Deploy a PHP Website on AWS EC2 with Apache and MySQL: A Beginner's Guide

Cloud computing can seem complicated when you're just starting with DevOps. Terms such as EC2, SSH, security groups, web servers, and databases can make the learning process confusing.

Sardar Raffay Mughal

Published Oct 3, 2026

Last modified Oct 3, 2026

Deploy a PHP Website on AWS EC2 with Apache and MySQL: A Beginner's Guide

Introduction

Cloud computing can seem complicated when you're just starting with DevOps. Terms such as EC2, SSH, security groups, web servers, and databases can make the learning process confusing.

In this tutorial, we'll build a simple PHP web application on an Amazon EC2 instance running Ubuntu.

By the end of this guide, we will have:

An Ubuntu EC2 instance running on AWS
Apache as the web server
PHP for processing the application
MySQL as the database
A PHP application accessible through the internet

The goal is to understand how these components work together in a simple real-world deployment.

Architecture

The basic architecture for this project is:

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                  Internet
                     |
                     v
              +-------------+
              |   Browser   |
              +-------------+
                     |
                     | HTTP
                     v
              +-------------+
              | AWS EC2     |
              | Ubuntu      |
              +-------------+
                     |
                     v
              +-------------+
              |   Apache    |
              +-------------+
                     |
                     v
              +-------------+
              |     PHP     |
              +-------------+
                     |
                     v
              +-------------+
              |   MySQL     |
              +-------------+

The browser sends a request to the EC2 instance. Apache receives the request and serves the PHP application. If the application needs database information, PHP communicates with MySQL.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you should have:

An AWS account
Basic Linux terminal knowledge
Basic understanding of SSH
A simple PHP application
An SSH client such as OpenSSH

You should also understand that AWS resources can incur charges depending on your account, region, and usage. Always check the current AWS pricing and free-tier/Free Plan conditions before launching resources.

Step 1: Launch an EC2 Instance

First, sign in to the AWS Management Console and open Amazon EC2.

Choose Launch instance.

For this tutorial, we can use:

Operating system: Ubuntu Server
Instance type: a small instance suitable for your AWS account
Authentication: SSH key pair
Network: default VPC is sufficient for this basic tutorial

Give the instance a meaningful name, for example:

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php-web-server

Create or select an SSH key pair and download the private key.

Important: Keep the private key secure. Do not upload it to GitHub.

Screenshot

Add a screenshot of your EC2 instance configuration here.

Step 2: Configure the Security Group

A security group controls which network traffic can reach the EC2 instance.

For our basic web server, we need:

Protocol	Port	Purpose
SSH	22	Connect to the server
HTTP	80	Access the website

For SSH, restricting access to your own IP address is preferable when practical rather than allowing SSH from anywhere.

HTTP can be opened to the internet because visitors need to access the website.

Screenshot

Add a screenshot of the inbound security group rules here.

Step 3: Connect to the EC2 Instance

After the instance is running, copy its public IPv4 address.

From your terminal, connect using SSH:

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ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@YOUR_EC2_PUBLIC_IP

For example:

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ssh -i myserver.pem ubuntu@203.0.113.10

The exact username can depend on the AMI you selected. Ubuntu images commonly use the ubuntu user.

After connecting successfully, you should see a terminal belonging to your EC2 instance.

We are now working directly on our AWS server.

Step 4: Update Ubuntu

Before installing packages, update the package information:

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sudo apt update

Then upgrade installed packages if needed:

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sudo apt upgrade -y

Why do we do this?

apt update refreshes information about available packages.

apt upgrade installs available updates for packages already installed on the system.

Keeping the server updated is an important basic administration practice.

Step 5: Install Apache

Apache will act as our web server.

Install it with:

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sudo apt install apache2 -y

Check its status:

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sudo systemctl status apache2

If Apache is running, you should see a status similar to:

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Active: active (running)

You can also enable Apache to start automatically after a reboot:

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sudo systemctl enable apache2

Step 6: Test Apache

Open a web browser and enter your EC2 public IPv4 address:

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http://YOUR_EC2_PUBLIC_IP

If everything is configured correctly, you should see the Apache default page.

This confirms that:

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Internet → AWS EC2 → Apache

is working.

Screenshot

Add a screenshot of the Apache default page here.

Step 7: Install PHP

Now we need PHP because our application is written in PHP.

Install PHP:

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sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-mysql -y

The packages provide PHP, Apache's PHP integration, and MySQL support for PHP.

Check the installed PHP version:

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php -v

You should see the installed PHP version.

Step 8: Create a Simple PHP Test Page

Apache's default website files are normally stored in:

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/var/www/html

Move into that directory:

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cd /var/www/html

Create a PHP file:

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sudo nano info.php

Add:

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<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Save the file.

Now open:

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http://YOUR_EC2_PUBLIC_IP/info.php

If PHP is working correctly, the PHP information page should appear.

Screenshot

Add a screenshot of the PHP information page here.

Security note: The phpinfo() page exposes configuration information. It should only be used temporarily for testing and should be removed afterward.

Remove it with:

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sudo rm /var/www/html/info.php

Step 9: Install MySQL

Now we need a database server.

