. Your VCN is configured for Apache
server.
You have successfully configured a VCN to allow HTTP connections.
5. Install and Configure Apache and PHP 🔗
With your compute instance and VCN setup, install, and configure Apache web server and PHP to run on your Oracle Linux instance.
Follow these steps to configure your Oracle Linux instance.
Open the navigation menu and click Compute. Under Compute, click Instances.
Click the link to the instance you created in the previous step.
From the Instance Details page look under the Instance Access section. Write down the Public IP Address the system created for you. You use this IP address to connect to your instance.
Open a Terminal or Command Prompt window.
Change into the directory where you stored the ssh encryption keys you created in a preceding step.
Connect to your instance with this SSH command.
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ssh -i <your-private-key-file> opc@<x.x.x.x>
Since you identified your public key when you created the instance, this command logs you into your instance. You can now issue sudo commands to install and start your server.
Install Apache Server.
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sudo dnf install httpd -y
Enable Apache.
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sudo systemctl enable httpd
The command returns:
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/httpd.service to /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.
Start Apache.
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sudo systemctl restart httpd
Next, test that your server is up. The curl command connections to your local port 80 and returns the default Apache web page.
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curl localhost
The HTML for the default Apache page is displayed.
If the page is not displayed, review the preceding steps to make sure Apache was installed and restarted.
Perform the following steps to configure the firewall for HTTP.
Enable HTTP connections through the Linux firewall on port 80.
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sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent
The commands returns:
success
Note
If you intend to set up HTTPS later (recommended), also enable HTTPS connections on port 443:
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sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=https --permanent
Reload the firewall.
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sudo firewall-cmd --reload
The commands returns:
success
Test your server.
You can test your server from the command line with curl localhost. Or, you can connect your browser to the public IP address assigned to your instance: http://<x.x.x.x>.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Apache on your Oracle Cloud Infrastructure instance.