This is a guide to show how to setup a LEMP(P) stack (Linux, Nginx, MariaDB, PHP)(phpMyAdmin) on Arch Manjaro.

Linux as OS
EngineX or Nginx is an HTTP and Reverse Proxy Server.
MariaDB is an SQL database server. 
PHP to run php based websites with Nginx.
PhpMyAdmin to manage Databases with a GUI.

You can also use this guide to install a LEMP stack. Just don't install phpMyAdmin.

Update Arch Manjaro

Before doing anything, make sure Arch Manjaro is updated.

sudo pacman -Syu

Install Nginx Webserver

nginx.org recommends using the mainline version.

Install nginx-mainline
Install nginx-mainline using pacman

sudo pacman -S nginx-mainline

Check the status of Nginx
Check the status of Nginx using systemctl

sudo systemctl status nginx

Start nginx
Start nginx using systemctl

sudo systemctl start nginx

Enable nginx to start at boot
Enable nginx to start at boot using systemctl

sudo systemctl enable nginx

Check if nginx is working 
(Replace 'localhost' with the ip or name of your server when testing from remote pc)

http://localhost

You should see the following:

Standard Nginx uses port 80

Install MariaDB Database Server

Install MariaDB
Install MariaDB with pacman

sudo pacman -S mariadb

BEFORE you start MariaDB 
Run the following command

sudo mariadb-install-db --user=mysql --basedir=/usr --datadir=/var/lib/mysql

Start MariaDB
Start MariaDB using systemctl

sudo systemctl start mariadb

Check the status of MariaDB
Check the status of MariaDB using systemctl

sudo systemctl status mariadb

Enable MariaDB to start at boot
Enable MariaDB to start at boot using systemctl

sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Improve the initial security of MariaDB
Run the MariaDB secure installation script

sudo mariadb-secure-installation

Secure MariaDB
Answer with the following

enter current password for root (has no password): Just press Enter
Switch to Unix socket authentication [Y/n]: N
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y (not necessary, you login as root without pass then )
New password: ****
Re-Enter new 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

Login to the MariaDB console
Login to the MariaDB console as root

mariadb -u root -p

Make a user for yourself in MariaDB
Make a user for yourself to login to MariaDB and phpMyAdmin

CREATE USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'username'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Exit the MariaDB console

exit;

Install PHP

Now we can install PHP.
The latest version is php8, but some site's prefer php7.
I suggest installing and configuring both, because some site's will only work with one or the other.
Nginx makes it real easy to select which php version to run the site's on.

Some extra info:
There is php-CGI (FastCGI) and php-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager). FPM is the newer, better and faster FastCGI.
I'm using FPM to handle php.

Install PHP 7

Install PHP7 + a lot of extensions
Allot of website CMS's (WordPress, Yoomla etc.) still aks for php7 and need one or more extensions, so better catch 'm all.

sudo pacman -S php7 php7-{dblib,embed,enchant,fpm,gd,geoip,grpc,igbinary,imagick,imap,intl,mongodb,odbc,pgsql,phpdbg,pspell,redis,snmp,sodium,sqlite,tidy,xsl}

Edit php.ini for PHP7
Edit php.ini for PHP7 and activate the extensions.
To see which extensions you have for php7: /usr/lib/php7/modules

sudo nano /etc/php7/php.ini

Search for the extension part (ctrl+w) and paste this over it
I uncommented all extensions, added the missing ones and the ones we installed

extension=bcmath
extension=bz2
extension=calendar
extension=curl
extension=dba
extension=enchant
extension=exif
extension=ffi
extension=ftp
extension=gd
extension=geoip
extension=gettext
extension=gmp
extension=grpc
extension=iconv
extension=igbinary
extension=imagick
extension=imap
extension=intl
extension=ldap
extension=mongodb
extension=mysqli
extension=odbc
zend_extension=opcache
extension=pdo_dblib
extension=pdo_mysql
extension=pdo_odbc
extension=pdo_pgsql
extension=pdo_sqlite
extension=pgsql
extension=pspell
extension=redis
extension=shmop
extension=snmp
extension=soap
extension=sockets
extension=sodium
extension=sqlite3
extension=sysvmsg
extension=sysvsem
extension=sysvshm
extension=tidy
extension=xmlrpc
extension=xsl
extension=zip

Now also adjust the next settings (ctrl+w to search)

