Install an Apache web server with PHP and MariaDB Connect your Apache web server to your DB instance

Install a web server on your EC2 instance

Install a web server on the EC2 instance you created in Launch an EC2 instance to connect with your DB instance. The web server connects to the Amazon RDS DB instance that you created in Create an Amazon RDS DB instance.

Install an Apache web server with PHP and MariaDB

Connect to your EC2 instance and install the web server.

To connect to your EC2 instance and install the Apache web server with PHP

Connect to the EC2 instance that you created earlier by following the steps in Connect to your Linux instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

We recommend that you connect to your EC2 instance using SSH. If the SSH client utility is installed on Windows, Linux, or Mac, you can connect to the instance using the following command format:
```
ssh -i location_of_pem_file ec2-user@ec2-instance-public-dns-name
```
For example, assume that ec2-database-connect-key-pair.pem is stored in /dir1 on Linux, and the public IPv4 DNS for your EC2 instance is ec2-12-345-678-90.compute-1.amazonaws.com. Your SSH command would look as follows:
```
ssh -i /dir1/ec2-database-connect-key-pair.pem ec2-user@ec2-12-345-678-90.compute-1.amazonaws.com
```
Get the latest bug fixes and security updates by updating the software on your EC2 instance. To do this, use the following command.

Note
The -y option installs the updates without asking for confirmation. To examine updates before installing, omit this option.
```
sudo dnf update -y
```
After the updates complete, install the Apache web server, PHP, and MariaDB or PostgreSQL software using the following commands. This command installs multiple software packages and related dependencies at the same time.
MariaDB & MySQL
```
sudo dnf install -y httpd php php-mysqli mariadb105
```
PostgreSQL
```
sudo dnf install -y httpd php php-pgsql postgresql15
```
If you receive an error, your instance probably wasn't launched with an Amazon Linux 2023 AMI. You might be using the Amazon Linux 2 AMI instead. You can view your version of Amazon Linux using the following command.
```
cat /etc/system-release
```
For more information, see Updating instance software.
Start the web server with the command shown following.
```
sudo systemctl start httpd
```
You can test that your web server is properly installed and started. To do this, enter the public Domain Name System (DNS) name of your EC2 instance in the address bar of a web browser, for example: http://ec2-42-8-168-21.us-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com. If your web server is running, then you see the Apache test page.

If you don't see the Apache test page, check your inbound rules for the VPC security group that you created in Tutorial: Create a VPC for use with a DB instance (IPv4 only). Make sure that your inbound rules include one allowing HTTP (port 80) access for the IP address to connect to the web server.

Note
The Apache test page appears only when there is no content in the document root directory, /var/www/html. After you add content to the document root directory, your content appears at the public DNS address of your EC2 instance. Before this point, it appears on the Apache test page.
Configure the web server to start with each system boot using the systemctl command.
```
sudo systemctl enable httpd
```

To allow ec2-user to manage files in the default root directory for your Apache web server, modify the ownership and permissions of the /var/www directory. There are many ways to accomplish this task. In this tutorial, you add ec2-user to the apache group, to give the apache group ownership of the /var/www directory and assign write permissions to the group.

To set file permissions for the Apache web server

Add the ec2-user user to the apache group.
```
sudo usermod -a -G apache ec2-user
```
Log out to refresh your permissions and include the new apache group.
```
exit
```
Log back in again and verify that the apache group exists with the groups command.
```
groups
```
Your output looks similar to the following:
```
ec2-user adm wheel apache systemd-journal
```
Change the group ownership of the /var/www directory and its contents to the apache group.
```
sudo chown -R ec2-user:apache /var/www
```
Change the directory permissions of /var/www and its subdirectories to add group write permissions and set the group ID on subdirectories created in the future.
```
sudo chmod 2775 /var/www
find /var/www -type d -exec sudo chmod 2775 {} \;
```
Recursively change the permissions for files in the /var/www directory and its subdirectories to add group write permissions.
```
find /var/www -type f -exec sudo chmod 0664 {} \;
```

Now, ec2-user (and any future members of the apache group) can add, delete, and edit files in the Apache document root. This makes it possible for you to add content, such as a static website or a PHP application.

Note

A web server running the HTTP protocol provides no transport security for the data that it sends or receives. When you connect to an HTTP server using a web browser, much information is visible to eavesdroppers anywhere along the network pathway. This information includes the URLs that you visit, the content of web pages that you receive, and the contents (including passwords) of any HTML forms.