Install MySQL:

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sudo apt install mysql-server -y

Check its status:

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sudo systemctl status mysql

If it is running, you should see:

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Active: active (running)

You can also enable it at boot:

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sudo systemctl enable mysql

Step 10: Create a Database

Open the MySQL shell:

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sudo mysql

Create a database:

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CREATE DATABASE php_app;

Create a database user:

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CREATE USER 'phpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPasswordHere';

Grant the required permissions:

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GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON php_app.* TO 'phpuser'@'localhost';

Apply the privileges:

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FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Exit MySQL:

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EXIT;

The application can now use:

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Database: php_app
User: phpuser

Step 11: Deploy the PHP Application

Now we can place our PHP application inside Apache's document root.

For this tutorial, we can create a simple application:

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cd /var/www/html

Create the main PHP file:

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sudo nano index.php

Example:

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<?php

$host = "localhost";
$user = "phpuser";
$password = "StrongPasswordHere";
$database = "php_app";

$conn = new mysqli($host, $user, $password, $database);

if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Database connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

echo "<h1>Hello from AWS EC2!</h1>";
echo "<p>Apache, PHP and MySQL are working together.</p>";

$conn->close();

?>

Save the file.

Now open:

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http://YOUR_EC2_PUBLIC_IP

You should see:

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Hello from AWS EC2!

Apache, PHP and MySQL are working together.

At this point, we have successfully connected our web application to MySQL.

How the Request Works

When a user visits our website, several components work together.

For example:

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User's Browser
      |
      | HTTP request
      v
AWS EC2 Instance
      |
      v
Apache Web Server
      |
      v
PHP Application
      |
      | Database query
      v
MySQL Database
      |
      | Result
      v
PHP
      |
      v
Apache
      |
      v
User's Browser

Understanding this flow is more important than simply memorizing the installation commands.

Step 12: Check the Services

We can verify that the important services are running.

Check Apache:

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sudo systemctl status apache2

Check MySQL:

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sudo systemctl status mysql

Check PHP:

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php -v

Check which ports are listening:

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sudo ss -lntp

For a basic setup, Apache should be listening for HTTP traffic on port 80.

Troubleshooting

Website is not opening

First check Apache:

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sudo systemctl status apache2

Then check whether port 80 is listening:

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sudo ss -lntp | grep :80

Also check your EC2 security group and make sure HTTP port 80 is allowed.

SSH connection fails

Check:

EC2 instance is running
Public IPv4 address is correct
SSH port 22 is allowed
Correct username is being used
Private key permissions are correct
Correct .pem file is being used

PHP code is displayed instead of executed

Check whether PHP is installed:

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php -v

Then check Apache's PHP integration and restart Apache:

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sudo systemctl restart apache2

MySQL connection fails

Check MySQL:

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sudo systemctl status mysql

Then verify:

Database name
Username
Password
Hostname
PHP MySQL extension

Security Considerations

This tutorial is intentionally simple for learning purposes.

For a production deployment, additional security measures should be considered, including:

Restricting SSH access
Using HTTPS/TLS
Secure database credentials
Regular system updates
Proper file permissions
Application input validation
Database query protection
Backups
Monitoring and logging
Avoiding unnecessary open ports

Also, never commit private SSH keys or database passwords to a public GitHub repository.

What We Learned

In this tutorial, we deployed a simple PHP application on an AWS EC2 instance.

We learned how to:

Launch an EC2 instance
Configure a security group
Connect to Ubuntu using SSH
Install Apache
Install PHP
Install MySQL
Create a database and database user
Deploy a PHP application
Connect PHP to MySQL
Troubleshoot basic web-server problems

The most important concept is understanding how these components work together:

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AWS EC2
   |
 Ubuntu
   |
 Apache
   |
 PHP
   |
 MySQL

This simple deployment is a useful starting point for learning more advanced DevOps topics such as Git, CI/CD, Docker, reverse proxies, infrastructure as code, monitoring, and container orchestration.

Conclusion

Deploying a web application manually on an EC2 instance is a good way to understand the fundamentals of cloud deployment.

Instead of treating AWS EC2 as just a virtual machine, we can think of it as the infrastructure on which our Linux server and application stack run.

Once these fundamentals are clear, the next step is to automate the

Any opinions in this article are those of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of AWS.

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Deploy a PHP Website on AWS EC2 with Apache and MySQL: A Beginner's Guide

Sardar Raffay Mughal

Deploy a PHP Website on AWS EC2 with Apache and MySQL: A Beginner's Guide

Introduction

Architecture

Prerequisites

Step 1: Launch an EC2 Instance

Screenshot

Step 2: Configure the Security Group

Screenshot

Step 3: Connect to the EC2 Instance

Step 4: Update Ubuntu

Why do we do this?

Step 5: Install Apache

Step 6: Test Apache

Screenshot

Step 7: Install PHP

Step 8: Create a Simple PHP Test Page

Screenshot

Step 9: Install MySQL

Step 10: Create a Database

Step 11: Deploy the PHP Application

How the Request Works

Step 12: Check the Services

Troubleshooting

Website is not opening

SSH connection fails

PHP code is displayed instead of executed

MySQL connection fails

Security Considerations

What We Learned

Conclusion