# How much memory php can use

memory_limit = 2048M

# Upload max filesize (also the max size used for importing databases in phpMyAdmin for instance)

upload_max_filesize = 1024M

# Post max size (set 0 for unlimited)

post_max_size = 0

When starting php i got the message: PHP Warning:  Module "mongodb" is already loaded in Unknown on line 0
To fix that, edit

sudo nano /etc/php7/conf.d/mongodb.ini

Now comment out the extension (because we already have it in php.ini)

;extension=mongodb.so

Start php-fpm for php7
Start php-fpm for php7 using systemctl

sudo systemctl start php-fpm7

Enable php-fpm for PHP7 to start at boot
Enable php-fpm to start at boot using systemctl

sudo systemctl enable php-fpm7

Install PHP8

Install PHP8 + a lot of extensions

Some packages (like phpMyAdmin) install PHP8, so let's get that setup to.

sudo pacman -S php php-{dblib,embed,enchant,fpm,gd,geoip,grpc,igbinary,imagick,imap,intl,mongodb,odbc,pgsql,phpdbg,pspell,redis,snmp,sodium,sqlite,tidy,xsl}

Edit php.ini for PHP8
Edit php.ini for PHP8 and activate the extensions.
To see which extensions you have for php8: /usr/lib/php/modules

sudo nano /etc/php/php.ini

Search for the extension part and paste this over it (halfway the file)
I uncommented all extensions, added the missing ones and the ones we installed

extension=bcmath
extension=bz2
extension=calendar
extension=curl
extension=dba
extension=enchant
extension=exif
extension=ffi
extension=ftp
extension=gd
extension=geoip
extension=gettext
extension=gmp
extension=grpc
extension=iconv
extension=igbinary
extension=imagick
extension=imap
extension=intl
extension=ldap
extension=mongodb
extension=mysqli
extension=odbc
zend_extension=opcache
extension=pdo_dblib
extension=pdo_mysql
extension=pdo_odbc
extension=pdo_pgsql
extension=pdo_sqlite
extension=pgsql
extension=pspell
extension=redis
extension=shmop
extension=snmp
extension=soap
extension=sockets
extension=sodium
extension=sqlite3
extension=sysvmsg
extension=sysvsem
extension=sysvshm
extension=tidy
extension=xsl
extension=zip

Now also adjust the next settings (ctrl+w to search)

# How much memory php can use

memory_limit = 2048M

# Upload max filesize (also the max size used for importing databases in phpMyAdmin for instance)

upload_max_filesize = 1024M

# Post max size (set 0 for unlimited)

post_max_size = 0

When starting php i got the message: PHP Warning:  Module "mongodb" is already loaded in Unknown on line 0
To fix that, edit

sudo nano /etc/php/conf.d/mongodb.ini

Now comment out the extension (because we already have it in php.ini)

;extension=mongodb.so

Start php-fpm for PHP8
Start php-fpm service for PHP8 using systemctl

sudo systemctl start php-fpm

Enable php-fpm for PHP8 to start at boot
Enable php-fpm for PHP8 to start at boot using systemctl

sudo systemctl enable php-fpm

Configure Nginx to run PHP

Now we need to tell Nginx to run PHP using php-fpm.

ps: The standard config of nginx is a mess, hard to understand and i'm not using it like that. I will make a separate guide for Nginx. This is because Arch Manjaro installs the bare minimum.

Edit nginx.conf

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Uncomment user http
I saw that at the start of the file the user is commented out standard on Arch !!!
Remove the # infront of '#user http;'

user http;

Now search for the following part

# pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000
#
#location ~ \.php$ {
#    root           html;
#    fastcgi_pass   127.0.0.1:9000;
#    fastcgi_index  index.php;
#    fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME  /scripts$fastcgi_script_name;
#    include        fastcgi_params;
#}

Change it to the following (or just paste it under the above)

# pass the PHP scripts to FPM Unix socket running on unix:/run/php-fpm7/php-fpm.sock
# Change php-fpm7 to php-fpm for php8
location ~ \.php$ {
	root           /usr/share/nginx/html;
    fastcgi_pass   unix:/run/php-fpm7/php-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_index  index.php;
	fastcgi_param  SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
	include		   fastcgi_params;
}

Save (ctrl+o) and exit (ctrl+x) the file 

Test nginx.conf

sudo nginx -t

If both test are ok 

Reload Nginx

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Test PHP

Now we are gonna make 2 test files to see if everything is working ok.

