How to Install Magento in Linux

Introduction

Magento is a comprehensive e-commerce platform for building online stores. As an open-source solution, Magento allows you to customize its many features to create a unique customer shopping experience. It is versatile and scalable, which makes it suitable for both small mom-and-pop stores as well as big-box retailers.

Find out how to prepare your Linux server and carry out a full Magento installation.

Prerequisites

• Linux OS (Windows and macOS installations are not supported)
• Access to a command-line interface (CLI)
• A user with root or sudo privileges.

Magento Open Source Vs. Magento Commerce

Before proceeding with the installation, decide which of the two available Magento platforms meet your store requirements:

• Magento Open Source. Provides a fully functional front-end content management system for free. It is ideal for newly established pure-click companies looking to build online stores from the ground up.
• The Magento Commerce edition is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) with advanced features, technical and marketing solutions, and trained support staff. The cost of the Magento Commerce platform depends on annual store turnover. The price can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars.

This tutorial shows you how to install Magento Open Source version 2.4.0.

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Magento 1 End-of-Life: Official support for Magento 1 ended on the 30^th of June 2020. It is possible to install and use Magento 1, but we advise against it. Without the latest security patches and the lack of support, an e-commerce solution is a major liability. If you are still using Magento 1 we recommend upgrading to the latest version as soon as possible. Check out our Magento Migration Checklist for more details.

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How to Install Magento

Before installing Magento, you need to establish a working environment for the background processes. This includes installing a LAMP stack, PHP Composer, and Elasticsearch to serve as a catalog search solution.

This guide uses Ubuntu 20.04 for command examples.

Use the commands in the table to check if your system meets the requirements. To install a software solution from the list, or upgrade to a specific version, use the provided links.

Software Version	How to Check Version in Ubuntu 20.04	Installation Guides
Apache 2.4 ( or Nginx 1.x)	apache2 -v	Install Apache on Ubuntu
PHP 7.4*	php -v	Install PHP 7 on Ubuntu (PHP 7.4.3 is available on Ubuntu 20.04 by default)
MySQL 8.0 (MariaDB 10.4 if using Magento Commerce Cloud)	mysql -V	Install MySQL 8.0 on Ubuntu
Elasticsearch 7.6.x (Mandatory for Magento 2.4)	curl -X GET "localhost:9200"	How to Install Elasticsearch
PHP Composer	composer	Install PHP Composer on Ubuntu

You can use additional solutions to improve Magento’s efficiency. A key-value store like Redis and a messaging server such as RabbitMQ are highly recommended but are not mandatory for Magento.

Step 1: Install PHP Modules

Magento requires a set of PHP extensions for server-side scripting. Enter the following command to install the necessary PHP modules:

sudo apt install -y php7.4-common php7.4-opcache php7.4-gd php7.4-mysql php7.4-intl php7.4-xml php7.4-mbstring php7.4-json php7.4-soap php7.4-curl php7.4-xsl php7.4-zip

The system takes a few moments to complete the installation.

To list existing PHP modules, use the php -m command.

Step 2: Create Apache Virtual Host

Use a text editor, such as nano, to create an Apache Virtual Host configuration file for your store.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/magentostore.conf

Add the following content to the file.Change the information to match your system’s data. For example, your store’s IP or domain name.

<VirtualHost *:80>
     ServerAdmin admin@yourstore.com
     DocumentRoot /var/www/html/magento2.4/
     ServerName yourstore.com
     ServerAlias www.yourstore.com

     <Directory "/var/www/html/magento2.4/">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
     </Directory>

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

Save the changes and exit the file. Then, use the following command to enable the configuration:

sudo a2ensite magentostore.conf

Enable the Apache rewrite module:

sudo a2enmod rewrite

Restart the Apache service to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 3: Create MySQL Database and User

Access the MySQL command shell and create a database for your Magento store:

CREATE DATABASE magento;

Create a user for the magento database:

CREATE USER 'magento2os'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'passwd';

Give the magento2os user adequate privileges for the magento database:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON magento.* TO 'magento2os'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Flush the newly granted privileges:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

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Note: Read our post Magento Database Types Explained to learn about the EAV data model and Magento databases.

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Step 4: Make PHP Composer Globally Available

Use the following command to make Composer globally accessible:

sudo mv composer.phar /usr/bin/local/composer

Confirm that Composer is now globally available:

composer

As confirmation, the output displays the installed version.

Step 5: Download Magento Using Composer

There are several ways to download Magento Open Source. You can retrieve and unpack compressed Magento files from the official archives, or a create a Git clone of the Magento repository.

This tutorial shows you how to use PHP Composer to install and manage Magento dependencies. Composer allows you to reuse third-party libraries, reduce PHP compatibility issues, and repackage Magento Open Source with other components.

1. Visit the official Magento page and create a free user account.

2. Log in to your Magento account and select Access Keys.

3. Click the Create a New Access Key tab. Enter a name and click OK.

4. Save your Public and Private Keys.

5. Use a CLI to create a directory for the Magento installation. In this example, the magento2.4 sub-directory is created within the Apache web root (/var/www/html/):

mkdir /var/www/html/magento2.4

6. Access the magento2.4 directory:

cd /var/www/html/magento2.4

7. Use the following Composer command to download the Magento 2.4 Open Source Edition:

composer create-project --repository-url=https://repo.magento.com/ magento/project-community-edition

8. When prompted, enter your Magento authentication keys. The Username and Password are the Public and Private Keys you previously created.

Allow the system to complete the download.

Step 6: Set Ownership and Permissions for the Shared Group

Create a distinct non-root user for the Magento installation. For example, pnap, and set a strong password:

sudo usermod -g www-data pnap

Access the Magento installation directory:

cd /var/www/data/magento2.4

Set the read-write permissions for the web server group before installing the Magento software. This way users can write files to the Magento file system. Grant users the following permissions:

sudo find var generated vendor pub/static pub/media app/etc -type f -exec chmod g+w {} \; && find var generated vendor pub/static pub/media app/etc -type d -exec chmod g+ws {} \; && chown -R :www-data . && chmod u+x bin/magento

Let the system finish matching the various files and folders in your installation directory. Then, use the following command to restart the Apache service:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 7: Install Magento

Switch to the user you created for the Magento installation:

sudo su pnap

Access your Magento root directory:

cd /var/www/html/magento2.4/

Enter the following command to install Magento:

php bin/magento setup:install --base-url="http://localhost/magento2.4/" --db-host="localhost" --db-name="magento" --db-user="magento2os" --db-password="passwd" --admin-firstname="Bruce" --admin-lastname="Banner" --admin-email="thehulk@store.com" --admin-user="Hulk" --admin-password="Hulk123" --language="en_US" --currency="USD" --timezone="America/Chicago" --use-rewrites="1" --search-engine="elasticsearch7" --elasticsearch-host="localhost" --elasticsearch-port="9200"

If necessary, edit the information to match your requirements and the configuration of your system:

• base-url - The location (URL) of your store. In this example, the store is installed on the localhost in the magento2.4 sub-directory.
• db-host - If Magento is on the same server as your database, use localhost. If you are using a separate database server, enter the hostname of that server.
• db-name - The name of the MySQL database created earlier.
• db-user - Enter the username of your MySQL user.
• db-password -  The password for your MySQL user.
• admin-firstname and admin-lastname - Set the full name for your Magento admin user.
• admin-email - Define a contact email for system notifications and password resets.
• admin-user / admin-password - Create the login credentials for the Magento Admin control panel.
• language - Defines the default language for your store.
• currency - Sets the base currency for your store.
• timezone - Regulates the default time zone for Magento.
• use-rewrites - Enable rewrites by setting the value to 1.
• search-engine - The default search engine value needs to be set to elasticsearch7.
• elasticsearch-host - If Elasticsearch is on the same server as Magento, use localhost. If you are using a separate server, enter the hostname of that server.
• elasticsearch-port - The default Elasticsearch port number is 9200.

The system creates a random Magento Admin URI and displays the value at the end of the installation process. Take note of the value as it allows you to access the Admin panel.

If you need to retrieve the Admin URI at a later point, access the Magento root directory and use the following command:

bin/magento info:adminuri

Step 8: Access and Configure Magento

Use a browser to access your Magento storefront. In this example, Magento is installed on the localhost within the magento2.4 sub-directory:

http://127.0.0.1/magento2.4

You now have access to the Magento Home Page.

Access the Magento admin panel by adding the admin URI to the store’s frontend URL.

http://127.0.0.1/magento2.4/admin_fasjdnw

Enter the Admin username and password you created during the installation process and Sign In.

Magento 2.4 uses two-factor authentication to provide a secure environment for administrators. You cannot log into the Magento admin panel unless you have a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) or an SMTP server.

An alternative solution is to disable the two-factor authentication module.

Enter the following command from your Magento root folder:

php bin/magento module:disable Magento_TwoFactorAuth

As the two-factor authentication is no longer required, reload the page to access the Magento admin panel.

Use the Magento Admin to create and maintain your store, add extensions to improve performance, and design themes that really stand out.

For installing themes, refer to our guide How to Install a New Theme in Magento.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Magento 2.4, a complete e-commerce solution that allows you to create a one-of-a-kind experience for your customers.