Details

Written by: Stanko Milosev

Category: Ubuntu

Published: 12 July 2026

Last Updated: 17 July 2026

Hits: 35

This guide explains how to prepare a clean Ubuntu installation for Joomla! by installing Nginx, MariaDB, and PHP 8.5. It also includes VMware shared folder access, database import, PHP configuration, and the initial Joomla! directory setup.

---

Access VMware Shared Folders (Windows 11 Host)

If you are testing Ubuntu in VMware Workstation and your host operating system is Windows 11, mount the shared folders first.

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/hgfs
sudo vmhgfs-fuse .host:/ /mnt/hgfs -o allow_other

---

Update Ubuntu

Always start by updating the operating system.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo reboot

---

Install Nginx

Install the Nginx web server.

sudo apt install nginx -y

Reboot the server after installation.

sudo reboot

Verify that Nginx is Running

sudo systemctl status nginx

You should see output similar to:

● nginx.service - A high performance web server and reverse proxy server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled)
     Active: active (running)

Check the Default Document Root

sudo nginx -T | grep root

Expected output:

root /var/www/html;

---

Install MariaDB

Update the package list once more.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo reboot

Install MariaDB server and client.

sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client -y

Reboot after installation.

sudo reboot

Verify Installation

mariadb --version
sudo systemctl status mariadb

You should see something similar to:

mariadb  Ver 15.1 Distrib 11.x.x

● mariadb.service - MariaDB Database Server
     Active: active (running)

---

Secure MariaDB Installation

Run the MariaDB security script.

sudo mariadb-secure-installation

Recommended answers:

Question	Recommended Answer
Enter current password for root (enter for none)	Enter current password
Switch to unix_socket authentication?	Y
Change the root password?	N
Remove anonymous users?	Y
Disallow root login remotely?	Y
Remove test database?	Y
Reload privilege tables now?	Y

---

Create the Joomla! Database

Open the MariaDB console.

sudo mariadb

Create a new database.

CREATE DATABASE joomla
CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

---

Import an Existing Joomla! Database

If you already have a Joomla! database backup, import it using:

sudo mariadb joomla < joomla.sql

Import an Existing Joomla! Database with create database

mariadb -u root -p < mydatabase.sql

---

Install PHP 8.5

Install the required repository packages.

sudo apt install -y software-properties-common ca-certificates curl

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
sudo apt update

Install PHP 8.5 together with the extensions commonly required by Joomla!.

sudo apt install -y \
    php8.5 \
    php8.5-cli \
    php8.5-fpm \
    php8.5-common \
    php8.5-mysql \
    php8.5-curl \
    php8.5-gd \
    php8.5-mbstring \
    php8.5-xml \
    php8.5-zip \
    php8.5-intl \
    php8.5-bcmath

Reboot the server.

sudo reboot

Verify PHP Installation

php -v
sudo systemctl status php8.5-fpm

Expected output:

PHP 8.5.x

● php8.5-fpm.service
     Active: active (running)

---

Configure Nginx to Process PHP Files

Open the default Nginx site configuration.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Locate the following commented block:

# Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

and add index.php to the list. The following:

location / {
	# First attempt to serve request as file, then
	# as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
	try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}

change to:

location / {
	# First attempt to serve request as file, then
	# as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
	try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

Following:

# pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
#
#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;
#}

Replace it with:

# pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
#
location ~ \.php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;

    # With php-fpm
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.5-fpm.sock;
}

Since opening articles didnt work, I was receiving 404, at the end my configuration looks like:

location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}

location /joomla/ {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /joomla/index.php?$query_string;
}

location ~ \.php(?:/|$) {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;

    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;

    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.5-fpm.sock;
}

Save the file (Ctrl+S) and exit Nano (Ctrl+X).

Verify the Nginx Configuration

sudo nginx -t

Expected output:

nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Restart Nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx

---

Create a PHP Test Page

Create a simple phpinfo() page.

sudo nano /var/www/html/info.php

Add the following content:

<?php
phpinfo();

Save the file (Ctrl+S) and exit Nano (Ctrl+X).

Open your browser and navigate to:

http://127.0.0.1/info.php

If PHP is configured correctly, the PHP information page will be displayed.

---

Prepare the Joomla! Directory

After copying your existing Joomla! files, create the destination folder if necessary and assign ownership to your current user.

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/joomla
sudo chown $USER:$USER /var/www/html/joomla

You can now copy your Joomla! files into /var/www/html/joomla and continue with the Joomla! configuration.