Test.php
Create test.php in the Nginx Webroot.

sudo nano /usr/share/nginx/html/test.php

Paste the following lines in the file:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

ctrl+ o to save and ctrl + x to exit.

Whoami.php
Create whoami.php in the Nginx Webroot.

sudo nano /usr/share/nginx/html/whoami.php

And paste in the following:

<?php echo exec('whoami'); ?>

ctrl + o to save and ctrl + x to exit.

Check test.php
Let's check test.php
(Replace 'localhost' with the ip or name of your server when testing from remote pc)

http://localhost/test.php

If that works you should see this page

Check whoami.php
Now to check which user Nginx runs as
(Replace 'localhost' with the ip or name of your server when testing from remote pc)

http://localhost/whoami.php

That should show you the user Nginx is running as in the left top corner

Install phpMyAdmin

Install phpMyAdmin for easier management of databases with a GUI
Source: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/phpMyAdmin

1. Install phpmyadmin

sudo pacman -S phpmyadmin

2. Config phpMyAdmin

Now we first need to make a database user for phpMyAdmin

2.1 Create a pma user and set privileges
Login to mariadb

mariadb -u root -p

Run the following commands
Change the default 'pma' and 'pmapass' to the user and pass you are gonna fill in to 'config.inc.php'

CREATE USER 'pma'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'pmapass';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'pma'@'%' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

2.2 Edit config
First generate a 32 long code to use as blowfish_secret

echo $(openssl rand -hex 16)

2.2.0 Edit phpMyAdmin config
Copy this command, paste it and then copy your generated code before your press enter

sudo nano /usr/share/webapps/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php

2.2.1 Add blowfish_secret passphrase
Paste in the code you generated

$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = '...';

2.2.2 Configure the database user/ password
Remove the // infront of controluser and controlpass and change to the user and password you set earlier

//* User used to manipulate with storage */
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlhost'] = 'my-host';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlport'] = '3306';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = 'pmapass';

2.2.3 Uncomment Storage database and all tables

/* Storage database and tables */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma__bookmark';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma__relation';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma__table_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma__table_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma__pdf_pages';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma__column_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma__history';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] = 'pma__table_uiprefs';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma__tracking';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig'] = 'pma__userconfig';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['recent'] = 'pma__recent';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['favorite'] = 'pma__favorite';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['users'] = 'pma__users';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['usergroups'] = 'pma__usergroups';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['navigationhiding'] = 'pma__navigationhiding';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['savedsearches'] = 'pma__savedsearches';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['central_columns'] = 'pma__central_columns';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_settings'] = 'pma__designer_settings';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['export_templates'] = 'pma__export_templates';

2.2.4 Add Template directory
Copy and paste this in or else you will see a notice in phpMyAdmin.

$cfg['TempDir'] = '/var/tmp';

Example where i added it

/**
 * Directories for saving/loading files from server
 */
$cfg['UploadDir'] = '';
$cfg['SaveDir'] = '';
$cfg['TempDir'] = '/var/tmp';

Now save "ctrl + o" and exit "ctrl + x"

2.3 Install Database
Now to generate a database with all the tables

mariadb -u root -p < /usr/share/webapps/phpMyAdmin/sql/create_tables.sql

3. Add phpMyAdmin to nginx

Open nginx.conf

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Add a server block for phpMyAdmin
phpMyAdmin will be available on port 81 in this example. Change the port to any port you would like to use.
phpMyAdmin runs on PHP8.

# phpMyAdmin - Control Panel

server {
        listen                                  81;
        listen                                  [::]:81;
        server_name                             pma.domain.ltd;
        root                                    /usr/share/webapps/phpMyAdmin;
        index                                   index.php;

        location / {
        try_files                               $uri $uri/ /index.php;
        }

        location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass                            unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param                           SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include                                 fastcgi_params;
        
        }
}

Run nginx test 

sudo nginx -t

Reload nginx

sudo systemctl reload nginx

4. Test phpMyAdmin
Now to test if it works

Go to

http://localhost:81

you should be greeted with

You can now login with the user you added to MariaDB for yourself when configuring MariaDB.

When logged in and still seeing config message:
The phpMyAdmin configuration storage is not completely configured, some extended features have been deactivated.

Click on the phpmyadmin database one time so pma set's that as the default config db.


Now you have a LEMPP stack running.

Thanx for reading my guide, i hope it helped