Install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux

Welcome Rocky Linux users to this tutorial on how to install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux. PhpMyAdmin is GUI MySQL/MariaDB administration tool accessed via a web interface. It is free, open source and easy to use.
PhpMyAdmin interacts with your database thus allowing database admins to manage all functionalities related to tables, databases, import and export database, user creation and privilege management and creating relationships. Apache is a web server for connecting your site to the database.

Install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux

Step 1: Install Apache on Rocky Linux

Update system packages are updated:

sudo dnf update && sudo dnf upgrade

Install Apache and required extensions

sudo dnf install -y @httpd

Enable and start apache service

sudo systemctl enable --now httpd

Apache server will be up and running if you have no other server running at the same port. Check status

systemctl status httpd

Output

$ systemctl status httpd
● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor prese>
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2022-05-12 07:03:38 EAT; 4s ago
     Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
 Main PID: 8003 (httpd)
   Status: "Started, listening on: port 443, port 80"
    Tasks: 213 (limit: 17722)
   Memory: 25.3M
   CGroup: /system.slice/httpd.service
           ├─8003 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─8011 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─8012 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           ├─8014 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
           └─8015 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND

May 12 07:03:36 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Serv>
May 12 07:03:38 localhost.localdomain httpd[8003]: AH00558: httpd: Could not re>
May 12 07:03:38 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Serve>
May 12 07:03:38 localhost.localdomain httpd[8003]: Server configured, listening>
lines 1-19/19 (END)

Enable connection through ports 80 and 443

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service={http,https}

Reload the firewall

sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Confirm if apache is running in the browser http://your.ser.ver.IP or http://localhost

Managing Apache process

To start, stop, reload, enable, disable and restart Apache server, use the command below with the function to be performed

sudo systemctl [start|stop|reload|enable|disable|restart] httpd

Step 2: Install MariaDB Server

Install MariaDB database server.

sudo dnf -y install mariadb mariadb-server

Enable and start MariaDB server simultaneously.

sudo systemctl enable --now mariadb

Secure your database server installation. Input Y and hit enter till the end

sudo mysql_secure_installation

sudo mysql -u root

Create a database: itnixpro, user: itnixpro and password: YOURStr0ngPassw0rd

CREATE DATABASE itnixpro;
GRANT ALL ON itnixpro.* TO itnixpro@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'YOURStr0ngPassw0rd';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
QUIT;

Step 3: Install PHP

Check PHP versions available in Rocky Linux

sudo dnf module list php

In case you want to install PHP 8.0, add remi repository and update system packages(optional step)

sudo dnf install http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpm
sudo dnf update

Deselect any selected version

sudo dnf module reset php

Enable PHP 7.4 or the version you want to install

sudo dnf module enable php:7.4

Install PHP and required modules.

sudo dnf -y install php php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-opcache php-gd php-xml php-mbstring php-zip

Enable php-fpm for PHP to function

sudo systemctl enable --now php-fpm

Now install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux.

Step 4: Install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux

PhpMyAdmin available in the repository is outdated. Download the latest version of phpMyAdmin from phpMyAdmin download page

wget https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz

Unpack the files

tar xvf phpMyAdmin-*-all-languages.tar.gz

Move the files to /usr/share/ folder

sudo mv phpMyAdmin-*/ /usr/share/phpmyadmin

Create a temporary folder

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/phpmyadmin/tmp

Grant Apache permission to access phpMyAdmin files:

sudo chown -R apache:apache /usr/share/phpmyadmin

Copy the existing configuration file for editing to allow cookie authentication using Blowfish cipher string

sudo cp /usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.sample.inc.php  /usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

Now edit the file

sudo nano /usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

Enter the value as uyFxu+tR2iLB/2vAKc5Q/o4dUcREACMk or any random 32-bit string.

$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'uyFxu+tR2iLB/2vAKc5Q/o4dUcREACMk';

Add the TempDir directory you created above.

$cfg['TempDir'] = '/usr/share/phpmyadmin/tmp';

Step 5: Configure Apache web server

Create a new Apache configuration file to be used by phpMyAdmin:

sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpmyadmin.conf

Add the content below:

Alias /phpmyadmin /usr/share/phpmyadmin

<Directory /usr/share/phpmyadmin/>
   AddDefaultCharset UTF-8

   <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
     # Apache 2.4
     <RequireAny> 
      Require all granted
     </RequireAny>
   </IfModule>
</Directory>

<Directory /usr/share/phpmyadmin/setup/>
   <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
     # Apache 2.4
     <RequireAny>
       Require all granted
     </RequireAny>
   </IfModule>
</Directory>

Set proper permission for SELinux policies (optional)

sudo chcon -Rv --type=httpd_sys_content_t /usr/share/phpmyadmin/*

Restart Apache

sudo systemctl restart httpd

Step 6: Accessing phpMyAdmin Web interface

In your browser, type in http://localhost/phpmyadmin or http://your.ser.ver.IP/phpmyadmin. Enter your username you created or root and password in the login page below.

You will be send to phpMyAdmin dashboard after successful login.

Try creating a database by clicking on the Databases tab.

Create a table by clicking on the database name, itnixpro on the left navigation bar

Well done! You have just managed to install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux.

Conclusion

In this article, you were able to install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux. You also installed and configured PHP, MariaDB and Apache server.
Find more information in phpMyAdmin documentation.

Install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Rocky Linux