How to Install PHP 7.4 on Rocky Linux 9

PHP is a widely used server-side scripting language for building dynamic web applications. PHP 7.4 is the final minor release of the PHP 7 series and includes key features such as typed properties, arrow functions, and enhanced performance. Many legacy applications still rely on PHP 7.4 for compatibility with existing codebases and services.

This article explains how to install PHP 7.4 on Rocky Linux 9. You will install PHP, configure PHP-FPM, and enable essential extensions required to run dynamic web applications.

Prerequisites

Before you start, you need to:

• Have access to a Rocky Linux 9 instance as a non-root sudo user.

Install the EPEL and REMI Repositories

PHP 7.4 is not available in the DNF package manager sources by default. Installing the EPEL and Remi repositories enables access to the latest dependency packages for Rocky Linux 9 including multiple PHP version sources like PHP 7.4. Follow the steps below to install the EPEL and Remi repositories on your Rocky Linux 9 instance.

1. Update the DNF package index.

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   $ sudo dnf makecache

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2. Install the EPEL repository.

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   $ sudo dnf install epel-release -y

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3. Install the Remi repository.

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   $ sudo dnf install https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-9.rpm -y

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4. Verify that the Remi repository is listed and enabled.

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   $ sudo dnf repolist | grep remi

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   The above command lists active Remi repositories available on the system.

Install PHP 7.4

To install PHP 7.4 on Rocky Linux 9, you must first enable the correct module and then install the required packages and extensions. Follow the steps below to install PHP 7.4 and common extensions using the Remi repository.

1. Update the DNF package index.

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   $ sudo dnf makecache

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2. Search for PHP 7.4 packages and verify that they're available.

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   $ sudo dnf search php74

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   Output:

   =============================================================== Name Exactly Matched: php74 ================================================================
   php74.x86_64 : Package that installs PHP 7.4
   ============================================================== Name & Summary Matched: php74 ===============================================================
   php74-php-pecl-http-message-devel.x86_64 : php74-php-pecl-http-message developer files (headers)
   php74-php-pecl-pcsc-devel.x86_64 : php74-php-pecl-pcsc developer files (header)
   php74-php-pecl-propro-devel.x86_64 : php74-php-pecl-propro developer files (header)
   ......

3. Enable the PHP 7.4 module in the Remi repository.

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   $ sudo dnf module enable php:remi-7.4 -y

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4. Install the main PHP 7.4 package.

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   $ sudo dnf install php74 -y

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5. Install common PHP 7.4 extensions required by most web applications.

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   $ sudo dnf install php74-php-mysql php74-php-zip php74-php-xml php74-php-json php74-php-mbstring php74-php-pdo php74-php-gd -y

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   The above command installs the following PHP extensions.

   • php74-php-mysql: Enables PHP to communicate with MySQL databases.
   • php74-php-zip: Adds support for creating, reading, and modifying ZIP compressed archives in PHP.
   • php74-php-xml: Provides XML parsing support using DOM, SimpleXML, and related libraries.
   • php74-php-json: Adds JSON encoding and decoding capabilities to PHP (json_encode, json_decode).
   • php74-php-mbstring: Enables multibyte string processing, useful for handling non-ASCII character sets (for example: UTF-8).
   • php74-php-pdo: Provides the PHP Data Objects interface, a database abstraction layer for accessing various databases.
   • php74-php-gd: Adds image processing capabilities to PHP (resize, crop, watermark, etc.), commonly used for CAPTCHA or thumbnail generation.

6. Verify the installed PHP version.

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   $ php74 --version

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   Output:

   PHP 7.4.33 (cli) (built: Mar 18 2025 06:44:58) ( NTS )
   Copyright (c) The PHP Group
   Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies

Install PHP7.4-FPM

PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) is a high-performance PHP handler that manages PHP processes using a pool-based model. It allows PHP to communicate efficiently with web servers and other services through UNIX sockets or TCP ports. PHP 7.4 FPM runs a dedicated process pool for PHP 7.4, making it essential for serving dynamic applications. Follow the steps below to install and configure PHP 7.4 FPM.

1. Install the PHP 7.4 FPM package.

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   $ sudo dnf install php74-php-fpm -y

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2. Verify that PHP 7.4 FPM is installed.

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   $ sudo dnf list installed | grep php-fpm

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   The above command will display the installed PHP-FPM package details.

3. Enable the PHP 7.4 FPM service to start automatically at boot.

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   $ sudo systemctl enable php74-php-fpm

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4. Start the PHP 7.4 FPM service.

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   $ sudo systemctl start php74-php-fpm

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5. View the status of the PHP 7.4 FPM service.

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   $ sudo systemctl status php74-php-fpm

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   Your output should be similar to the one below:

   ● php74-php-fpm.service - The PHP FastCGI Process Manager
        Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/php74-php-fpm.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
        Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-06-06 03:22:20 UTC; 1h 2min ago
      Main PID: 5790 (php-fpm)
        Status: "Processes active: 0, idle: 5, Requests: 17, slow: 0, Traffic: 0req/sec"
   ......

