Introduction

Drupal is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Drupal CMS with Apache on Debian 12.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

1. A Debian 12 server or desktop system
2. Root or sudo privileges
3. Apache installed on your system. If not installed, you can install it with the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apache2

Step 1: Install PHP and Required Extensions

Install PHP and required extensions for Drupal:

sudo apt install -y php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql php-gd php-xml php-xmlrpc php-curl php-intl php-mbstring php-soap php-zip

Step 2: Install MariaDB

Install MariaDB, a MySQL database server:

sudo apt install -y mariadb-server

Step 3: Secure MariaDB

Run the MySQL secure installation script:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Step 4: Create a MariaDB Database and User

Log in to the MySQL shell and create a database and user for Drupal:

sudo mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE drupaldb CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON drupaldb.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 5: Download and Extract Drupal

Download the latest version of Drupal from the official website:

wget https://www.drupal.org/download-latest/tar.gz -O drupal.tar.gz

Extract the Drupal archive to the Apache document root directory:

sudo tar -zxvf drupal.tar.gz -C /var/www/html/

Step 6: Configure Apache

Create a virtual host configuration file for Drupal:

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

Add the following configuration to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/drupal
    ServerName your_domain.com
    ServerAlias www.your_domain.com

    <Directory /var/www/html/drupal>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

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

Enable the Drupal site and Apache rewrite module:

sudo a2ensite drupal.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite

Restart Apache for the changes to take effect:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 7: Complete the Installation

Open a web browser and navigate to your Drupal installation URL (e.g., http://your_domain.com). Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. Provide the database information, site details, and create an admin account.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Drupal CMS with Apache on Debian 12. You can now configure