To run some popular web applications, we need a lightweight LAMP server installation. Here we learn how to do it on Ubuntu 20.04 focal or 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish using a single command.

LAMP may sound familiar but it’s not for our table, rather it’s an acronym made up of the initial letters of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP software. This stack is quite common when it comes to creating a web server environment to install popular PHP-based web applications such as WordPress. We may use LAMP to deliver static or dynamic web content.

LAMP refers to a software stack whose initial letters consist of the following individual components:

• Linux operating system
• Apache webserver
• MySQL database system
• PHP scripting language

All software components used to create a LAMP environment are usually installed on physical or virtual servers. LAMP-based servers are websites or online stores created using content management systems (CMS). LAMP servers also serve as an environment for software development.

Since LAMP is free and distributed software, so it is very popular among web hosts to provide services.

If necessary, individual components of a LAMP system can be replaced. For example, instead of an Apache web server, one can use Nginx; the JavaScript scripting language or the MariaDB database management system can also be used. Depending on the replaced component, the acronym changes.

Although LAMp is natively meant to run on Linux system but can be used on Windows and at that time it will be known as WAMP.

Explore the individual software components of a LAMP system

The individual Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP software components each perform different tasks and provide different functions.

Linux – open-source OS

Linux needs no introduction, it is a popular open source operating system for controlling hardware and running applications. It is the interface between the hardware and the installed applications. You can find Linux in a variety of forms – from light graphics to heavy graphics armed for modern computers. Among the most popular Linux distributions, some are Ubuntu, Debian, RedHat, Fedora, etc. We can use them both using the GUI or using the command line terminal.

Apache webserver

The Apache web server is one of the key elements of the LAMP environment. It is a popular HTTP server that powers hundreds of hosting servers. It helps the system to receive HTTP requests from clients, process them and deliver the responses to clients via HTTP. The web server can access static content or pass dynamic requests to a server-side scripting language such as PHP, Perl, or Python.

MySQL database management system

MySQL is an open source SQL database server used in the LAMP stack environment to store data generated by web applications. With the PHP scripting language, MySQL generates the dynamic content that the Apache web server then delivers to the client.

PHP scripting language

PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor and is a scripting language that can be used as free software. It can be used with the different database servers and MySQL is one of them. PHP supports server-side processing of PHP code to generate dynamic content. The Apache web server receives PHP requests from clients and forwards them to the PHP interpreter. After processing, it dynamically generates the HTML documents to be sent from the web server to the client.

Advantages of a LAMP system

1. Widely used and supported by a huge community of developers.
2. Stable and mature
3. Quickly fixed if any error or vulnerabilities occur.
4. Free and open source, so the source is open to everyone.
5. GPL-licensed distribution allows users to build their own useful extensions or applications around Lamp stack components.
6. LAMP servers offer a high degree of flexibility.
7. Provide high performance for dynamic web content generation.

sudo apt install lamp-server^ php

systemctl status apache2 --no-pager -l

systemctl status mysql --no-pager -l

php -v

apache2 -v

mysql -V

sudo apt autoremove --purge apache2* mysql-server* php*