How to Deploy Laravel with Apache on Ubuntu 24.04

Laravel is an open-source PHP framework used to build modern, feature-rich web applications. It offers clean and expressive syntax, along with a wide range of built-in components for tasks like authentication, testing, and database management. You can integrate Laravel with multiple applications, including databases and dynamic processors to serve modern web applications.

This article explains how to deploy Laravel with Apache on Ubuntu 24.04. You will set up Laravel, create a new project, and serve the application for access in a web browser.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you need to:

• Have access to an Ubuntu 24.04 instance as a non-root user with sudo privileges.
• Create a domain A record pointing to the instance's IP address such as app.example.com.

Install PHP and Composer

Laravel is built on PHP and requires several PHP extensions along with Composer to manage project dependencies. Follow the steps below to install PHP and all required dependencies for Laravel.

1. Update the server's package index.

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   $ sudo apt update

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2. Install PHP and required extensions.

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   $ sudo apt install php php-fpm php-mbstring php-xml php-mysql php-curl php-zip php-bcmath -y

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3. Verify the installed PHP version.

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   $ php -v

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   Output:

   PHP 8.3.6 (cli) (built: Mar 19 2025 10:08:38) (NTS)
   Copyright (c) The PHP Group
   Zend Engine v4.3.6, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
       with Zend OPcache v8.3.6, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

4. Download the Composer installer script.

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   $ curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o /tmp/composer-setup.php

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5. Get the latest SHA hash for the installer.

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   $ INSTALLER_SHA=$(curl -sS https://composer.github.io/installer.sig)

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6. Verify the integrity of the installer script.

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   $ php -r "if (hash_file('SHA384', '/tmp/composer-setup.php') === '$INSTALLER_SHA') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"

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   Output:

   Installer verified

7. Install Composer globally.

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   $ sudo php /tmp/composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

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   The above command installs Composer under the /usr/local/bin directory and makes it available as a shell command with the name composer.

   Output:

   All settings correct for using Composer
   Downloading...
   
   Composer (version 2.8.6) successfully installed to: /usr/local/bin/composer
   Use it: php /usr/local/bin/composer 

8. Verify the installed Composer version.

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   $ composer

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   Your output should be similar to the one below.

         ______
     / ____/___  ____ ___  ____  ____  ________  _____
    / /   / __ \/ __ `__ \/ __ \/ __ \/ ___/ _ \/ ___/
   / /___/ /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / /_/ (__  )  __/ /
   \____/\____/_/ /_/ /_/ .___/\____/____/\___/_/
                       /_/
   Composer version 2.8.6 2025-02-25 13:03:50
   ...

Install Laravel

Follow the steps below to install Laravel in your project environment.

1. Navigate to the user home directory.

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   $ cd ~

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2. Create a new myproject Laravel project.

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   $ composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel myproject

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   Output:

   Creating a "laravel/laravel" project at "./myproject"
   Installing laravel/laravel (v12.0.4)
   - Installing laravel/laravel (v12.0.4): Extracting archive
   Created project in /home/amr/myproject
   > @php -r "file_exists('.env') || copy('.env.example', '.env');"
   Loading composer repositories with package information
   Updating dependencies
   Lock file operations: 110 installs, 0 updates, 0 removals
   ...

3. Switch to the project directory.

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   $ cd myproject

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4. Verify the installed Laravel version using Artisan.

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   $ php artisan --version

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   Artisan is a command-line utility included with Laravel and exists at the root of the project as a script. Your output should be similar to the one below if Laravel is installed.

   Laravel Framework 12.5.0

Create a Laravel MySQL Database

Laravel requires a database backend to store the application data. Follow the steps below to create a new MySQL database to use in your Laravel project:

1. Install the MySQL server package if it's not installed on your workstation.

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   $ sudo apt install mysql-server -y

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2. View the MySQL service status and verify that it's running.

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   $ sudo systemctl status mysql

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   Output:

   ● mysql.service - MySQL Community Server
        Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mysql.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
        Active: active (running) since Wed 2025-04-16 15:27:30 UTC; 3min 57s ago
       Process: 17396 ExecStartPre=/usr/share/mysql/mysql-systemd-start pre (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
      Main PID: 17405 (mysqld)
        Status: "Server is operational"
         Tasks: 38 (limit: 9433)
        Memory: 384.9M (peak: 385.4M)
           CPU: 2.207s
        CGroup: /system.slice/mysql.service
                └─17405 /usr/sbin/mysqld

3. Log in to MySQL as the root database user.

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   $ sudo mysql

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4. Create a new laravel_db database to use with Laravel.

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   mysql> CREATE DATABASE laravel_db;

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5. Create a new laravel_user MySQL user with a strong password.

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   mysql> CREATE USER laravel_user@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'laravel_password';

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6. Grant the laravel_user user full privileges to the laravel_db database.

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   mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON laravel_db.* TO laravel_user@localhost;

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7. Flush the MySQL permissions table to apply the changes.

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   mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

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8. Exit the MySQL shell.

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   mysql> EXIT;

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Configure the MySQL Database Connection in Laravel

Laravel uses a .env file to manage environment-specific configurations, including database credentials. Follow the steps below to update the file and migrate sample project data to the database.

1. Open the .env file in your Laravel project directory.

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   $ nano .env

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2. Update the database configuration to include the MySQL credentials you created earlier.

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   DB_CONNECTION=mysql
   DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
   DB_PORT=3306
   DB_DATABASE=laravel_db
   DB_USERNAME=laravel_user
   DB_PASSWORD=laravel_password

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   Save and close the file.

   The above database configurations enable Laravel to connect and write data to the backend MySQL database server

3. Migrate the Laravel project tables to your database.

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   $ php artisan migrate

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   Output:

   INFO  Preparing database.
   Creating migration table ............................................................................................................ 13.77ms DONE
   
   INFO  Running migrations.
   
   0001_01_01_000000_create_users_table ................................................................................................ 41.38ms DONE
   0001_01_01_000001_create_cache_table ................................................................................................ 13.94ms DONE
   0001_01_01_000002_create_jobs_table ................................................................................................. 36.98ms DONE

Configure Laravel with Apache

Apache is an open-source web server application that serves web applications using your instance's IP address or domain. Follow the steps below to configure Laravel with Apache to serve your Laravel application using a virtual host configuration.

1. Install Apache if it's not installed.

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   $ sudo apt install apache2 -y

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2. View the Apache service status and verify that it's running.

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   $ sudo systemctl status apache2

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   Output:

   ● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
        Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
        Active: active (running) since Wed 2025-04-16 15:25:03 UTC; 4min 4s ago
          Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
      Main PID: 16317 (apache2)
         Tasks: 6 (limit: 9433)
        Memory: 13.0M (peak: 13.5M)
           CPU: 75ms
        CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
                ├─16317 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
                ├─16327 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
                ├─16328 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
                ├─16329 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
                ├─16330 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
                └─16331 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

3. Navigate back to the user home directory.

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   $ cd ~

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4. Move the Laravel project directory to the Apache web root path.

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   $ sudo mv myproject/ /var/www/

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5. Set proper permissions for the Laravel project directory.

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   $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/myproject && sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/myproject

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6. Create a new laravel.conf virtual host configuration file.

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   $ sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/laravel.conf

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7. Add the following configurations to the file. Replace app.example.com with your actual domain pointing to the instance's IP address.

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   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerAdmin admin@example.com
       ServerName app.example.com
       DocumentRoot /var/www/myproject/public
   
       <Directory />
           Options FollowSymLinks
           AllowOverride None
       </Directory>
   
       <Directory /var/www/myproject>
           AllowOverride All
           Require all granted
       </Directory>
   
       ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
       CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
   </VirtualHost>

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   Save and close the file.

8. Activate the rewrite module to enable Laravel to support clean URLs.

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   $ sudo a2enmod rewrite

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9. Disable the default virtual host configuration.

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   $ sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

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10. Enable the Laravel virtual host configuration.

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    $ sudo a2ensite laravel.conf

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11. Reload Apache to apply configuration changes.

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    $ sudo systemctl reload apache2

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12. Allow HTTP traffic on port 80 through the default firewall configuration.

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    $ sudo ufw allow 80/tcp 

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    • Install UFW and allow essential connections if it's not installed.

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      $ sudo apt install ufw -y && sudo ufw allow ssh && sudo ufw allow 80/tcp

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13. Reload UFW to apply the firewall changes.

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    $ sudo ufw reload

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14. Visit your app.example.com domain using a web browser such as Chrome and verify that the default Laravel welcome page displays.

    

Conclusion

You have deployed Laravel with Apache on Ubuntu 24.04. You installed PHP and created a dedicated database to use with Laravel. You can modify the default application configurations with your models, views, and controllers (MVC) supported by Laravel. Visit the Laravel documentation for more information and usage options.