Install Multiple PHP Versions with Apache or NGINX on Ubuntu

Bonjour,

Before following this tutorial, you need a root account on Ubuntu 22.04 OS running on your remote server. If you need a virtual private server (VPS) / a virtual computer with 1 IP public that is online --and can serve– 24/7/365.

I recommend HostHatch which has excellent features like:

• KVM based with AMD EPYC Milan CPU
• DDR4 RAM servers
• NVMe storage
• Generous monthly bandwidth
• Multiple data centers worldwide, including Amsterdam, Stockholm, United States (Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Vienna, Oslo, London, Zurich, Warsaw, Madrid, Milan, Hongkong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney.
• Starts from $4/Month

In this tutorial, I'm going to Install Multiple PHP Versions on Ubuntu with a PPA repository called Ondrej.

Who is Ondřej Surý? get closer about him on his site https://deb.sury.org/

What PHP versions am I want to install? Nowadays (in early 2023), the stable version of PHP is PHP8.x, but some applications still can run on PHP 7.4.

Step 1: Add Repository ppa:ondrej/php

Install software-properties-common with

sudo apt install software-properties-common

And then add an apt repository Ondrej

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

Output:

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

PPA publishes dbgsym, you may need to include 'main/debug' component
Repository: 'deb https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/ondrej/php/ubuntu/ jammy main'
Description:
Co-installable PHP versions: PHP 5.6, PHP 7.x, PHP 8.x and most requested extensions are included. Only Supported Versions of PHP (http://php.net/supported-versions.php) for Supported Ubuntu Releases (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases) are provided. Don't ask for end-of-life PHP versions or Ubuntu release, they won't be provided.

Debian oldstable and stable packages are provided as well: https://deb.sury.org/#debian-dpa

You can get more information about the packages at https://deb.sury.org

IMPORTANT: The <foo>-backports is now required on older Ubuntu releases.

BUGS&FEATURES: This PPA now has a issue tracker:
https://deb.sury.org/#bug-reporting

CAVEATS:
1. If you are using php-gearman, you need to add ppa:ondrej/pkg-gearman
2. If you are using apache2, you are advised to add ppa:ondrej/apache2
3. If you are using nginx, you are advised to add ppa:ondrej/nginx-mainline
   or ppa:ondrej/nginx

PLEASE READ: If you like my work and want to give me a little motivation, please consider donating regularly: https://donate.sury.org/

WARNING: add-apt-repository is broken with non-UTF-8 locales, see
https://github.com/oerdnj/deb.sury.org/issues/56 for workaround:

# LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
More info: https://launchpad.net/~ondrej/+archive/ubuntu/php
Adding repository.
Adding deb entry to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ondrej-ubuntu-php-jammy.list
Adding disabled deb-src entry to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ondrej-ubuntu-php-jammy.list
Adding key to /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ondrej-ubuntu-php.gpg with fingerprint 14AA40EC0831756756D7F66C4F4EA0AAE5267A6C
Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease [110 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease [119 kB]
Hit:4 http://nginx.org/packages/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease [107 kB]
Get:6 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/ondrej/php/ubuntu jammy InRelease [23.9 kB]
Get:7 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/ondrej/php/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages [110 kB]
Get:8 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/ondrej/php/ubuntu jammy/main Translation-en [34.2 kB]
Fetched 510 kB in 3s (189 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done

and update the Ubuntu system package with the following command:

sudo apt update

After the update is completed, you can proceed:

Step 2: Install PHP

You may choose what PHP versions you like to install.

Install PHP 7.4

Install PHP7.4 version with run the following command:

sudo apt install php7.4-{fpm,mysql,common,cli,json,opcache,readline,mbstring,xml,gd,curl,zip}

Install PHP 8.0

Install the PHP8.0 version with run the following command:

sudo apt install php8.0-{fpm,mysql,common,cli,opcache,readline,mbstring,xml,gd,curl,zip}

You may notice there is no php8.0-json extension because the JSON extension is a core PHP extension, so it is always enabled (source).

