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Knowledge Base  /  Cloud Application Manager  /  Tutorials

LAMP Stack Tutorial

Updated by Modified by Arya Roudi, Gavin Lai on Sep 09, 2019
Article Code: kb/405

In this article:

Overview

In this tutorial, you configure and deploy a simple Apache, PHP, MySQL two-tier LAMP Stack app. You configure the app and database tiers separately and connect them with a binding.
The entire quick start takes 30 minutes or less to complete. By the end, you’ll be well on your way to define and deploy multi-tier applications in Cloud Application Manager.

Prerequisites


Define the LAMP Stack Database Tier

Define Policy for MySQL

In order to make the database available on the apache server we will need to setup the policy configuration. In this tutorial we would put all the instances on the same VPC.

Go to the Boxes page, you can find it in the left menu. Now click on the New to create a new box, choose the Deployment Policy from the menu then CloudFormation then choose the Provider from the provider menu and save it.

new deployment policy box

After saving, it will take you to the created deployment policy page. Click on code tab, then on the pencil icon of the details section to edit it and choose the region as: eu-west-1. Click Save when finished

add region to Deployment policy box

Define the Deployment Policy for the LAMP Script Box

If you have already registered an AWS account you should have three policy boxes on Boxes menu: default-large-us-east-1, default-medium-us-east-1 and default-small-us-east-1.

Click on the default-small-us-east-1 tools dropdown menu (gear icon) and click on Clone Box.

clone a box

On the pop-up define the new Box name as 'default-vpc-eu-west-1' and save.

Select the new Box. On code tab, edit the policy menu. Define Region on Resource, Network Type on Placement, and Security Groups on Network to have the same values as the mySql box. In this tutorial 'eu-west-1', 'vpc-88082cee' and 'Automatic' security group.

deploymeny policy overview

Define the LAMP Stack App Tier

Step 1. Create a LAMP Stack box

On the Boxes page, click New > Script. Name it LAMP Stack. Since LAMP needs Linux, tag it under Requirements. Save. Optionally, upload a matching icon to easily identify the box in the catalog.

New script box

Step 2. Indicate a relationship to the database tier with a binding

In the Code tab, on Variables, click New. Select Binding. Call it mysqlservice and bind to the MySQL DB box you created earlier.

Note: Variable names are case-sensitive, so name exactly as given.

At this stage, you're selecting a box not a real instance for the binding. You'll select the actual instance at deploy time.

Save when done to create the variable.

Add binding variable

Step 3. Allow traffic to and from the app tier with a port variable

In the Code tab, on Variables, click New. Select Port. Call it HTTP and give 80 as the value.

Save when done to create the variable.

Add port variable

Step 4: Add data for the database using a file variable

Copy, paste the following code in a plain text file. Save it as Create_Sample_Database.sql. Note the .sql extension.

CREATE DATABASE sampledb;
USE sampledb;
CREATE TABLE users (first_name VARCHAR(20),  last_name VARCHAR(20), address VARCHAR(20), login VARCHAR(20), password_hash VARCHAR(20));
INSERT INTO users VALUES ('Antony','Kornings','1850, Las Ramblas','antonyk', 'e22c2d3bf2a5557cb971');
INSERT INTO users VALUES ('Diana','Krallz','850, El camino','dianak', 'f2a5557e22c2d3bcb971');
INSERT INTO users VALUES ('Edgard','Boxer','100, Alpine Street','edgardb', 'e25557cb9712c2d3bf2a');
INSERT INTO users VALUES ('Nathaniel','Cold','55, Elm Street','nathanielc', '7cb971e22c2d3bf2a555');
INSERT INTO users VALUES ('Michael','Snow','88, Alamo Road','dianak', 'd3bf2a5557ce22c2b971');

In the LAMP box Code tab, on Variables, click New. Select File. Call it SQL_SCRIPT and upload the file you saved. This file will be pushed to the database at deploy time.

Add SQL file as variable

Step 5. Nest the default GitHub box to install PHP from GitHub

In the Code tab, under Variables, click New. Select Box. Call it GIT_HUB and pick the default GitHub box as the value.

Save when done to create the variable.

Add github variable

Now configure the GitHub default box to pull down PHP scripts at deploy time. Expand the GitHub box and the box variable inside called git_repo. In the context of the LAMP Stack box, edit the clone URL variable and set its value as follows:

Add github clone url

CLONE_URL: https://github.com/ElasticBox/Easy-PHP-MySQL.git

script box variables overview

Step 6. Add events to install the LAMP stack app tier.

Under Events > install, click install.

scriptbox events

Copy, paste the following code in the install event dialog, then save.

