Deploying Laravel and Next.js applications on an Ubuntu server involves several steps, from setting up the server environment to configuring Nginx to serve your applications. This guide walks you through the entire process, ensuring your applications are securely deployed and accessible.

Preparing the Server Environment

Setting Up the Firewall with UFW

List Available Applications: Start by listing applications that UFW knows how to work with:
```
ufw app list
```
Allow OpenSSH: To ensure remote SSH access to your server remains uninterrupted, allow OpenSSH:
```
ufw allow OpenSSH
```
Enable UFW: Enable the UFW firewall. When prompted, confirm with y to proceed:
```
ufw enable
```

Installing Essential Packages

Update Your Package List: Ensure your package list and existing packages are up to date:
```
sudo apt update
apt --fix-broken install
```
When prompted, confirm with y for yes or n for no, depending on the context.
Installing Nginx: Install the Nginx web server:
```
sudo apt install nginx
```
Confirm the installation by typing y when prompted.
Configuring Firewall for Nginx: Add Nginx HTTP service to UFW and check the status:
```
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTP'
sudo ufw status
```

Setting Up MySQL

Install MySQL Server:
```
sudo apt install mysql-server
```
Confirm with y when prompted.
Secure MySQL Installation: Run the mysql_secure_installation script to set up security for your MySQL server. Follow the prompts to set a password for the MySQL root user and to remove insecure default settings:
```
sudo mysql_secure_installation
```

Changing MySQL Root Password (Optional): If necessary, change the root password:

sudo mysql -u root

Then run:

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY ‘[NEW_PASSWORD]’;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

Installing PHP

Add PHP Repository: To install the latest PHP version, add the Ondřej Surý's PHP repository:
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update
```

Install PHP 8.2 and required extensions:

sudo apt install php8.2
sudo apt install php8.2-{bcmath,fpm,xml,mysql,zip,intl,ldap,gd,cli,bz2,curl,mbstring,pgsql,opcache,soap,cgi}

Confirm with y when prompted. Restart Nginx to apply the changes:

systemctl restart nginx.service

Deploying Applications

Setting Up Your Applications

Clone Your Repositories: Clone your Laravel and Next.js applications from GitHub or another source into /var/www:
```
cd /var/www
git clone [YOUR_GITHUB_URL]
```
Adjust the ownership of the cloned repository:
```
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/your_repo_path
```

Configuring Nginx

Configure Nginx for Your Applications: Create and edit Nginx server block files for both your Laravel and Next.js applications. Replace your_nextjs_domain.com and your_laravel_domain.com with your actual domain names.
- For Next.js:
```
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_nextjs_domain.com
```
  Insert the server block configuration for proxying requests to your Next.js app.
- For Laravel:
```
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_laravel_domain.com
```
  Insert the server block configuration for serving your Laravel app.

Enable the Server Blocks: Create symbolic links to enable the configurations:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_nextjs_domain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your_laravel_domain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Check Configuration and Reload Nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Installing Composer and Node.js

Install Composer: Download and install Composer globally:

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o /tmp/composer-setup.php
HASH=`curl -sS https://composer.github.io/installer.sig`
php -r "if (hash_file('SHA384', '/tmp/composer-setup.php') === '$HASH') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"
sudo php /tmp/composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Install Node.js: Add NodeSource repository and install Node.js (adjust the version as needed):

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Setting Up Your Laravel Application

Install Laravel Dependencies:

cd /var/www/your_laravel_path
composer install

Configure .env File: Ensure your .env file is correctly set up for your environment. Use nano or another text editor to edit it:
```
sudo nano .env
```
Run Laravel Optimizations:
```
php artisan optimize:clear
```

Setting Up Your Next.js Application

Build Your Next.js Application:

cd /var/www/your_nextjs_path
npm install
npm run build

Use PM2 to Manage Your Next.js Process: Install PM2 and start your Next.js application:
```
npm install -g pm2
pm2 start npm --name "next-app" -- run start
```

Conclusion

You've now set up your Ubuntu server with Nginx to serve both a Laravel and a Next.js application, secured your MySQL installation, installed PHP with necessary extensions, and set up Composer and Node.js. This setup provides a robust environment for deploying modern web applications.

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