Creating a Joomla website with a PostgreSQL database using the management console

To create an infrastructure for your Joomla website with a PostgreSQL database using the Yandex Cloud management console:

1. Get your cloud ready.
2. Create and set up a cloud network.
3. Create a VM for Joomla.
4. Create and configure a public DNS zone.
5. Add a TLS certificate to Yandex Certificate Manager.
6. Create a PostgreSQL DB cluster.
7. Set up your VM environment.
8. Configure Joomla.
9. Test the website.

If you no longer need the resources you created, delete them.

Get your cloud readyGet your cloud ready

Sign up for Yandex Cloud and create a billing account:

1. Go to the management console and log in to Yandex Cloud or create an account if you do not have one yet.
2. On the Yandex Cloud Billing page, make sure you have a billing account linked and it has the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you do not have a billing account, create one.

If you have an active billing account, you can go to the cloud page to create or select a folder for your infrastructure to operate in.

Learn more about clouds and folders.

Required paid resourcesRequired paid resources

The cost of hosting a Joomla-powered website includes:

• Fee for a continuously running VM (see Yandex Compute Cloud pricing).
• Fee for using a public IP address (see Yandex Virtual Private Cloud pricing).
• Fee for a PostgreSQL DB cluster (see Yandex Managed Service for PostgreSQL pricing).
• Fee for outbound traffic from Yandex Cloud to the internet (see Yandex Compute Cloud pricing).
• Fee for public DNS queries and DNS zones (see Yandex Cloud DNS pricing).

Set up a cloud networkSet up a cloud network

Create a cloud network and subnetsCreate a cloud network and subnets

Create security groupsCreate security groups

Create joomla-sg and postgresql-sg security groups to manage network access permissions for the VM and the Yandex Managed Service for PostgreSQL cluster.

Reserve a static public IP addressReserve a static public IP address

Reserve a static public IP address for the VM that will host your website.

Create a VM for JoomlaCreate a VM for Joomla

Create and configure a public DNS zoneCreate and configure a public DNS zone

You need to link the domain name you want to use for your website to the IP address of the new joomla-web-server VM. You can use Yandex Cloud DNS to manage the domain.

Delegate the domain nameDelegate the domain name

Delegation involves reassigning domain management from your registrar's servers to your own ones, which includes creating NS records.

To delegate a domain, specify the ns1.yandexcloud.net and ns2.yandexcloud.net DNS server addresses in the domain settings in your account on your domain registrar's website.

Delegation does not take effect immediately. It usually takes up to 24 hours (86,400 seconds) for internet service providers to update records. This depends on the TTL value which specifies how long domain records are cached.

You can check the domain delegation using Whois or the dig utility:

dig +short NS example.com

Result:

ns2.yandexcloud.net.
ns1.yandexcloud.net.

Create a public DNS zoneCreate a public DNS zone

Create a type A resource recordCreate a type A resource record

In your DNS zone, create a type A resource record pointing to the public IP address of the previously created VM:

Add a TLS certificate to Yandex Certificate ManagerAdd a TLS certificate to Yandex Certificate Manager

Create a new Let's Encrypt® certificate for your domain to enable secure access to your website over TLS:

1. Add the new certificate to Certificate Manager:

   Management console

   1. In the management console, select the folder to create your infrastructure in.
   2. From the list of services, select Certificate Manager.
   3. Click Add certificate and select Let's Encrypt certificate.
   4. In the window that opens, specify joomla-cert in the Name field.
   5. In the Domains field, specify your domain name, e.g., example.com.
   6. Select DNS as the domain rights check type.
   7. Click Create.

2. To successfully issue the certificate, pass the domain rights check:

   Management console

   1. In the management console, select the folder to create your infrastructure in.
   2. From the list of services, select Certificate Manager.
   3. In the list of certificates, select joomla-cert.
   4. In the window that opens, under Check rights for domains, select CNAME record.
   5. In the section below, click Create record and then, Create in the window that opens.

   The domain rights check may take from a few minutes to a few days. Wait until it is complete. As the result, the certificate will be issued and get the Issued status.

Create a PostgreSQL DB clusterCreate a PostgreSQL DB cluster

Set up your VM environmentSet up your VM environment

At this step, you will prepare the VM environment to deploy and set up Joomla.

1. Export the joomla-cert TLS certificate to your local computer:

   Management console

   1. In the management console, select the folder to create your infrastructure in.
   2. In the list of services, select Certificate Manager and choose joomla-cert.
   3. In the top panel, click Export certificate, select Certificate without private key, and click Download certificate. A file with the certificate.pem certificate will be saved to your computer.
   4. Repeat the previous step and download the private key by selecting Private key only. Rename the downloaded private key file to private_key.pem.
   5. Save the downloaded certificate.pem and private_key.pem files: you will need them to configure the web server.

2. Copy the certificate and private key to the VM:

   scp ./certificate.pem yc-user@<VM_IP_address>:certificate.pem \
     && scp ./private_key.pem yc-user@<VM_IP_address>:private_key.pem
   

   Where <VM_IP_address> is the public IP address of the previously created joomla-web-server VM.

   You can find the VM IP address in the management console on the VM page under Network.

   If this is your first time connecting to the VM, you will get this unknown host warning:

   The authenticity of host '51.250.**.*** (51.250.**.***)' can't be established.
   ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:PpcKdcT09gjU045pkEIwIU8lAXXLpwJ6bKC********.
   This key is not known by any other names
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?
   

   Type yes into the terminal and press Enter.