Install PHP 8.1

Install the PHP8.1 version with run the following command:

sudo apt install php8.1-{fpm,mysql,common,cli,opcache,readline,mbstring,xml,gd,curl,zip}

After the installation of PHP7.4, PHP8.0, and PHP8.1 was completed, verify that all services are active (running):

root@ariq01:~# sudo systemctl status php7.4-fpm
● php7.4-fpm.service - The PHP 7.4 FastCGI Process Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/php7.4-fpm.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2023-02-15 18:15:43 UTC; 16h ago
       Docs: man:php-fpm7.4(8)
   Main PID: 595 (php-fpm7.4)
     Status: "Processes active: 0, idle: 2, Requests: 0, slow: 0, Traffic: 0req/sec"
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 1116)
     Memory: 11.0M
        CPU: 2.535s
     CGroup: /system.slice/php7.4-fpm.service
             ├─ 595 "php-fpm: master process (/etc/php/7.4/fpm/php-fpm.conf)"
             ├─1011 "php-fpm: pool www"
             └─1012 "php-fpm: pool www"

Feb 15 18:15:34 ariq01 systemd[1]: Starting The PHP 7.4 FastCGI Process Manager...
Feb 15 18:15:43 ariq01 systemd[1]: Started The PHP 7.4 FastCGI Process Manager.

root@ariq01:~# sudo systemctl status php8.0-fpm
● php8.0-fpm.service - The PHP 8.0 FastCGI Process Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/php8.0-fpm.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2023-02-15 18:15:43 UTC; 16h ago
       Docs: man:php-fpm8.0(8)
   Main PID: 597 (php-fpm8.0)
     Status: "Processes active: 0, idle: 2, Requests: 0, slow: 0, Traffic: 0req/sec"
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 1116)
     Memory: 11.2M
        CPU: 2.539s
     CGroup: /system.slice/php8.0-fpm.service
             ├─ 597 "php-fpm: master process (/etc/php/8.0/fpm/php-fpm.conf)"
             ├─1005 "php-fpm: pool www"
             └─1006 "php-fpm: pool www"

Feb 15 18:15:34 ariq01 systemd[1]: Starting The PHP 8.0 FastCGI Process Manager...
Feb 15 18:15:43 ariq01 systemd[1]: Started The PHP 8.0 FastCGI Process Manager.

root@ariq01:~# sudo systemctl status php8.1-fpm
● php8.1-fpm.service - The PHP 8.1 FastCGI Process Manager
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/php8.1-fpm.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2023-02-15 18:15:43 UTC; 16h ago
       Docs: man:php-fpm8.1(8)
   Main PID: 599 (php-fpm8.1)
     Status: "Processes active: 0, idle: 2, Requests: 0, slow: 0, Traffic: 0req/sec"
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 1116)
     Memory: 11.4M
        CPU: 2.657s
     CGroup: /system.slice/php8.1-fpm.service
             ├─ 599 "php-fpm: master process (/etc/php/8.1/fpm/php-fpm.conf)"
             ├─1002 "php-fpm: pool www"
             └─1003 "php-fpm: pool www"

Feb 15 18:15:34 ariq01 systemd[1]: Starting The PHP 8.1 FastCGI Process Manager...
Feb 15 18:15:43 ariq01 systemd[1]: Started The PHP 8.1 FastCGI Process Manager.

Step 3A: Configure Apache

If you want to install Apache2 rather than NGINX, install Apache with:

apt install apache2 libapache2-mod-fcgid php php-fpm php-cli libapache2-mod-php

Now, You need to enable some of the Apache modules that are required for the FastCGI configuration.

You can enable the required module by running the command:

a2enmod actions fcgid alias proxy_fcgi

Output:

root@ariq01:~# a2enmod actions fcgid alias proxy_fcgi
Enabling module actions.
Module fcgid already enabled
Module alias already enabled
Considering dependency proxy for proxy_fcgi:
Enabling module proxy.
Enabling module proxy_fcgi.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  systemctl restart apache2

systemctl restart apache2

And then configures Apache Virtual Host to run with FPM/FastCGI. For this tutorial, we can create a new configuration file or you can make changes on default files. In this case, I create a new vhost.conf configuration file

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

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
 
    <Directory /var/www/html>
        Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks +MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
 
    <FilesMatch \.php$>
        # 2.4.10+ can proxy to unix socket
        SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
    </FilesMatch>
 
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save your changes with CTRL+x and Y for Yes.