#!/bin/bash
# To ensure that all of your software packages are up to date, perform a quick software update on your instance.
# This process may take a few minutes, but it is important to make sure you have the latest security updates and bug fixes.
# We use the -y option that installs the updates without asking for confirmation.
yum update -y
# Install the Apache web server, MySQL, and PHP software packages.
# We use the yum groupinstall command to install multiple software packages and all related dependencies at the same time.
yum groupinstall -y "Web Server" "MySQL Database" "PHP Support"
# Install the php-mysql package
yum install -y php-mysql
yum install -y mysql-utilities.noarch
yum install -y mysql
# Start the Apache web server
service httpd start
# Configure the Apache web server to start at each system boot
chkconfig httpd on
# This is only to show the configuration for this sample.
# Verify that httpd is on by running:
chkconfig --list httpd
# This should output something similar to the next line, showing httpd is on in runlevels 2, 3, 4, and 5:
# httpd           0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
# To test your LAMP web server
# Create a simple PHP file in the Apache document root.
echo "" > /var/www/html/phpinfo.php
curl http://127.0.0.1/phpinfo.php
# You should see the PHP information page in the output of the install script
# Delete the phpinfo.php file. Although this can be useful information to you, it should not be broadcast to the Internet for security reasons.
rm /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Step 7. Add events that connect the tiers using the binding

Under Events > configure, click configure. Copy, paste the following code and save. This puts PHP in the Apache web server’s root directory and triggers the Cloud Application Manager config command within a concatenate command to run the PHP script. This also gets credentials (public IP address, port, username, and password) of the MySQL Database Service through the binding.

 #!/bin/bash
# In configuration Script there is available ip, and variables of the bindings we will show them for this sample (public or private address can be used depending on the configuration).
echo 
echo 
echo 
echo 
cp Easy-PHP-MySQL/index.php /var/www/html
elasticbox config -i Easy-PHP-MySQL/db_connect.php -o /var/www/html/db_connect.php

Under Events > start, click start. Copy, paste the following code and save. Here the cURL command connects to the database server using the database credentials from the binding and downloads the file you uploaded in step 4. The script in the file creates a database with sample data.

 #!/bin/bash

    # In start script the bindings are ready for use

    curl -ks $SQL_SCRIPT | mysql --host= --port= --user= --password=

Yay! You just defined a simple LAMP stack application and connected its tiers with a binding.


Deploy the LAMP Stack App

To deploy the app, you need AWS as a provider because we’re using the AWS CloudFormation RDS database service. Here you’ll deploy each tier in the same region on EC2.

Note: AWS may charge for the instances you deploy. So after deploying, be sure to shut down the instances from Cloud Application Manager to avoid unnecessary charges.

Configure the MySQL catalog box

For this tutorial we will use an Amazon RDS (any MySQL server can be used), as the box is already pre-configured.

On the Catalog page, at the top of the page you can find a search bar, search for MySQL amazon and click on it.

MySQL catalog

Define the database configuration

In order to make the database instance available on the apache server we will need to tune the policy configuration. In this tutorial we would put all the instances on the same VPC.

In the MySQL Catalog page click on Deploy and it opens a modal with a form in it that you need to fill it with the necessary information.

In the Deployment Policy field, choose the deployment box related to your AWS provider then go to the variable section at the bottom of the form, specify the MySqlVpcId (in this tutorial: 'vpc-88082cee'), then choose Show More and now we should fill those fields with the requested information. In this tutorial we will use sampledb as database name.

New instance MySQL

You can also modify the variables later by clicking on the pencil icon on the right side and change the information.

MySQL cloned box

Launch the Database Tier

To define the binding add a tag, it will be use later on Lamp instance. Click Deploy after entering the data, Click Deploy to deploy the instance.

Deploy the database Instance

Launch the App Tier

From the Instances page, click New and select the LAMP Stack box. For the deployment policy, select the AWS Policy you created. For the mysqlservice binding, select the tag you define in the instance you previously launched. Also, schedule the instance to terminate an hour after deploying. Click Deploy to create an instance of the app tier.

create new LAMP app tier

Once deployed, you will have your LAMP stack up and running with two instances in your AWS provider.

Contacting Cloud Application Manager Support

We’re sorry you’re having an issue in Cloud Application Manager. Please review the troubleshooting tips, or contact Cloud Application Manager support with details and screenshots where possible.

For issues related to API calls, send the request body along with details related to the issue.

In the case of a box error, share the box in the workspace that your organization and Cloud Application Manager can access and attach the logs.

  • Linux: SSH and locate the log at /var/log/elasticbox/elasticbox-agent.log
  • Windows: RDP into the instance to locate the log at ProgramDataElasticBoxLogselasticbox-agent.log