The best practice for securing your web server is to install support for HTTPS (HTTP Secure). This protocol protects your data with SSL/TLS encryption. For more information, see Tutorial: Configure SSL/TLS with the Amazon Linux AMI in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

Connect your Apache web server to your DB instance

Next, you add content to your Apache web server that connects to your Amazon RDS DB instance.

To add content to the Apache web server that connects to your DB instance

While still connected to your EC2 instance, change the directory to /var/www and create a new subdirectory named inc.
```
cd /var/www
mkdir inc
cd inc
```
Create a new file in the inc directory named dbinfo.inc, and then edit the file by calling nano (or the editor of your choice).
```
>dbinfo.inc
nano dbinfo.inc
```
Add the following contents to the dbinfo.inc file. Here, db_instance_endpoint is your DB instance endpoint, without the port, for your DB instance.

Note
We recommend placing the user name and password information in a folder that isn't part of the document root for your web server. Doing this reduces the possibility of your security information being exposed.
Make sure to change master password to a suitable password in your application.
```
<?php

define('DB_SERVER', 'db_instance_endpoint');
define('DB_USERNAME', 'tutorial_user');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'master password');
define('DB_DATABASE', 'sample');
?>
```
Save and close the dbinfo.inc file. If you are using nano, save and close the file by using Ctrl+S and Ctrl+X.
Change the directory to /var/www/html.
```
cd /var/www/html
```
Create a new file in the html directory named SamplePage.php, and then edit the file by calling nano (or the editor of your choice).
```
>SamplePage.php
nano SamplePage.php
```

Add the following contents to the SamplePage.php file:

MariaDB & MySQL


<?php include "../inc/dbinfo.inc"; ?>
<html>
<body>
<h1>Sample page</h1>
<?php

  /* Connect to MySQL and select the database. */
  $connection = mysqli_connect(DB_SERVER, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD);

  if (mysqli_connect_errno()) echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();

  $database = mysqli_select_db($connection, DB_DATABASE);

  /* Ensure that the EMPLOYEES table exists. */
  VerifyEmployeesTable($connection, DB_DATABASE);

  /* If input fields are populated, add a row to the EMPLOYEES table. */
  $employee_name = htmlentities($_POST['NAME']);
  $employee_address = htmlentities($_POST['ADDRESS']);

  if (strlen($employee_name) || strlen($employee_address)) {
    AddEmployee($connection, $employee_name, $employee_address);
  }
?>

<!-- Input form -->
<form action="<?PHP echo $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'] ?>" method="POST">
  <table border="0">
    <tr>
      <td>NAME</td>
      <td>ADDRESS</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <input type="text" name="NAME" maxlength="45" size="30" />
      </td>
      <td>
        <input type="text" name="ADDRESS" maxlength="90" size="60" />
      </td>
      <td>
        <input type="submit" value="Add Data" />
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</form>

<!-- Display table data. -->
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
  <tr>
    <td>ID</td>
    <td>NAME</td>
    <td>ADDRESS</td>
  </tr>

<?php

$result = mysqli_query($connection, "SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEES");

while($query_data = mysqli_fetch_row($result)) {
  echo "<tr>";
  echo "<td>",$query_data[0], "</td>",
       "<td>",$query_data[1], "</td>",
       "<td>",$query_data[2], "</td>";
  echo "</tr>";
}
?>

</table>

<!-- Clean up. -->
<?php

  mysqli_free_result($result);
  mysqli_close($connection);

?>

</body>
</html>


<?php

/* Add an employee to the table. */
function AddEmployee($connection, $name, $address) {
   $n = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $name);
   $a = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $address);

   $query = "INSERT INTO EMPLOYEES (NAME, ADDRESS) VALUES ('$n', '$a');";

   if(!mysqli_query($connection, $query)) echo("<p>Error adding employee data.</p>");
}

/* Check whether the table exists and, if not, create it. */
function VerifyEmployeesTable($connection, $dbName) {
  if(!TableExists("EMPLOYEES", $connection, $dbName))
  {
     $query = "CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEES (
         ID int(11) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
         NAME VARCHAR(45),
         ADDRESS VARCHAR(90)
       )";

     if(!mysqli_query($connection, $query)) echo("<p>Error creating table.</p>");
  }
}

/* Check for the existence of a table. */
function TableExists($tableName, $connection, $dbName) {
  $t = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $tableName);
  $d = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $dbName);

