Complete Guide on How to Install October CMS using LAMP Stack on AlmaLinux 8
October CMS is a lightweight, flexible, and easily integrated PHP-based Content Management System for modern website development. In this guide, we'll cover in detail how to install October CMS using the LAMP Stack on AlmaLinux 8, from server preparation to final configuration to ensure optimal use.
Prerequisites
- Full root access
- Domain (optional)
- Basic Linux Command Line
Preparation
Make sure the firewall and SELinux have been adjusted or temporarily disabled if you want to avoid problems during the initial installation.
Before starting the Shopware installation, make sure your AlmaLinux 8 server is up to date and ready to install the LAMP Stack (Linux, Apache, MariaDB, PHP).
dnf update -y
dnf install epel-release -y
Install Apache
Apache is a reliable web server and is widely used in production environments. To install it, run the following command:
dnf install httpd -y
Once the installation is complete, enable and start the Apache service with the following command:
systemctl enable --now httpd
To allow access to the server via HTTP and HTTPS, allow the firewall:
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service={http,https}
firewall-cmd --reload
Install PHP
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a server-side programming language that is crucial in this stack. We will install PHP 8 from the Remi Repository to use the latest version of PHP.
Run the following command to install the Remi Repository:
dnf install -y https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpm
Then list the available PHP using the following command:
dnf module list php
Output example:
AlmaLinux 8 - AppStream
Name Stream Profiles Summary
php 7.2 [d] common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php 7.3 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php 7.4 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php 8.0 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php 8.2 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
Remi's Modular repository for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64
Name Stream Profiles Summary
php remi-7.2 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php remi-7.3 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php remi-7.4 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php remi-8.0 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php remi-8.1 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php remi-8.2 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php remi-8.3 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
php remi-8.4 common [d], devel, minimal PHP scripting language
Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled
Enable the desired PHP module version. For example, for PHP 8.4, run the following command:
dnf module reset php -y
dnf module enable php:remi-8.4 -y
Once the repository is active, we can proceed with installing PHP along with the commonly used essential modules:
dnf install -y php php-cli php-common php-mysqlnd php-fpm php-opcache php-gd php-curl php-mbstring php-xml php-json php-soap php-bcmath
Check the installed PHP version with the following command:
php -v
Install MariaDB
MariaDB is a replacement for MySQL and is compatible with MySQL-based applications. Run the following command to install it:
dnf module list mariadb
Output example:
AlmaLinux 8 - AppStream
Name Stream Profiles Summary
mariadb 10.3 [d] client, galera, server [d] MariaDB Module
mariadb 10.5 client, galera, server [d] MariaDB Module
mariadb 10.11 client, galera, server [d] MariaDB Module
Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled
The output above shows that the default version of MariaDB is 10.11 (the latest version from the OS). However, we'll use MariaDB version 11.4.7 using the official repository at https://mariadb.org/download/ and then reset MariaDB to remove it from the OS's default repository:
dnf module reset mariadb
Run the following command to add the MariaDB version 11.4.7 repository:
nano /etc/yum.repos.d/MariaDB.repo
Add the following parameters:
# MariaDB 11.4 RedHatEnterpriseLinux repository list - created 2025-07-31 14:04 UTC
# https://mariadb.org/download/
[mariadb]
name = MariaDB
# rpm.mariadb.org is a dynamic mirror if your preferred mirror goes offline. See https://mariadb.org/mirrorbits/ for details.
# baseurl = https://rpm.mariadb.org/11.4/rhel/$releasever/$basearch
baseurl = https://mirror.its.dal.ca/mariadb/yum/11.4/rhel/$releasever/$basearch
module_hotfixes = 1
# gpgkey = https://rpm.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgkey = https://mirror.its.dal.ca/mariadb/yum/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
gpgcheck = 1
Then run the following command to install MariaDB:
dnf install MariaDB-server MariaDB-client
Enable and activate the MariaDB service:
systemctl enable --now mariadb
systemctl status mariadb
Before using it for production or testing, it is best to secure the MariaDB installation first by running the following command:
mariadb-secure-installation
Then follow the instructions that appear:
- Enter current password for root (enter for none) → [ENTER]
- Switch to unix_socket authentication → Y
- Change the root password? → Y
- Remove anonymous users? → Y
- Disallow root login remotely? Y
- Remove test database and access to it? Y
- Reload privilege tables now? Y
Install October CMS
Before installing October CMS, we will first create a virtual host and database (to store October CMS content, configuration, and structure). Run the following command to create a virtual host:
Make sure you are using a valid domain (FQDN) and that the DNS A record is pointed to the server IP address used on your server.
nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/focusnic.biz.id.conf
Fill in the following parameters:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@focusnic.biz.id
ServerName focusnic.biz.id
ServerAlias www.focusnic.biz.id
DocumentRoot /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/octoberapp
<Directory /var/www/focusnic.biz.id>
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/focusnic.biz.id-error.log
CustomLog /var/log/httpd/focusnic.biz.id-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Then create a directory on the virtualhost above:
mkdir -p /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/
Restart Apache to save changes:
apachectl configtest
systemctl restart httpd
Create a database by running the following command:
mariadb
Then run the following command to create a database, user, and password:
create database october_db;
create user 'october_user'@'localhost' identified by 'teYWgZVkMW6U67z4';
grant all on october_db.* to 'october_user'@'localhost';
flush privileges;
quit;
Download composer and install it with the following command:
Composer will be needed for October CMS management such as installing dependencies and other requirements during development or production.
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
Check composer version:
composer --version
Output example:
Composer version 2.8.10 2025-07-10 19:08:33
PHP version 8.4.10 (/usr/bin/php)
Download the October file and place it in the directory according to the virtual host, we will download October CMS and create a project with the name octoberapp using composer:
cd /var/www/focusnic.biz.id
composer create-project october/october octoberapp
Install October CMS:
cd /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/octoberapp
php artisan october:install
Here's an example of the output instructions from the October CMS installation:
Make sure you have an October CMS license, which can be obtained for free from the official October CMS website https://octobercms.com/
.=================================================.
____ _____ _______ ____ ____ ___________
/ __ \ / ____|__ __|/ __ \| _ \| ____| __ \
| | | | | | | | | | | |_) | |__ | |__) |
| | | | | | | | | | | _ <| __| | _ /
| |__| | |____ | | | |__| | |_) | |____| | \ \
\____/ \_____| |_| \____/|____/|______|_| \_\
`================== INSTALLATION ================='
Application key [g3s2uRdQoiQkWk4zZKl8onzz2C2n2yDd] set successfully.
------- ------------------------------------ ------- -----------------------------------
Code Language Code Language
------- ------------------------------------ ------- -----------------------------------
ar (Arabic) العربية it (Italian) Italiano
be (Belarusian) Беларуская ja (Japanese) 日本語
bg (Bulgarian) Български ko (Korean) 한국어
ca (Catalan) Català lt (Lithuanian) Lietuvių
cs (Czech) Čeština lv (Latvian) Latviešu
da (Danish) Dansk nb-no (Norwegian) Norsk (Bokmål)
de (German) Deutsch nl (Dutch) Nederlands
el (Greek) Ελληνικά pl (Polish) Polski
en (English) English (United States) pt-br (Portuguese) Português (Brasil)
en-au (English) English (Australia) pt-pt (Portuguese) Português (Portugal)
en-ca (English) English (Canada) ro (Romanian) Română
en-gb (English) English (United Kingdom) ru (Russian) Русский
es (Spanish) Español sk (Slovak) Slovenský
es-ar (Spanish) Español (Argentina) sl (Slovene) Slovenščina
et (Estonian) Eesti sv (Swedish) Svenska
fa (Persian) فارسی th (Thai) ไทย
fi (Finnish) Suomi tr (Turkish) Türkçe
fr (French) Français uk (Ukrainian) Українська мова
fr-ca (French) Français (Canada) vn (Vietnamese) Tiếng việt
hu (Hungarian) Magyar zh-cn (Chinese) 简体中文
id (Indonesian) Bahasa Indonesia zh-tw (Chinese) 繁體中文
------- ------------------------------------ ------- -----------------------------------
Select Language [en]:
> en
Application Configuration
-------------------------
Application URL [http://localhost]:
> http://focusnic.biz.id
To secure your application, use a custom address for accessing the admin panel.