Add user to MariaDb and grant permissions:

sudo mariadb
CREATE USER 'joomla'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'myPass';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON joomla.* TO 'joomla'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Test:

mariadb -u joomla -p

If it logs in successfully, run:

USE joomla;
SHOW TABLES;

Update configuration.php

sudo nano /var/www/html/joomla/configuration.php

Change these lines:

public $user = 'joomla';
public $password = 'MyStrongPassword123!';
public $db = 'joomla';

---

Next Steps

• Copy your Joomla! files into /var/www/html/joomla.
• Adjust ownership and permissions if necessary.
• Update configuration.php with your database settings.
• Open your Joomla! website in the browser and verify everything is working correctly.

Details

Written by: Stanko Milosev

Category: Ubuntu

Published: 11 July 2026

Last Updated: 16 July 2026

Hits: 19

• mailcow

If you want to have Nginx on same machine where Mailcow, then rather install first Nginx, like I explained here

This guide explains how to install Mailcow on a clean Ubuntu installation.

In this example the Mailcow hostname is:

mail.localmilosev.com

Replace the hostname, domain name and IP address with your own values where necessary.

1. Update Ubuntu

Update the package list:

sudo apt update

Upgrade all installed packages:

sudo apt upgrade -y

Restart Ubuntu:

sudo reboot

2. Install curl

Install curl:

sudo apt install curl -y

Verify the installation:

curl --version

3. Install Docker and Git

Install Docker, Docker Compose and Git:

sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-compose-v2 git

Restart Ubuntu (recommended):

sudo reboot

Enable Docker:

sudo systemctl enable docker

Start Docker:

sudo systemctl start docker

Verify the installation:

sudo systemctl status docker
docker --version

docker compose version

4. Download Mailcow

Go to the installation directory:

cd /opt

Clone the Mailcow repository:

sudo git clone https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized

5. Generate the Mailcow Configuration

Open the Mailcow directory:

cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized

Run the configuration generator:

sudo ./generate_config.sh

When asked for the hostname, enter:

mail.localmilosev.com

Select the stable branch:

1

6. Download and Start Mailcow

Download all Docker images:

sudo docker compose pull

This may take several minutes.

Before starting Mailcow if you already installed Nginx, then change the port for Mailcow:

cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized
sudo nano mailcow.conf

Search with help of Ctrl+W for HTTP_PORT or HTTPS_PORT, and change it to like:

HTTP_PORT=8080
HTTPS_PORT=8443

Start Mailcow:

sudo docker compose up -d

Wait a few minutes until all containers are initialized.

7. Check the Logs

Check the PHP-FPM container log:

sudo docker compose logs --tail=100 php-fpm-mailcow

You can also check whether all containers are running:

sudo docker compose ps

8. Recreate the Containers if Necessary

If Mailcow does not start correctly:

cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized

Stop the containers and remove the Docker volumes:

sudo docker compose down --volumes

Delete the Docker volume that stores Mailcow's MariaDB database

docker volume rm mailcowdockerized_mysql-vol-1

Download the images again:

sudo docker compose pull

Start Mailcow:

sudo docker compose up -d

Restart Ubuntu:

sudo reboot

9. Configure the Hosts File

Edit the hosts file:

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add the following line:

192.168.138.130 mail.localmilosev.com

Your hosts file should look similar to this:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 ubuntu
192.168.138.130 mail.localmilosev.com

Replace 192.168.138.130 with your server's IP address.

Save the file with Ctrl+S and exit with Ctrl+X.

10. Open the Administration Interface

Open the following URL in your browser:

https://mail.localmilosev.com/admin/

The default administrator credentials are:

Username: admin
Password: moohoo

11. Reset the Administrator Password

If necessary, reset the password:

cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized

sudo ./helper-scripts/mailcow-reset-admin.sh

12. Add Your Email Domain

Navigate to:

• Email
• Configuration
• Add Domain

Add your domain:

localmilosev.com

13. Create a Mailbox

Navigate to:

• Email
• Configuration
• Mailboxes
• Add Mailbox

Create your mailbox by entering the email address, password and mailbox quota.

Installation Complete

Your Mailcow installation is now available at:

https://mail.localmilosev.com/

or

https://mail.localmilosev.com:8443/admin/dashboard

For a production installation, remember to configure:

• DNS A records
• MX records
• SPF
• DKIM
• DMARC
• Reverse DNS (PTR)
• A firewall
• Valid TLS certificates

Details

Written by: Stanko Milosev

Category: Ubuntu

Published: 17 June 2015

Last Updated: 17 June 2015

Hits: 28030

To write this article I am using this web site.

Open Gedit, and while Gedit window is active go to Edit -> Preferences:

Go to plugins and check external tools:

Now open Manage External Tools:

Click add:

Enter a name (Format JSON), paste this text:

#! /usr/bin/env python

import json
import sys

j = json.load(sys.stdin)
print json.dumps(j, sort_keys=True, indent=2)

Set Input to Current document and set Output to Replace current document: