FreeBSD Install Lighttpd Web Server

I’ve received couple of request about running Lighttpd web server under FreeBSD:

How do I install Lighttpd web server under FreeBSD along with MySQL 5 and PHP5?

lighttpd a secure, fast, compliant and very flexible web-server which has been optimized for high-performance environments. It has a very low memory footprint compared to other webservers and takes care of cpu-load. Its advanced feature-set (FastCGI, CGI, Auth, Output-Compression, URL-Rewriting and many more) make lighttpd the perfect webserver-software for every server that is suffering load problems. Installing lighttpd is quite simple under FreeBSD operating system using ports.

Lighttpd on FreeBSD

First update your port tree by typing following commands:
# portsnap fetch
# portsnap update

Install lighttpd web server under FreeBSD

Lighttpd port is located under /usr/ports/www/lighttpd:
# cd /usr/ports/www/lighttpd
Install lighttpd:
# make
# make install
# make clean

Install MySQL server

Install MySQL server:
# cd /usr/ports/databases/mysql50-server/
# make
# make install
# make clean

Also install mysql client support
# /usr/ports/databases/mysql50-client
# make
# make install
# make clean

Finally install mysql scripts:
# cd /usr/ports/databases/mysql50-scripts
# make
# make install
# make clean


Install php5 for lighttpd

Install PHP5 scripting:
# cd /usr/ports/lang/php5
# make
# make install
# make clean

Next you must install PHP5 extensions such as GB, mysql support and so on. At least select following extensions from menu:

• ctype: The ctype shared extension for php
• curl: The curl shared extension for php
• dom: The dom shared extension for php
• gd: The gd shared extension for php
• imap: The imap shared extension for php
• mbstring: The mbstring shared extension for php
• mcrypt: The mcrypt shared extension for php
• mysql: The mysql shared extension for php
• mysqli: The mysqli shared extension for php
• pcre: The pcre shared extension for php
• posix: The posix shared extension for php
• session: The session shared extension for php
• simplexml: The simplexml shared extension for php
• xml: The xml shared extension for php
• xmlreader: The xmlreader shared extension for php
• xmlwriter: The xmlwriter shared extension for php
• zlib: The zlib shared extension for php

Type the following command:
# cd /usr/ports/lang/php5-extensions
# make
# make install
# make clean


Auto start lighttpd and mysql service

You need to enable both services. Open /etc/rc.conf:
# vi /etc/rc.conf
Append following two lines:
mysql_enable="YES"
lighttpd_enable="YES"

Start Mysql Server Under FreeBSD

To start MySQL server, enter:
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql-server start

Start Lighttpd Server Under FreeBSD

To start Lighttpd server, enter:
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/lighttpd start

Verify that lighttpd is running:
# netstat -nat

FreeBSD Lighttpd configuration file location

• Config file location: /usr/local/etc/lighttpd.conf
• Default documentation root location : /usr/local/www/data/
• Default username and groupname : www

See also:

• Howto configure lighttpd php support by editing lighttpd.conf file

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