  $checktable = mysqli_query($connection,
      "SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM information_schema.TABLES WHERE TABLE_NAME = '$t' AND TABLE_SCHEMA = '$d'");

  if(mysqli_num_rows($checktable) > 0) return true;

  return false;
}
?>

PostgreSQL


<?php include "../inc/dbinfo.inc"; ?>

<html>
<body>
<h1>Sample page</h1>
<?php

/* Connect to PostgreSQL and select the database. */
$constring = "host=" . DB_SERVER . " dbname=" . DB_DATABASE . " user=" . DB_USERNAME . " password=" . DB_PASSWORD ;
$connection = pg_connect($constring);

if (!$connection){
 echo "Failed to connect to PostgreSQL";
 exit;
}

/* Ensure that the EMPLOYEES table exists. */
VerifyEmployeesTable($connection, DB_DATABASE);

/* If input fields are populated, add a row to the EMPLOYEES table. */
$employee_name = htmlentities($_POST['NAME']);
$employee_address = htmlentities($_POST['ADDRESS']);

if (strlen($employee_name) || strlen($employee_address)) {
  AddEmployee($connection, $employee_name, $employee_address);
}

?>

<!-- Input form -->
<form action="<?PHP echo $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'] ?>" method="POST">
  <table border="0">
    <tr>
      <td>NAME</td>
      <td>ADDRESS</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
    <input type="text" name="NAME" maxlength="45" size="30" />
      </td>
      <td>
    <input type="text" name="ADDRESS" maxlength="90" size="60" />
      </td>
      <td>
    <input type="submit" value="Add Data" />
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</form>
<!-- Display table data. -->
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
  <tr>
    <td>ID</td>
    <td>NAME</td>
    <td>ADDRESS</td>
  </tr>

<?php

$result = pg_query($connection, "SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEES");

while($query_data = pg_fetch_row($result)) {
  echo "<tr>";
  echo "<td>",$query_data[0], "</td>",
       "<td>",$query_data[1], "</td>",
       "<td>",$query_data[2], "</td>";
  echo "</tr>";
}
?>
</table>

<!-- Clean up. -->
<?php

  pg_free_result($result);
  pg_close($connection);
?>
</body>
</html>


<?php

/* Add an employee to the table. */
function AddEmployee($connection, $name, $address) {
   $n = pg_escape_string($name);
   $a = pg_escape_string($address);
   echo "Forming Query";
   $query = "INSERT INTO EMPLOYEES (NAME, ADDRESS) VALUES ('$n', '$a');";

   if(!pg_query($connection, $query)) echo("<p>Error adding employee data.</p>"); 
}

/* Check whether the table exists and, if not, create it. */
function VerifyEmployeesTable($connection, $dbName) {
  if(!TableExists("EMPLOYEES", $connection, $dbName))
  {
     $query = "CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEES (
         ID serial PRIMARY KEY,
         NAME VARCHAR(45),
         ADDRESS VARCHAR(90)
       )";

     if(!pg_query($connection, $query)) echo("<p>Error creating table.</p>"); 
  }
}
/* Check for the existence of a table. */
function TableExists($tableName, $connection, $dbName) {
  $t = strtolower(pg_escape_string($tableName)); //table name is case sensitive
  $d = pg_escape_string($dbName); //schema is 'public' instead of 'sample' db name so not using that

  $query = "SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM information_schema.TABLES WHERE TABLE_NAME = '$t';";
  $checktable = pg_query($connection, $query);

  if (pg_num_rows($checktable) >0) return true;
  return false;

}
?>

Save and close the SamplePage.php file.
Verify that your web server successfully connects to your DB instance by opening a web browser and browsing to http://EC2 instance endpoint/SamplePage.php, for example: http://ec2-12-345-67-890.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com/SamplePage.php.

You can use SamplePage.php to add data to your DB instance. The data that you add is then displayed on the page. To verify that the data was inserted into the table, install MySQL client on the Amazon EC2 instance. Then connect to the DB instance and query the table.

For information about installing the MySQL client and connecting to a DB instance, see Connecting to a DB instance running the MySQL database engine.

To make sure that your DB instance is as secure as possible, verify that sources outside of the VPC can't connect to your DB instance.

After you have finished testing your web server and your database, you should delete your DB instance and your Amazon EC2 instance.

To delete a DB instance, follow the instructions in Deleting a DB instance. You don't need to create a final snapshot.
To terminate an Amazon EC2 instance, follow the instruction in Terminate your instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

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Document Conventions

Create a DB instance

Tutorial: Create a Lambda function to access your Amazon RDS DB instance