The difference between using php7.4 or php8.0 or php8.1 is

PHP7.4
---------------------------------------
<FilesMatch \.php$>
# 2.4.10+ can proxy to unix socket
        SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
</FilesMatch>
---------------------------------------
PHP8.0
---------------------------------------
<FilesMatch \.php$>
# 2.4.10+ can proxy to unix socket
        SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php/php8.0-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
</FilesMatch>
---------------------------------------
PHP8.1
---------------------------------------
<FilesMatch \.php$>
# 2.4.10+ can proxy to unix socket
        SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
</FilesMatch>

Check and test your Apache configuration before restart the apache2 with:

#apachectl configtest
Syntax OK

and then make it a new vhost.conf we created earlier usable with apache, run:

a2ensite vhost

Output:

root@ariq01:~# a2ensite vhost
Enabling site vhost.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  systemctl reload apache2

Now restart apache2 to reload the changes.

systemctl restart apache2

Step 3B: Configure NGINX

If you prefer to use NGINX instead of Apache, follow this tutorial to install NGINX stable latest based on the nginx repository.

Install the prerequisites:

sudo apt install curl gnupg2 ca-certificates lsb-release ubuntu-keyring

Import an official nginx signing key so apt could verify the authenticity of the package. Fetch the key:

curl https://nginx.org/keys/nginx_signing.key | gpg --dearmor \ | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg >/dev/null

To set up the apt repository for stable nginx packages, run the following command:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/nginx-archive-keyring.gpg] \
http://nginx.org/packages/ubuntu `lsb_release -cs` nginx" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nginx.list

Set up repository pinning to prefer our packages over distribution-provided ones:

echo -e "Package: *\nPin: origin nginx.org\nPin: release o=nginx\nPin-Priority: 900\n" \
    | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/99nginx

To install nginx, run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

To check whether nginx is successfully installed or not, run the following command:

nginx -v

Output:

root@ariq01:~# nginx -v
nginx version: nginx/1.22.1

Start and Enable NGINX service to ensure it's automatically starting at boot time.

systemctl start nginx && systemctl enable nginx

Now check out its status:

sudo systemctl status nginx

Output:

root@ariq01:~# systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - nginx - high performance web server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2023-02-08 04:34:44 UTC; 3h 9min ago
       Docs: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
   Main PID: 622 (nginx)
      Tasks: 2 (limit: 1116)
     Memory: 3.3M
        CPU: 8ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
             ├─622 "nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf"
             └─623 "nginx: worker process

And then in order for to NGINX serve a web server, we need to create an NGINX server block first, and open /etc/nginx/conf.d directory.

cd /etc/nginx/conf.d

create a new conf by using your favorite text editor:

nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/mydomain.conf

Paste the following text into the file:

server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80;
  server_name _;
  root /var/www/html/;
  index index.php index.html;

  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php;
  }

	location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
	add_header X-Cache $upstream_cache_status;
    }


 # A long browser cache lifetime can speed up repeat visits to your page
  location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|webp|svg|woff|woff2|ttf|css|js|ico|xml)$ {
       access_log        off;
       log_not_found     off;
       expires           360d;
  }

  # disable access to hidden files
  location ~ /\.ht {
      access_log off;
      log_not_found off;
      deny all;
  }
}

Save and close the file by pressing CTRL + X and Y for Yes.

The difference between using php7.4 or php8.0 or php8.1 is

PHP 7.4
--------------------------------------------
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;
--------------------------------------------
PHP 8.0
--------------------------------------------
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.0-fpm.sock;
--------------------------------------------
PHP 8.1
--------------------------------------------
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
--------------------------------------------

Don't forget to always test nginx configuration with

nginx -t

If the syntax is ok, then reload NGINX by

systemctl reload nginx

That's it, thank you for reading!

Au Revoir.