How to install Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) in ...

Let's go ahead and open up a terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal) and if you want to save some time, Firefox or your favorite browser as well.

Installing Apache

Time to get started. In our terminal window...

sudo apt-get install apache2

Testing Apache

Once that's finished installing, we can start up Apache to test it by typing...

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start

Now open up your browser (or if you're a time saver,) and point it to...

http://localhost

If you're cleanly installing Apache, you'll see the default installed folder index, or you'll see your normal server pages if you've updated.

Installing PHP

Now that Apache is installed, PHP is next...

sudo apt-get install php5

Once PHP has finished installing, if we restart Apache...

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Testing PHP

To test PHP, we'll make a new PHP document with any editor you want...

sudo gedit /var/www/phpinfo.php

And paste the following code into the file to run PHP's phpinfo() function, which will show us a myriad of information about PHP...

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Now we can save the file, and browse to...

http://localhost/phpinfo.php

To see all of the information about your PHP installation. For security reasons, you should remove this page when you're done with it. If you want to do that quickly...

sudo rm -rf /var/www/phpinfo.php

Assuming you named the file phpinfo.php.

Installing MySQL

To install MySQL, in our terminal window...

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

If this is a clean installation of MySQL, it will prompt you to set your root password. Make sure that you type it correctly, as it will only ask you once. If you've upgraded, or installed MySQL before, it may not prompt you for a password.

Testing MySQL

Once MySQL is finished installing, we can test MySQL by connecting to it, using...

mysql -uroot -pyourpassword

After filling in your own password after -p, you'll see a MySQL prompt.
That's it, you're done! You can type 'exit' to get out of MySQL.

Installing phpMyAdmin

if you want to install phpMyAdmin to administrate your MySQL, you can type...

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql phpmyadmin

Again, like MySQL, if this is a clean installation, it will ask you to choose a webserver to configure automatically. If you have had phpMyAdmin installed before, it won't prompt you to choose. You can use the space bar to select apache2 and then enter. Once that's finished, we need to restart one more time...

The End

Now, to pull up your phpMyAdmin panel, you can point your browser at...

http://localhost/phpmyadmin

To log in and use PMA.

Useful Commands and Default Locations

To Save yourself some time, you can make launchers for Apache or MySQL start, stop, and restart if you feel the need.

Apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

MySQL

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart

Locations

/var/www/ -- Document Root
http://localhost/phpmyadmin -- phpMyAdmin
/usr/share -- phpMyAdmin local location