How to Install Neos CMS on FreeBSD 12

Neos is a Content Application Platform with a CMS and an application framework at its core. This guide will show you how to install Neos CMS on a fresh FreeBSD 12 server.

Requirements

• Nginx
• MySQL version 5.7.7 or greater, MariaDB version 10.2.2 or greater, or PostgreSQL version 9.4 or greater
• PHP version 7.1.0 or greater with the following modules:
  • mbstring
  • tokenizer
  • pdo_mysql

Before you begin

Check the FreeBSD version.

uname -ro
# FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE

Ensure that your FreeBSD system is up to date.

freebsd-update fetch install
pkg update && pkg upgrade -y

Install the necessary packages.

pkg install -y sudo vim unzip curl wget bash socat git

Create a new user account with your preferred username (we will use johndoe).

adduser

# Username: johndoe
# Full name: John Doe
# Uid (Leave empty for default): 
# Login group [johndoe]: 
# Login group is johndoe. Invite johndoe into other groups? []: wheel
# Login class [default]: 
# Shell (sh csh tcsh nologin) [sh]: bash
# Home directory [/home/johndoe]: 
# Home directory permissions (Leave empty for default): 
# Use password-based authentication? [yes]: 
# Use an empty password? (yes/no) [no]: 
# Use a random password? (yes/no) [no]: 
# Enter password: your_secure_password
# Enter password again: your_secure_password
# Lock out the account after creation? [no]: 
# OK? (yes/no): yes
# Add another user? (yes/no): no
# Goodbye!

Run the visudo command and uncomment the %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL line, to allow members of the wheel group to execute any command.

visudo

# Uncomment by removing hash (#) sign
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

Now, switch to your newly created user with su.

su - johndoe

NOTE: Replace johndoe with your username.

Set up the timezone.

sudo tzsetup

Install PHP

Install PHP, as well as the necessary PHP extensions.

sudo pkg install -y php72 php72-mbstring php72-tokenizer php72-pdo php72-pdo_mysql php72-openssl php72-hash php72-json php72-phar php72-filter php72-zlib php72-dom php72-xml php72-xmlwriter php72-xmlreader php72-pecl-imagick php72-curl php72-session php72-ctype php72-iconv php72-gd php72-simplexml php72-zip php72-filter php72-tokenizer php72-calendar php72-fileinfo php72-intl php72-mysqli php72-phar

Check the version.

php --version
# PHP 7.2.17 (cli) (built: Apr 13 2019 01:13:32) ( NTS )
# Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
# Zend Engine v3.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies

Soft-link php.ini-production to php.ini.

sudo ln -s /usr/local/etc/php.ini-production /usr/local/etc/php.ini

Enable and start PHP-FPM.

sudo sysrc php_fpm_enable=yes
sudo service php-fpm start

Install MariaDB and set up the database

Install MariaDB.

sudo pkg install -y mariadb102-client mariadb102-server

Check the version.

mysql --version
# mysql  Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.2.22-MariaDB, for FreeBSD12.0 (amd64) using readline 5.1

Start and enable MariaDB.

sudo sysrc mysql_enable="yes" 
sudo service mysql-server start

Run the mysql_secure_installation script to improve the security of your installation.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Log into MariaDB as the root user.

mysql -u root -p
# Enter password:

Create a new database and user. Remember the credentials for this new user.

CREATE DATABASE dbname CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
GRANT ALL ON dbname.* TO 'username' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

Install and configure Nginx

Install Nginx.

sudo pkg install -y nginx

Check the version.

nginx -v
# nginx version: nginx/1.14.2

Enable and start Nginx.

sudo sysrc nginx_enable=yes
sudo service nginx start

Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/neos.conf and set up Nginx for Neos CMS.

server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80;
  server_name example.com;
  root /usr/local/www/neos/Web;
  index index.php;
  location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
  }
  location ~ /.php$ {
    try_files $uri =404;
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    fastcgi_param FLOW_CONTEXT Production;
    fastcgi_param FLOW_REWRITEURLS 1;
  }
}

Save the file and exit with :+W+Q.

Now we need to include neos.conf in the main nginx.conf file.

Run sudo vim /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf and add the following line to the http {} block.

include neos.conf;

Test our Nginx configuration changes.

sudo nginx -t

Reload Nginx.

sudo service nginx reload

Install Composer

Install Composer globally by running the following script in your terminal.

php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"
php -r "if (hash_file('SHA384', 'composer-setup.php') === '48e3236262b34d30969dca3c37281b3b4bbe3221bda826ac6a9a62d6444cdb0dcd0615698a5cbe587c3f0fe57a54d8f5') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"
php composer-setup.php
php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

NOTE: In the command block listed above, the hash will change with every version of the installer. Visit Composer’s download page for the latest installation commands.

Check the version.

composer --version
# Composer version 1.8.5 2019-04-09 17:46:47

Install Neos CMS using Composer

Create a document root directory.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/www/neos

Change ownership of the /usr/local/www/neos directory to johndoe.

sudo chown -R johndoe:johndoe /usr/local/www/neos

Go to your document root directory.

cd /usr/local/www/neos

Install Neos CMS and all of its dependencies.

composer create-project --no-dev neos/neos-base-distribution .

Change ownership of the /usr/local/www/neos directory to www.

sudo chown -R www:www /usr/local/www/neos

Restart PHP-FPM.

sudo service php-fpm restart

Go to http://example.com/setup and follow the on-screen instructions.

You will get a confirmation that the setup has been completed, and that you can enter the front-end or back-end of your Neos website. To access Neos admin, append /neos to your website URL.