Backend URI [/admin]:
> [ENTER]
Database Engine [MySQL]:
[0] SQLite
[1] MySQL
[2] Postgres
[3] SQL Server
> 1
Hostname for the database connection.
Database Host [127.0.0.1]:
> [ENTER]
(Optional) A port for the connection.
Database Port [3306]:
> [ENTER]
Specify the name of the database to use.
Database Name [database]:
> october_db
User with create database privileges.
Database Login [root]:
> october_user
Password for the specified user.
Database Password []:
> teYWgZVkMW6U67z4
Demo Content
------------
Install the demonstration theme and content? (Recommended) (yes/no) [yes]:
> yes
License Key
-----------
Enter a valid License Key to proceed.
License Key:
> X0M6F-4XXX-XXXX-XXXX
[OK] Thanks for being a customer of October CMS!
Run the following command to migrate October CMS db:
cd /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/octoberapp
php artisan october:migrate
Adjust permissions:
find /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/octoberapp -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
find /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/octoberapp -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
chown -R apache:apache /var/www/focusnic.biz.id
Setup October CMS admin/backend via http://$DOMAIN/admin
Here is the October CMS admin dashboard view
Frontend demo view of October CMS
Troubleshooting
- AH00124: Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal redirects
After installing October CMS an error like the following appears in the Apache error_log:
AH00124: Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal redirects due to probable configuration error
or
AH01276: Cannot serve directory /var/www/domain/octoberapp/app/: No matching DirectoryIndex found
So the main cause is usually that the DocumentRoot is misdirected.
Cause:
- The VirtualHost is pointed to the
/appor/publicfolder as per the Laravel configuration. - October CMS places
index.phpdirectly in the root of the installation folder, not/publicor/app. - Apache cannot find
index.phpin the redirected location, so it tries to redirect repeatedly.
Solution:
Make sure DocumentRoot points directly to the root folder of the October CMS installation:
DocumentRoot /var/www/domain/octoberapp
<Directory /var/www/domain/octoberapp>
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
- Error “Composer Not Found”
If an error appears during installation:
bash: composer: command not found
Solution:
dnf install composer -y
Also make sure Composer is installed correctly:
composer -V
- Error Permission Denied
If October CMS can't create a file or directory, the problem is usually with permissions. Solution:
find /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/octoberapp -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
find /var/www/focusnic.biz.id/octoberapp -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
chown -R apache:apache /var/www/focusnic.biz.id
- Database Connection Error
If you receive an error saying you can't connect to the database:
- Make sure the username, password, and database name are correct.
- Try a manual connection:
mysql -u octoberuser -p
Conclusion
Installing October CMS on AlmaLinux 8 using the LAMP Stack is the right step to building a fast, secure, and flexible website. With the right configuration, we can achieve optimal performance. Ensure every step, from installing Apache, MariaDB, and PHP to configuring the Virtual Host, is carried out carefully.
For more optimal setup and maximum security, use Focusnic's server or cloud VPS installation services, ready to assist you from installation, configuration, and optimization.
Q: What is October CMS?
A: October CMS is a PHP-based CMS with a flexible Laravel framework suitable for various types of websites.
Q: Can October CMS run on AlmaLinux 8?
A: Yes, October CMS is fully compatible with AlmaLinux 8, especially if using a LAMP Stack with PHP 8.0 or later.
Q: Do you have to use Composer to install October CMS?
A: Yes, Composer is highly recommended because it simplifies installation and updating dependencies.
Q: Does October CMS have a /public folder like Laravel?
A: No. All core files and index.php are located in the installation root. There is no need to point DocumentRoot to /public.
Q: What if I still want to separate public and private folders like Laravel?
A: You can manually configure index.php by moving index.php to the public_html folder and resetting the path, but this requires additional modifications and is not recommended for standard installations.
Q: Is .htaccess required?
A: Yes. The .htaccess file in the root of October CMS is required for routing and URLs to work correctly.
Q: Can I use Nginx for October CMS?
A: Yes. However, the Nginx configuration is different and needs to be adjusted, especially for the rewrite rules in .htaccess.
Further References: