How to Install phpMyAdmin on Your Server: A Comprehensive Guide

CREATE USER 'pmauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pmapass';
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON *.* TO 'pmauser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

• This will create a new user account named “pmauser” with the password “pmapass” and limited privileges to access all databases.
• Open the PhpMyAdmin configuration file called “config.inc.php” which is located in the root directory of PhpMyAdmin.
• Search for the line that starts with “$cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘auth_type’]“. By default, this line is set to “cookie” which means that PhpMyAdmin uses cookies to authenticate users.
• Change the value of “auth_type” from “cookie” to “http” to enable HTTP authentication. This will prompt users to enter a valid username and password to access PhpMyAdmin.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'http';

• Save the changes to the configuration file and exit.
• Restart the webserver to apply the changes.

How to Secure Phpmyadmin by Configuring SSL

SSL encrypts the data to prevent it from being intercepted by unauthorized parties. Here are the steps to configure SSL for phpMyAdmin:

• Obtain an SSL certificate from a trusted certificate authority. There are many certificate authorities that offer SSL certificates, such as Comodo, Let’s Encrypt and VeriSign.
• Install the SSL certificate on the web server. The steps to install an SSL certificate may vary depending on your web server software.
• Configure the webserver to use SSL for phpMyAdmin. If you are using an Apache web server, open the configuration file called “httpd.conf” and add the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:443>
   SSLEngine On
   SSLCertificateFile /path/to/ssl/certificate.crt
   SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/ssl/private.key

   DocumentRoot /path/to/phpmyadmin
   <Directory /path/to/phpmyadmin>
       Options FollowSymLinks
       AllowOverride All
       Order allow,deny
       Allow from all
   </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

• This configuration file sets up a virtual host that listens on port 443, enables SSL encryption, and specifies the SSL certificate and private key file paths.
• Replace “/path/to/ssl/certificate.crt” and “/path/to/ssl/private.key” with the actual file paths of your SSL certificate and private key.

• Restart the webserver to apply the changes.

How to Secure By Limiting Access to Specific IP Addresses

By restricting access to a specific IP address or range of IP addresses, you can control who can access phpMyAdmin and protect it from unauthorized access. Here are the steps to limit access to specific IP addresses:

• Open the configuration file of your web server that hosts phpMyAdmin. The configuration file is typically located at /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf.
• Find the location where phpMyAdmin is hosted. This could be a directory such as “/usr/share/phpmyadmin” or a virtual host configuration.
• Add the following lines to restrict access to a specific IP address or range of IP addresses:

<Directory /path/to/phpmyadmin>
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
    Allow from 192.168.1.10
</Directory>

• Replace “/path/to/phpmyadmin” with the actual path to the directory where phpMyAdmin is hosted.
• Replace “192.168.1.10” with the IP address or range of IP addresses that you want to allow access to.

Allow from 192.168.1.0/24

• This allows access from all IP addresses in the range 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255.
• Save the configuration file and restart the webserver to apply the changes.

Common Phpmyadmin Installation Issues and Their Possible Solutions

Session Error

“Cannot start session without errors; please check errors given in your PHP and/or webserver log file and configure your PHP installation properly.”

Possible Solution

This error usually occurs due to an incorrect prompt set for the session directory in PHP. To fix this, you can change the permissions of the session directory to 0777 or 0775 (depending on your server configuration) using the following command:

chmod -R 0777 /var/lib/php/sessions/

Mysqli Extension Is Missing Error

The mysqli extension is missing. Please check your PHP configuration.

Possible Solution

This error occurs when the mysqli extension is not installed or enabled on your server. To fix this, you need to install and enable the mysqli extension. You can do this by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install php-mysqli

After installing the extension, you need to restart your web server to enable it.

Connection Error

Cannot connect: invalid settings

Possible Solution

This error usually occurs due to incorrect login credentials or configuration settings. To fix this, you should check the following:

• Make sure that the host name, username, and password are correct.
• Make sure that the MySQL server is running and accepting connections.
• Make sure that the port number and socket path are correct.
• Check the config.inc.php file for any errors or typos in the configuration settings.

Server Not Found Error

The requested URL /phpmyadmin was not found on this server.

Possible Solution

This error occurs when the phpMyAdmin directory is not installed or configured properly. To fix this, you can try the following:

• Check if the phpMyAdmin directory exists in the correct location on your server.
• Check if the Apache web server is configured to serve the phpMyAdmin directory. You can do this by editing the Apache configuration file (httpd.conf) and adding the following lines:

Alias /phpmyadmin "/usr/share/phpmyadmin/"
<Directory "/usr/share/phpmyadmin/">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride all
    Require all granted
</Directory>

• >Restart the Apache web server to apply the changes.

Wrapping Up!

In conclusion, installing phpMyAdmin on Cloudways is a simple process that can be completed in just a few steps. With phpMyAdmin, managing your databases becomes much easier, allowing you to perform a wide range of database operations with just a few clicks.

Following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can quickly install phpMyAdmin on your Cloudways server and manage your databases more efficiently comes even more streamlined and potent.

Whether you’re a developer or a website owner, having a tool like phpMyAdmin at your disposal can be incredibly useful, so don’t hesitate to give it a try!

Frequently Asked Questions