Configure PHP7.4-FPM

PHP-FPM uses pool configurations to run worker processes with specific listening addresses, user permissions, and performance settings to handle PHP requests efficiently. Follow the steps below to view the default PHP-FPM configurations directory, and configure the default www pool to handle PHP requests.

1. List all files in the /etc/opt/remi/php74/ directory and verify the available configuration files.

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   $ ls /etc/opt/remi/php74/

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   Output:

   opt  php.d  php-fpm.conf  php-fpm.d  php.ini  pki  pm  skel  sysconfig  X11  xdg  xinetd.d

   PHP-FPM uses the following configuration files and directories by default:

   • php-fpm.conf: Includes global configuration directives that control how PHP-FPM runs before any pool configurations.
   • php-fpm.d: Contains the PHP-FPM pool configuration files.

2. Open the default pool configuration file www.conf using a text editor such as nano.

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   $ sudo nano /etc/opt/remi/php74/php-fpm.d/www.conf

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3. Check the default pool name and verify that it is [www] or change it to your desired pool name if required.

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   [www]

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4. Locate the user and group directives to check which user PHP-FPM runs as.

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   ; RPM: apache user chosen to provide access to the same directories as httpd
   user = apache
   ; RPM: Keep a group allowed to write in log dir.
   group = apache

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   Change user and group from apache to nginx if you are using the Nginx web server on Rocky Linux 9.

5. Locate the listen directive and verify the default /var/opt/remi/php74/run/php-fpm/www.sock PHP-FPM socket path.

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   listen = /var/opt/remi/php74/run/php-fpm/www.sock

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6. Configure the process management (pm) settings to optimize PHP-FPM child processes based on your server’s resources.

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   pm = dynamic
   pm.max_children = 50
   pm.start_servers = 5
   pm.min_spare_servers = 5
   pm.max_spare_servers = 35

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   These are the default values. You can modify them to suit your server's available memory and traffic requirements.

   Save the file and close the text editor.

7. Restart PHP-FPM to apply the pool configuration changes.

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   $ sudo systemctl restart php74-php-fpm

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Test PHP 7.4

PHP includes a built-in web server by default used to run scripts with a specific listening address, and PHP CLI to run scripts directly in a terminal. PHP-FPM manages all connections to PHP, allowing you to integrate PHP with web servers like Nginx and Apache. Follow the steps below to test your PHP 7.4 installation using both the CLI and Apache web server with PHP-FPM.

Test PHP Using CLI

1. Create a test.php file in your present directory.

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   $ sudo nano test.php

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2. Add the following PHP code to the file.

   PHP

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   <?php
       echo "Greetings from Vultr";
   ?>

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   Save and close the file.

   The above PHP script displays a Greetings from Vultr heading when it’s executed.

3. Run the PHP script using the PHP 7.4 CLI.

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   $ php74 test.php

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   Output:

   Greetings from Vultr

Test PHP-FPM Using a web server

Follow the steps below to test PHP using PHP-FPM with a web server like Apache.

1. Verify if the httpd Apache web server is installed.

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   $ rpm -q httpd

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   Your output should be similar to the one below:

   package httpd is not installed

2. Install Apache if it’s not installed.

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   $ sudo dnf install httpd -y

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3. Enable the httpd Apache system service to start at boot.

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   $ sudo systemctl enable httpd

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4. Start the httpd Apache system service.

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   $ sudo systemctl start httpd

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5. Navigate to the /etc/httpd/conf.d Apache virtual host configurations directory.

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   $ cd /etc/httpd/conf.d

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6. Open the welcome.conf default virtual host configuration.

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   $ sudo nano welcome.conf

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7. Add the following <FilesMatch block for PHP-FPM before the <LocationMatch> block.

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   <FilesMatch \.php$>
       SetHandler "proxy:unix:/var/opt/remi/php74/run/php-fpm/www.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
   </FilesMatch>

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   Save and close the file.

   The above FilesMatch block forwards all PHP requests to the default /var/opt/remi/php74/run/php-fpm/www.sock path that’s specified in the default www.conf PHP-FPM configuration.

8. Navigate to the default Apache web root directory.

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   $ cd /var/www/html

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9. Create a new info.php file in the directory.

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   $ sudo nano info.php

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10. Add the following PHP code to the file.

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    <?php
    phpinfo();
    ?>

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    Save the file and close the text editor.

    The phpinfo() function in the above info.php file displays the installed PHP version information and extensions on the server.

11. Allow the httpd Apache web server to make outbound connections to the backend services like PHP-FPM using sockets.

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    $ sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1

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12. Allow HTTP traffic through the system firewall.

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    $ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http

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13. Reload the firewall configuration.

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    $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload

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14. Visit the following URL in your browser to view the PHP information page.

    http://your_server_ip/info.php

    

Conclusion

In this article, you have installed PHP 7.4 on Rocky Linux 9 and configured PHP-FPM to serve web applications with a web server. PHP is a modern server-side scripting language used to develop dynamic web applications. You can use PHP 7.4 with specific applications and frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and WordPress version that require it since it reached its end of life and not safe to run unless required. For more information, refer to the official PHP documentation.