How to Install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 24.04

byronthurmanBlog

If you manage databases in MySQL or MariaDB, phpMyAdmin is an excellent web-based interface to simplify database management. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the process of installing phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 24.04.

Prerequisites

Before installing phpMyAdmin, ensure that you have:

  1. Ubuntu 24.04 up and running.
  2. LAMP Stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP) installed. If you don’t have it, run the following commands to set it up:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2
sudo apt install mysql-server
sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql

Step 1: Install phpMyAdmin

Ubuntu’s official package repository includes phpMyAdmin, so you can install it using apt. Start by updating your package index:

sudo apt update

Then, install phpMyAdmin:

sudo apt install phpmyadmin

During installation, the system will prompt you with several configuration steps:

  1. Web server selection: Choose apache2 and press Enter.
  2. Database configuration: Select “Yes” when prompted about configuring the database for phpMyAdmin.
  3. MySQL root password: You’ll need to set a password for phpMyAdmin to connect to your database.

If you’re not prompted for database configuration, you can manually set up phpMyAdmin using MySQL in the next step.

Step 2: Manually Create the MySQL User for phpMyAdmin (Optional)

If the setup didn’t ask for MySQL configuration, or if you wish to create a custom user, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the MySQL shell:
sudo mysql
  1. Create a new MySQL user and grant it the necessary privileges:
CREATE USER 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Replace your_password with a strong password of your choice.

Step 3: Enable the phpMyAdmin Apache Configuration

If the installer didn’t automatically configure Apache, you’ll need to enable the phpMyAdmin configuration manually:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/phpmyadmin /var/www/html/phpmyadmin

After that, restart Apache to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 4: Access phpMyAdmin

Once phpMyAdmin is installed and configured, you can access it by navigating to the following URL in your web browser:

http://your_server_ip/phpmyadmin

Log in using the MySQL root account or the phpMyAdmin user you created earlier.

Step 5: Secure Your phpMyAdmin Installation

To improve security, it’s recommended to set up additional layers of protection, such as Apache Basic Authentication.

  1. Create a .htaccess file for phpMyAdmin:
sudo nano /usr/share/phpmyadmin/.htaccess
  1. Add the following lines to enable password protection:
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Restricted Access"
AuthUserFile /etc/phpmyadmin/.htpasswd
Require valid-user
  1. Create a password file and assign a user:
sudo htpasswd -c /etc/phpmyadmin/.htpasswd your_user
  1. Restart Apache:
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Now, when accessing phpMyAdmin, you’ll first need to authenticate with your Apache user credentials before logging in to phpMyAdmin.

You’ve successfully installed and secured phpMyAdmin on your Ubuntu 24.04 system. From here, you can manage your databases, run queries, and perform various administrative tasks through the web interface.