phpBB is a free flat-forum bulletin board software written in PHP. It enables individuals and webmasters to set up community bulletin boards in minutes to stay in touch with groups of people or ideas. phpBB requires the LAMP or LEMP stack to function. It is free, and easy to set up and maintain. Many reputable online forum communities use this software to run their bulletin boards. If you’re looking for feature-rich, efficient and free community bulletin board software, then you may want to consider phpBB.

How to install and use phpBB on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx

As described above, phpBB is a free flat-forum bulletin board software written in PHP. It enables individuals and webmasters to set up community bulletin boards in minutes to stay in touch with groups of people or ideas.

Install Nginx

phpBB is PHP-based and requires a webserver. For this article, we’re going to be using the Nginx HTTP server. Run the commands below to install Nginx on Ubuntu Linux. Next, run the commands below to stop, start and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

Install MariaDB

phpBB also requires a database server to function. MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking for an open-source database server to use. To install it run the commands below. After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable the MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots. After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server. When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter Set root password? [Y/n]: Y New password: Enter password Re-enter new password: Repeat password Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

phpBB, a PHP-based software will require the below PHP. To install PHP and related modules run the commands below After installing PHP, run the commands below to open the Nginx PHP default file. Then change the following lines below in the file and save. You may increase the value to suit your environment.

Create phpBB Database

Now that you’ve installed all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, create a phpBB database. Run the commands below to log on to MariaDB. When prompted for a password, type the root password you created above. Then create a database called phpbb Create a database user called phpbbuser with new password Then grant the user full access to the database. Finally, save your changes and exit.

Download phpBB Latest Release

Next, continue below to download phpBB package. To download, run the commands below. After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file into the Nginx root directory. Change or modify the directory permission to fit the Nginx configuration.

Configure Nginx

Finally, configure an Apache virtual host configuration file for phpBB. This file will control how users access phpBB content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called phpbb.conf Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location. Save the file and exit.

Enable the phpBB and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below To load all the settings above, restart Nginx by running the commands below. Finally, open your browser and browse to the server domain name followed by install. You should see the phpBB setup wizard complete. Please follow the wizard carefully. You should see the phpBB setup wizard Create an admin account by typing a username and password. Enter the database connection details and continue Accept the server configuration settings and continue. If you do have a mail server, configure it on this page. if not ignore and continue Enjoy! Run the commands below to delete the install directory sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/phpbb/install Congratulation! You have successfully installed the phpBB bulletin board.