Sorry for my ignorance, I'm new to nginx.
I'm trying to setup a new server with phpbb running. Its debian 10 (buster). followed this guide to setup:

https://hostup.org/blog/how-to-install-nginx-and-php-7-3-on-debian-10/

Then I used parts of this guide to get phpbb configured:

https://websiteforstudents.com/install-phpbb-on-ubuntu-17-04-17-10-with-nginx-mariadb-and-php-support/

The reason I used seperate guides was OS specific differences.

I'm done and I have phpbb loaded in /var/shared/nginx/html. When I open the root page, it takes me to the phpbb pre-installer page. seems fine! but when I click install, it takes me to http://phpbb/install/app.php/install and 404s. for clearification, I have an entry in my local computers host file directing phpbb to the servers IP.

I remember an option somewhere indicating I needed to test the site config, but I cant find it and nginx -t jus tchecks nginx's own configuration... am I missing something?

additional notes: I have phpbb and an index.php inside the /var/shared/nginx/html folder. I move the original html folder to html.old and moved phpbb to that location so the original index.html is not present... and yet when I go to the servers actual IP address, I get the nginx "welcome" page... so now I KNOW somethings not right.

I'm happy to post my config files, but I'm new to the forum so I don't want to just post them unless that's the acceptable thing to do (most forums frown on that).

I see a few issues with the article on setting up phpBB. There will be problems (suffering these problems myself at the moment) because of the laziness of many authors who simply assumes a lot on the part of their readers.

So, first of all, make sure the version of Nginx you installed has the URL rewrite capability. Use the command "nginx -V" (use 'sudo' if necessary) to get an output of the compile configuration statement.

See: http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#load_module

It seems as of Nginx 1.9, one can use the 'load_module' directive to engage the rewrite module -- assuming it is in Nginx's modules folders (several folders are used).

The question is, where to get the modules? See:
https://www.nginx.com/blog/nginx-dynamic-modules-how-they-work/
Part 3:32 seems to imply one still needs to do some compile work. I don't know. This is where I am stuck.

Anyway, the phpBB config script seems to be missing a 'location' for @rewriteapp. We will need to explore how that gets formatted.

Then, it seems this config script's 'server' is waiting for 'example.com' -- unless you have changed it to 'phpbb'. Your initial tests suggest that this is all working.

Note: Actually, I use a capability in my pfSense firewall to redirect certain web addresses to a sever in-house. But a hosts file should also work. Additionally, I strive to make the web addresses that point to my in-house server look like real web addresses. So, as a suggestion, in your hosts file, use "phpbb.rudepeople.com" to point to your server box.

Then, the phpBB config script would have:

server_name php.rudepeople.com;

Don't use the server's actual IP address because the phpBB config script isn't looking for an IP address. It wants to see the "server_name". Not having seen the designated "server_name", the default Nginx Welcome screen gets displayed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2020 12:37AM by bsmither.