How to Deploy Laravel with Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04

Laravel is a popular PHP framework for building modern web applications with support for dynamic syntax and robust features like routing, authentication, and database management. Laravel works with multiple PHP versions and supports integration with other backend applications like database servers. Deploying Laravel with Nginx lets you deliver high-performance and scalable applications in production environments, allowing you to build modern web applications.

This article explains how to deploy Laravel with Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04. You will install Laravel, and create a new project to deploy with Nginx using a custom domain such as app.example.com.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you need to:

• Have access to an Ubuntu 24.04 instance as a non-root sudo user.
• Install Nginx Web Server.
• Install MySQL to use as the database backend.
• Create a domain A record pointing to the instance's public IP address, such as app.example.com.

Create a MySQL Database for Laravel

Laravel uses a relational database to store the application data. Follow the steps below to set up a new MySQL database, add sample application data for testing, and create a dedicated database user for Laravel.

1. Log in to the MySQL console as the root database user.

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   $ sudo mysql

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   • Run the following command to update the APT package index, install MySQL if it's not installed, and log in to the database console.

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     $ sudo apt update && sudo apt install mysql-server -y && sudo mysql

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2. Create a new vultr_demo database to use with Laravel.

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   mysql> CREATE DATABASE vultr_demo; 

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3. Create a new vultr_user MySQL user with a strong password. Replace secure_password with your desired password.

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   mysql> CREATE USER 'vultr_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'secure_password';

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4. Grant the vultr_user user full privileges to the vultr_demo database.

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   mysql> GRANT ALL ON vultr_demo.* TO 'vultr_user'@'localhost';

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5. Flush the MySQL privileges table to apply the database user changes.

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   mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

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6. Exit the MySQL console.

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   mysql> EXIT;

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7. Log in to MySQL as vultr_user and enter the user password when prompted.

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   $ mysql -u vultr_user -p

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8. List all databases and verify that the vultr_demo database is available.

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   mysql> SHOW DATABASES;

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   Output:

   +--------------------+
   | Database           |
   +--------------------+
   | information_schema |
   | performance_schema |
   | vultr_demo         |
   +--------------------+
   3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

9. Use the vultr_demo database.

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   mysql> USE vultr_demo;

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10. Create a server_stats with active columns to track server metrics.

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    mysql> CREATE TABLE server_stats (  
                id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,  
                server_name VARCHAR(255),  
                region VARCHAR(255),  
                cpu_usage DECIMAL(5,2),  
                memory_usage DECIMAL(5,2),  
                status ENUM('active', 'maintenance', 'offline'),  
                last_updated TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,  
                PRIMARY KEY(id)  
            );

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11. Insert the demo data into the server_stats table.

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    mysql> INSERT INTO server_stats (
               server_name, region, cpu_usage, memory_usage, status
           )
           VALUES 
               ('VULTR-APP-01', 'New York', 24.50, 45.30, 'active'),
               ('VULTR-DB-01',  'London',    12.75, 78.20, 'active'),
               ('VULTR-WEB-01', 'Tokyo',     65.80, 89.50, 'active');

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12. Exit the MySQL console.

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    mysql> EXIT;

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Install Composer and PHP Extensions

Laravel requires Composer and specific PHP extensions to run on a server. Follow the steps below to install PHP, Composer, and all required PHP extensions for Laravel.

1. Update the APT package index.

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   $ sudo apt update

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2. Install Composer and the required PHP extensions for Laravel.

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

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   The above command installs Composer, PHP, and the necessary extensions for Laravel. The installed packages include:

   • composer: A dependency manager for PHP.
   • php-fpm: The PHP FastCGI Process Manager that enables PHP to run as a service and accept connections from web servers like Nginx.
   • php-mysql: Connects PHP to MySQL databases.
   • php-mbstring: Enables multibyte string support required by Laravel.
   • php-curl: Enables PHP to make HTTP requests to external URLs.
   • php-bcmath: Enables arbitrary precision math functions in PHP applications.
   • php-json: Encodes and decodes JSON data necessary for APIs, Javascript and structured data.
   • php-xml: Enables passing and generation of XML documents in applications.
   • php-tokenizer: Includes tools for tokenizing PHP code.
   • php-zip: Enables Laravel to read and write compressed .zip archives.

3. Verify the installed Composer version.

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   $ composer --version

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   Output:

   Composer version 2.7.1 2024-02-09 15:26:28
   .................

4. Verify the installed PHP version.

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   $ php --version

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   Output:

   PHP 8.3.6 (cli) (built: Mar 19 2025 10:08:38) (NTS)
     Copyright (c) The PHP Group
   ...

5. Restart PHP-FPM depending on the installed version such as php8.3-fpm.

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   $ sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

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Create a Laravel Application

Follow the steps below to create a Laravel application and configure it to use the MySQL database you created earlier.

1. Switch to your user's home directory.

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   $ cd ~

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2. Create a new Laravel project such as vultr-demo.

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   $ composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel vultr-demo

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   The above command downloads Laravel with all dependencies and creates a vultr-demo project directory.

3. Navigate to the vultr-demo project directory.

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   $ cd vultr-demo

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4. Generate a unique application key required for secure encryption.

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   $ php artisan key:generate

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   Output:

   INFO  Application key set successfully.

5. Open the .env file using a text editor such as nano to set up the Laravel database connection information and session driver.

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   $ nano .env

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   • Update the first section to include your project name like vultr-demo, change the environment from local to development, and change the application URL from http://localhost to your domain URL. Replace app.example.com with your actual domain.

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     APP_NAME=vultr-demo
     APP_ENV=development
     APP_KEY=base64:APPLICATION_UNIQUE_KEY
     APP_DEBUG=true
     APP_URL=http://app.example.com

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   • Update the database connection section to include your database information. Change the default sqlite connection value to mysql, uncomment the host, port, database, and user field, replacing the default with your actual MySQL database details to use with Laravel.

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     DB_CONNECTION=mysql
     DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
     DB_PORT=3306
     DB_DATABASE=vultr_demo
     DB_USERNAME=vultr_user
     DB_PASSWORD=secure_password
     
     SESSION_DRIVER=file

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     Save and close the file.

6. Move your vultr-demo project directory to a standard web root path like /var/www.

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   $ sudo mv ~/vultr-demo /var/www/vultr-demo

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7. Grant the www-data Nginx user and group ownership privileges to the /var/www/vultr-demo Laravel project directory.

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   $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/vultr-demo  

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8. Change the /var/www/vultr-demo permissions mode to 755 to grant the www-data user full privileges to the directory.

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   $ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/vultr-demo/storage  

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9. Change the /var/www/vultr-demo/bootstrap/cache permissions mode to 755 to grant the www-data user full privileges to create cache files.

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   $ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/vultr-demo/bootstrap/cache

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10. Navigate to the /var/www/vultr-demo project directory.

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    $ cd /var/www/vultr-demo

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11. Migrate the Laravel data to your database to test the connection.

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    $ php artisan migrate

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    Your output should be similar to the one below when successful.

    .................
    INFO  Running migrations.  
    
    0001_01_01_000000_create_users_table .......... 15ms DONE  
    0001_01_01_000001_create_cache_table ........... 5ms DONE
    ................. 

Configure Laravel with Nginx

Nginx uses server block configurations to serve Laravel files from your project directory. Follow the steps below to configure Laravel with Nginx using a new virtual host configuration with the required server block and PHP connection details.

1. View the Nginx service status and verify that it's running.

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   $ sudo systemctl status nginx

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   Output:

   ● nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
        Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
        Active: active (running) since Mon 2025-04-21 13:08:27 UTC; 18s ago
          Docs: man:nginx(8)
       Process: 19294 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/nginx -t -q -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
       Process: 19296 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on; (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   ...

   • Run the following command to install Nginx if it's not installed, stop Apache if it's active, and start the Nginx service.

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     $ sudo apt install nginx -y && sudo systemctl stop apache2 && sudo systemctl start nginx

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2. Create a new vultr-demo.conf Nginx configuration file in the /etc/nginx/sites-available directory.

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   $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/vultr-demo.conf

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3. Add the following configurations to the vultr-demo.conf file. Replace app.example.com with your actual domain.

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   server {
       listen 80;
       server_name app.example.com;
       root /var/www/vultr-demo/public;
   
       add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
       add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
       add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";
   
       index index.php;
   
       charset utf-8;
   
       location / {
           try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
       }
   
       location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
       location = /robots.txt  { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
   
       location ~ \.php$ {
           fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
           fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
           include fastcgi_params;
       }
   
       location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
           deny all;
       }
   }

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   Save and close the file.

   The above configuration enables Nginx to serve the Laravel application files on the HTTP port 80 using your app.example.com domain. The location ~ \.php block forwards all PHP requests to the PHP-FPM socket, enabling Nginx to serve all Laravel application files.

4. Link the vultr-demo.conf file to the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directory to enable the configuration.

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   $ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/vultr-demo.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

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5. Test the Nginx configuration for errors.

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   $ sudo nginx -t

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   Output:

   nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
   nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

6. Restart Nginx to apply the configuration changes.

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   $ sudo systemctl restart nginx

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7. Allow the HTTP port 80 through the firewall.

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   $ sudo ufw allow 80/tcp  

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8. Reload UFW to apply the firewall changes.

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   $ sudo ufw reload

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9. Access your app.example.com domain using a web browser such as Chrome and verify the default Laravel page displays.

   http://app.example.com

   

Secure Laravel with Trusted Let's Encrypt SSL Certificates

Nginx serves all Laravel application files using HTTP which is insecure by default. Generating SSL certificates enables HTTPS connections and encrypts the connection to your web server. Follow the steps below to generate trusted Let's Encrypt SSL certificates and secure Laravel.

1. Install the Certbot Let's Encrypt client and its plugin for Nginx.

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   $ sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

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2. Generate a new SSL certificate using the Nginx Plugin and your virtual host domain. Replace app.example.com with your actual domain and admin@app.example.com with your active email address.

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   $ sudo certbot --nginx --redirect -d app.example.com -m admin@app.example.com --agree-tos

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   Your output should be similar to the one below when the SSL certificate request is successful.

   Requesting a certificate for app.example.com
   
   Successfully received certificate.
   Certificate is saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/app.example.com/fullchain.pem
   Key is saved at:         /etc/letsencrypt/live/app.example.com/privkey.pem
   This certificate expires on 2025-07-06.
   These files will be updated when the certificate renews.
   Certbot has set up a scheduled task to automatically renew this certificate in the background.
   
   Deploying certificate
   Successfully deployed certificate for app.example.com to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/vultr-demo.conf
   Congratulations! You have successfully enabled HTTPS on https://app.example.com
   ...

3. Verify that Certbot auto-renews the SSL certificate before expiry.

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   $ sudo certbot renew --dry-run

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4. Restart Nginx to apply the SSL configuration changes.

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   $ sudo systemctl restart nginx

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5. Allow the HTTPS port 443 through the firewall.

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   $ sudo ufw allow 443/tcp

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6. Reload UFW to apply the firewall changes.

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   $ sudo ufw reload

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Build a Demo Laravel Application

Laravel includes a demo application with a Let's get started page you can replace with your custom code. Follow the steps below to replace the default project files, and build a demo Laravel application with a practical dashboard to display server metrics from your MySQL database.

1. Open and modify the Laravel's route file.

2. Back up the default web.php file in your Laravel project directory/

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   $ sudo mv /var/www/vultr-demo/routes/web.php /var/www/vultr-demo/routes/web.php.ORIG

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3. Create the web.php file again.

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   $ sudo nano /var/www/vultr-demo/routes/web.php

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4. Add the following default route configuration to the web.php file to query the server metrics data in your MySQL database.

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   <?php
   
   use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
   use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
   
   Route::get('/', function () {
       $servers = DB::table('server_stats')
                   ->orderBy('status')
                   ->orderBy('cpu_usage', 'desc')
                   ->get();
       
       return view('dashboard', ['servers' => $servers]);
   });

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   Save and close the file.

   The above application code uses Laravel's query builder to fetch all records from the server_stats table in the MySQL database. Then, it orders servers by status, by CPU usage, and passes the results to a dashboard view.

5. Create a new dashboard.blade.php Blade template to use with the dashboard view.

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   $ sudo nano /var/www/vultr-demo/resources/views/dashboard.blade.php

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6. Add the following HTML application code to the dashboard.blade.php file to display the server metrics.

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   <!DOCTYPE html>
   <html>
   <head>
       <title>Server Dashboard | Vultr Demo</title>
       <style>
           body { font-family: 'Segoe UI', sans-serif; margin: 2rem; }
           .server-card { 
               padding: 1rem; 
               margin-bottom: 1rem; 
               border-radius: 8px;
               box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); 
           }
           .active { 
               border-left: 4px solid #10B981; 
               background: #F0FDF4; 
           }
           .maintenance { 
               border-left: 4px solid #F59E0B; 
               background: #FFFBEB; 
           }
           .offline { 
               border-left: 4px solid #EF4444; 
               background: #FEF2F2; 
           }
           .metric { 
               font-weight: 600; 
               color: #1F2937; 
           }
       </style>
   </head>
   <body>
       <h1>Server Status Dashboard</h1>
       <p>Real-time metrics from your infrastructure</p>
   
       @foreach($servers as $server)
       <div class="server-card {{ $server->status }}">
           <h3>{{ $server->server_name }} <small>({{ $server->region }})</small></h3>
           <p class="metric">Status: {{ ucfirst($server->status) }}</p>
           
           @if($server->status != 'offline')
               <p class="metric">CPU: {{ $server->cpu_usage }}%</p>
               <p class="metric">Memory: {{ $server->memory_usage }}%</p>
           @endif
           
           <p>Last updated: {{ $server->last_updated }}</p>
       </div>
       @endforeach
   </body>
   </html>

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   Save and close the file.

   The above application code displays the server metrics received from the web.php file in a single web page.

7. Restart Nginx to apply the changes.

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   $ sudo systemctl restart nginx

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8. Access your domain using HTTPS in a new web browser window and verify that the Laravel application displays correctly with data from the MySQL database.

   https://app.example.com

   

Conclusion

You have deployed Laravel with Nginx on Ubuntu 24.04 and created a sample application that queries the MySQL database to display live data. You can modify your Laravel project with new models, views, and controllers to deliver your applications with Nginx. For more information and configuration options, visit the official Laravel documentation.