There are several ways to install and configure complete production server using Ubuntu I have figure out one of them which is easy to me. So I don’t want to talk more just want to jump to the steps of installation.

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Install MariaDB/MySQL database server

We can easily install mariadb by running the commands below:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

Lets secure our server

sudo mysql_secure_installation

INSTALL APACHE2

sudo apt-get install apache2

CONFIGURE APACHE2

Next, run the commands below to configure Apache2 basic settings. These are the basics.. and more advanced configurations can be done later.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/security.conf

Change your Apache2 server token to Prod

# Set to one of:  Full | OS | Minimal | Minor | Major | Prod
# where Full conveys the most information, and Prod the least.
#ServerTokens Minimal
ServerTokens Prod
#ServerTokens Full

Change the highlighted line below and save the file.

Next, configure the default DirectoryIndex directives.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dir.conf

<IfModule mod_dir.c>
   DirectoryIndex index.html index.php index.htm
</IfModule>

Then change the highlighted line below and save.

Virtual Hosting

Lets configure virtual host to accept multiple domain in a single server.

sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.test.conf

Edit the configuration file you have just copied

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.test.conf 

Change the highlighted lines and save the file.

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin admin@example.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/html/example/public
     ServerName example.test
     ServerAlias www.example.test

     #configuration for laravel
     <Directory /var/www/html/example/public>
             Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
             AllowOverride All
             Require all granted
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Enable the newly created configuration

sudo a2ensite example.test.conf

Now restart Apache2

sudo service apache2 restart

INSTALL PHP 7.4

sudo apt-get install php7.4 php7.4-cgi libapache2-mod-php7.4 php7.4-common php-pear php7.4-mbstring php7.4-gd php-zip

CONFIGURE APACHE2 TO USE PHP

After install PHP and other related scripts, run the commands below to enable Apache2 to use PHP.

sudo a2enconf php7.4-cgi

Enable rewrite module for laravel url support

sudo a2enmod rewrite

Now restart Apache2

sudo service apache2 restart

Add domain to host file

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add one line

127.0.0.1 example.test