3. Connect to the VM over SSH:

   ssh yc-user@<VM_IP_address>
   

4. Create a directory for the certificate and move the copied files there:

   sudo mkdir /etc/ssl-certificates
   sudo mv certificate.pem /etc/ssl-certificates/
   sudo mv private_key.pem /etc/ssl-certificates/
   

5. Upgrade the versions of the packages installed on the VM:

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   

6. Install and run the Apache HTTP server:

   sudo apt install apache2
   sudo systemctl start apache2 && sudo systemctl enable apache2
   

7. Install PHP with the required libraries:

   sudo apt install php libapache2-mod-php php-common php-pgsql php-xml php-mbstring php-curl php-zip php-intl php-json unzip
   

8. Download and unpack the Joomla package:

   Note

   This example uses a link to Joomla 5.2.4, the latest version at the time of writing this guide. To check for a newer version and get the download link, visit the project website.

   wget https://downloads.joomla.org/cms/joomla5/5-2-4/Joomla_5-2-4-Stable-Full_Package.zip -O Joomla.zip
   sudo rm /var/www/html/index.html
   sudo unzip Joomla.zip -d /var/www/html
   rm Joomla.zip
   

9. Set up access permissions for the website directory:

   sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html
   sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html
   

10. Change the number of the default port used by Joomla to access PostgreSQL databases: Yandex Managed Service for PostgreSQL uses port 6432.

    1. Open the Joomla database access driver configuration file:

       sudo nano /var/www/html/libraries/vendor/joomla/database/src/Pdo/PdoDriver.php
       

    2. In the file, find the section with PostgreSQL database settings and change the port number from 5432 to 6432:

       ...
       case 'pgsql':
       $this->options['port'] = $this->options['port'] ?? 6432;
       ...
       

       Make sure to save your changes.

11. Configure a virtual host for your website:

    1. Create a virtual host configuration file:

       sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/joomla.conf
       

    2. Add the following configuration into the file:

       <VirtualHost *:80>
           ServerAdmin admin@localhost
           DocumentRoot /var/www/html
           ServerName <domain_name>
       
           <Directory /var/www/html>
               Options FollowSymLinks
               AllowOverride All
               Require all granted
           </Directory>
       
           ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/joomla_http_error.log
           CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/joomla_http_access.log combined
       </VirtualHost>
       
       <VirtualHost *:443>
           ServerAdmin admin@localhost
           DocumentRoot /var/www/html
           ServerName <domain_name>
       
           ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/joomla_ssl_error.log
           CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/joomla_ssl_access.log combined
       
           SSLEngine on
           SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl-certificates/certificate.pem
           SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/ssl-certificates/certificate.pem
           SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl-certificates/private_key.pem
       </VirtualHost>
       

       Where <domain_name> is the domain name of your website, e.g., example.com.

12. Activate the virtual host and restart the web server:

    sudo a2ensite joomla.conf
    sudo a2enmod rewrite
    sudo a2enmod ssl
    sudo systemctl restart apache2
    

Configure JoomlaConfigure Joomla

1. Get the Managed Service for PostgreSQL cluster host names (you will need them when installing Joomla):

   Management console

   1. In the management console, select the folder with the cluster. From the list of services, select Managed Service for PostgreSQL.
   2. Select the joomla-pg-cluster cluster and open the Hosts tab.
   3. Hover over the Host FQDN field in the row with each host and click to copy the host FQDN. Save the values you copied, as you will need them later.

2. Install and configure Joomla:

   1. Open the Joomla setup wizard in your browser. At this step, you can access it using any of these addresses:

      • http://<VM_public_IP_address>
      • http://<your_domain_name>
      • https://<your_domain_name>

   2. When configuring database parameters, fill in the following fields:

      • Database type: PostgreSQL (PDO).

      • Host name:

        <host_1_name>,<host_2_name>,<host_3_name>
        

        Where <host_1_name>, <host_2_name>, and <host_3_name> are the Managed Service for PostgreSQL cluster host FQDNs you copied at the previous step.

      • Database username: joomla.

      • Database user password: DB user password set when creating the PostgreSQL cluster.

      • Database name: joomla_db.

      • Connection encryption: Keep the default value.

   3. Joomla may prompt you to create or delete a specific test file in the product installation directory on the VM for security purposes. Navigate to the /var/www/html/installation/ directory and create or delete the specified file there:

      You are trying to connect to a database host that is not available on 
      your local server. You need to verify ownership of the hosting 
      account. Read the information provided on the **Secure 
      installation procedure** page.
      
      To verify your ownership of the website, delete 
      `_JoomlazUZKusLnD2jXi********.txt` from the `installation` directory and click 
      **Install Joomla** to continue.
      

3. After installation is complete, delete the installation directory from the VM. This is a Joomla security requirement:

   sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/installation
   

If you encounter any issues while installing Joomla, use this guide on the project website.

Test the websiteTest the website

After Joomla installation is complete, enter your website’s IP address or domain name in the browser to test the site:

• http://<VM_public_IP_address>
• http://example.com
• https://example.com

Now you can further configure your website and add content using the Joomla admin interface and tools.

How to delete the resources you createdHow to delete the resources you created

To stop paying for the resources you created:

1. Delete the joomla-web-server VM.
2. Delete the static public IP address.
3. Delete the Managed Service for PostgreSQL cluster named joomla-pg-cluster.
4. Delete the DNS records and then delete the joomla-zone DNS zone.
5. Delete the joomla-cert TLS certificate.
6. Delete the joomla-sg and postgresql-sg security groups.
7. Delete the joomla-subnet-a, joomla-subnet-b, and joomla-subnet-d subnets.
8. Delete the joomla-network cloud network.

See alsoSee also

• Creating a Joomla website with a PostgreSQL database using Terraform