# How to set up nginx with php-fpm

**URL:** <https://forum.universal-credit-system.org/t/how-to-set-up-nginx-with-php-fpm/110>\
**Category:** Documents and Sources\
**Created:** [July 30, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://forum.universal-credit-system.org/t/how-to-set-up-nginx-with-php-fpm/110 "2024-07-30T14:45:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![m0e](https://forum.universal-credit-system.org/user_avatar/forum.universal-credit-system.org/m0e/32/74_2.png) [@m0e](https://forum.universal-credit-system.org/u/m0e)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://forum.universal-credit-system.org/t/how-to-set-up-nginx-with-php-fpm/110/1 "2024-07-30T14:45:31Z")

</div>

**HOW TO SET UP NGINX WITH PHP-FPM**

This thread is to show you how you can set up nginx with php-fpm in a basic set up. Note that these are only the minimum steps to be done to get a working setup.

**You might consider making additional changes to further harden and secure your configuration.**

**STEP 1: INSTALL NGINX, PHP AND PHP-FPM**

Install nginx, php and php-fpm using `apt` as packaging system:

`sudo apt-get install nginx php php-fpm`

**STEP 2: CONNECT NGINX WITH PHP-FPM**

Open the file /etc/nginx/sites-available/default and scroll to the following section:

```auto
#location ~ \.php$ {
# include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
#
# # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
# fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
# # With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
# fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
#}

```

Now edit it to look like this :

```auto
location ~ \.php$ {
   include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;

   # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
   fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
}

```

**NOTE: The entry `/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock` can be different. If you have installed a different php version like for example 8.2** the entry would also be `/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock`

**STEP 3: CHECK USER AND GROUP OF PHP-FPM**

To work correctly, the php-fpm user needs to be able to access `ucs_client.sh` and the related directory with read/write access. But in a standard setup php-fpm runs under the same user and group as the webserver nginx which is `www-data`. User `www-data` has very limited read/write access and might not be able to access any location outside it’s home directory `/var/www/`. So you either make this directory accessible for user www-data or change the user and group under which php-fpm is started.

To change the user and group under which php-fpm is started you have to modify `/etc/php/<VERSION_NUMBER>/fpm/pool.d/www.conf` (change \<VERSION\_NUMBER\> to your version):

```auto
; Unix user/group of the child processes. This can be used only if the master
; process running user is root. It is set after the child process is created.
; The user and group can be specified either by their name or by their numeric
; IDs.
; Note: If the user is root, the executable needs to be started with
; --allow-to-run-as-root option to work.
; Default Values: The user is set to master process running user by default.
; If the group is not set, the user's group is used.
user = www-data
group = www-data

```

You have to change user and group from `www-data` to your user and group.

Finally you need to modify the file `php.ini` to ensure that users can upload files bigger than 10mb. The parameters to change are [`post_max_size`](https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.post-max-size) and [`upload_max_filesize`](https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php#ini.upload-max-filesize). Please consider that the value for `post_max_size` must be greater than `upload_max_filesize`. The reason is when a file is being uploaded there is also form-data to be transferred.

We suggest you simply add 2mb to the value of `upload_max_filesize` for `post_max_size` :

```auto
; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
upload_max_filesize = 40M

; Must be greater than or equal to upload_max_filesize
post_max_size = 42M

```

**STEP 4: START NGINX AND PHP-FPM**

The following commands to start/stop php-fpm are based on the systemctl service name of php version 7.4 (`php7.4-fpm`) which means that If you have installed a different version than 7.4 the service name is different (for example `php8.2-fpm` for version 8.2).

**Start commands:**

To start the services on **systemd** based systems type:

`sudo systemctl start nginx && sudo systemctl start php7.4-fpm`

To start the services on **sysvinit** based systems type:

`sudo service nginx start && sudo service php7.4-fpm start`

**Stop commands:**

To stop the services on **systemd** based systems type:

`sudo systemctl stop nginx && sudo systemctl stop php7.4-fpm`

To stop the services on **sysvinit** based systems type:

`sudo service nginx stop && sudo service php7.4-fpm stop`