OpenCart allows businesses to create and manage online stores. In this post, I will show you how to install OpenCart on a Linux server with PHP 8.2 , securing MySQL, and adding a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for a secure online store setup.

Table of Contents:

• Step 1: Log in to Linux Server
• Step 2: Install LAMP Stack with PHP 8
• Step 3: Install Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate
• Step 4: Download and Configure OpenCart
• Conclusion

Make sure you have the following:

• A Linux Server (Ubuntu 20.04 recommended)
• SSH access to your Server as a root user or a user with sudo privileges
• A domain name pointed to your Server IP address

Step 1: Log in to Linux Server

How to Access a Linux Server from Windows Using Putty

Update system’s package:

sudo apt update

Upgrade the existing packages:

sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install LAMP Stack with PHP 8.2

follow these steps to install the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack with PHP 8.2

Install Apache:

sudo apt install apache2

Install MySQL:

sudo apt install mysql-server

You will be prompted to set a root password for your MySQL database during the installation. Make sure to choose a strong password and remember it (if you’re at the root of your Linux Server not getting any prompt to set a password).

(this step is only for root users)Change the password for the ‘root’ user using the ALTER USER command for the ‘mysql_native_password’ plugin:

sudo mysql

If prompted to enter the password for the ‘root’ user. simply hit enter.

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'new_password';
EXIT;

Replace ‘new_password’ with the password you want to set for the ‘root’ user.

Run the MySQL secure installation script:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Configure the following settings:

• Enter the MySQL root password you set during installation.
• Set a new root password? Choose “N” if you want to keep the existing password.
• Remove anonymous users? Choose “Y” to remove anonymous users.
• Disallow root login remotely? Choose “Y” to prevent remote root login.
• Remove test database and access to it? Choose “Y” to remove the test database and access to it.
• Reload privilege tables now? Choose “Y” to apply the changes immediately.

Create a new MySQL database and user for OpenCart:

mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE opencart;
CREATE USER 'opencartuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON opencart.* TO 'opencartuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

replace your_password with a strong password, this is the password setting into the open cart database.

Install the required packages for adding the PHP repository:

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Update the package list again:

sudo apt update

Install PHP 8.2 and required extensions:

sudo apt install php8.2 libapache2-mod-php8.2 php8.2-mysql php8.2-curl php8.2-gd php8.2-zip php8.2-intl php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml

Step 3: Install Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate

Install Certbot, a Let’s Encrypt client:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache

Generate the SSL certificate for your domain:

sudo certbot --apache -d your_domain.com

replace “your_domain.com” with your actual domain name.

Step 4: Download and Configure OpenCart

Navigate to the Apache web directory to install OpenCart.:

cd /var/www/html

Download OpenCart:

wget https://github.com/opencart/opencart/releases/download/4.0.2.1/opencart-4.0.2.1.zip

Note: to find the new release of the open cart go https://github.com/opencart/opencart/releases/ and replace the version number with the new release.

Unzip the downloaded file:

apt install unzip
unzip opencart-4.0.2.1.zip

Move open cart web files:

mv /var/www/html/opencart-4.0.2.1/upload/* /var/www/html

Remove unnecessary files:

rm -r opencart-4.0.2.1 index.html opencart-4.0.2.1.zip

Set the correct file permissions:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/

Rename Config files:

sudo mv /var/www/html/config-dist.php /var/www/html/config.php
sudo mv /var/www/html/admin/config-dist.php /var/www/html/admin/config.php

Configure OpenCart:

• Open a web browser and navigate to the domain name with https:// .
• You will see the OpenCart installation wizard.
• Follow instructions, providing the information such as database details and administrator credentials.

Conclusion

You have successfully installed OpenCart on your Linux server with PHP 8.2 , secured MySQL, and added a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate to your online store. If you have any issues please leave a comment.