Nginx with PHP and MySQL on Windows 7
April 21, 2016 Windows Development 12 CommentsIn the past, whenever I needed a web server on Windows, I would install the XAMPP distribution (comes with Apache, PHP, and MySQL) and call it a day. This time, I wanted to use Nginx instead of Apache as the web server. Below are the steps I took to install Nginx, PHP and MySQL separately on Windows 7.
Install Nginx
Nginx is pretty easy to install on Windows. Just do the following:
- Download the latest Nginx for windows version. (Currently, only 32-bit versions are available.)
- Unzip to a directory like “c:\nginx”.
- Create two subdirectories which “nginx.exe” expects to exist:
mkdir c:\nginx\logs
mkdir c:\nginx\temp - If you want to change the document root from the default “c:\nginx\html” and/or enable directory listing, edit the “c:\nginx\conf\nginx.conf” file and adjust the global “location /” declaration like so:
location / {
#root html; # comment out default root at "nginx_install_dir\html"
root /www; # use new root "c:\www" (assuming nginx is install on c: drive)
index index.html index.htm;
autoindex on; # Add this to enable directory listing
} - To run the Nginx web server, launch the “Command Prompt” and issue these commands:
# Go to Nginx installation directory
c:
cd \nginx
# Start Nginx
start nginx.exeNotes:
- Running “c:\nginx\nginx.exe” without changing to the “c:\nginx” directory will fail because Nginx will look for the log and temp subdirectories, which won’t exist under another directory.
- The “start” command will launch Nginx in a separate window; otherwise, Nginx would take control of the current “Command Prompt” window. That separate window will appear and quickly disappear.
- It is not necessary to run the “Command Prompt” as an administrator.
- Browse to http://localhost/ . You should see a “Welcome to nginx!” page.
- To quit Nginx, in the “Command Prompt” window, do the following:
# Go to Nginx installation directory
c:
cd \nginx
# Quit Nginx
nginx.exe -s quitIf you have started Nginx more than once, the quit command above will only kill the last Nginx process started. To kill all Nginx processes, run the following:
taskkill /F /IM nginx.exe
To avoid launching multiple instances of Nginx, I created the following “intelligent” Nginx start and stop batch script files.
Create a file named “start_nginx.bat” with the content below:
@ECHO OFF
REM Start Nginx
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq nginx.exe" 2>NUL | find /I /N "nginx.exe">NUL
IF NOT "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="0" (
REM Nginx is NOT running, so start it
c:
cd \nginx
start nginx.exe
ECHO Nginx started.
) else (
ECHO Nginx is already running.
)
REM Start Nginx
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq nginx.exe" 2>NUL | find /I /N "nginx.exe">NUL
IF NOT "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="0" (
REM Nginx is NOT running, so start it
c:
cd \nginx
start nginx.exe
ECHO Nginx started.
) else (
ECHO Nginx is already running.
)
And create a file named “stop_nginx.bat” with this content:
@ECHO OFF
REM Stop Nginx
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq nginx.exe" 2>NUL | find /I /N "nginx.exe">NUL
IF "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="0" (
REM Nginx is currently running, so quit it
c:
cd \nginx
nginx.exe -s quit
ECHO Nginx quit issued.
) else (
ECHO Nginx is not currently running.
)
REM Stop Nginx
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq nginx.exe" 2>NUL | find /I /N "nginx.exe">NUL
IF "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="0" (
REM Nginx is currently running, so quit it
c:
cd \nginx
nginx.exe -s quit
ECHO Nginx quit issued.
) else (
ECHO Nginx is not currently running.
)
Install and Configure PHP
To install PHP on Windows:
- Browse to php.net, click on the “Windows downloads” link, and download the latest thread safe version. Either 32-bit or 64-bit versions will work.
- Unzip to a directory, like “c:\nginx\php”.
- Select a PHP configuration (I recommend the development version):
copy c:\nginx\php\php.ini-development c:\nginx\php\php.ini
We will run the “c:\nginx\php\php-cgi.exe” server to allow Nginx to execute PHP scripts using the FastCGI protocol.
- Edit “c:\nginx\conf\nginx.conf” to uncomment the FastCGI section and update the fastcgi_param entries like so:
# pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000
#
location ~ \.php$ {
root html;
fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_index index.php;
#fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /scripts$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_METHOD $request_method;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}Notes:
- Don’t forget to update the “root” location value if you are not using the default “c:\nginx\html” directory.
- The fastcgi_param values are recommended extra parameters passed to PHP scripts for their optional use.
- Add the following to the bottom of the “start_nginx.bat” file:
REM Start php-cgi
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq php-cgi.exe" 2>NUL | find /I /N "php-cgi.exe">NUL
IF NOT "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="0" (
REM php-cgi is NOT running, so start it
start /min c:\nginx\php\php-cgi.exe -b localhost:9000 -c c:\nginx\php\php.ini
ECHO php-cgi started.
) else (
ECHO php-cgi is already running.
)Notes:
- Use localhost instead of 127.0.0.1 to support both IPv4 and IPv6 addressing (if it is enabled). 127.0.0.1 was not resolvable on my IPv6-enabled Windows installation. (Strangely, using 127.0.0.1 in the nginx.conf’s FastCGI section above is okay though.)
- Unfortunately, “start php-cgi.exe” will show a separate “Command Prompt” window which will remain visible; the “/min” parameter flag is used to minimize that window. If you really want to prevent that window from appearing, you’ll need to use a VBScript to execute the batch file.
- The order in which Nginx and php-cgi are launched does not matter.
- The PHP distribution has a “php-win.exe” file which supposedly is the same as “php-cgi.exe” but without throwing up a “Command Prompt” window; however, I could not get “php-win.exe” to run as a server.
- Add the following to the bottom of the “stop_nginx.bat” file:
REM Stop php-cgi
tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq php-cgi.exe" 2>NUL | find /I /N "php-cgi.exe">NUL
IF "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="0" (
REM php-cgi is currently running, so quit it
taskkill /f /IM php-cgi.exe
ECHO php-cgi killed.
) else (
ECHO php-cgi is not currently running.
) - Create a PHP test script at “c:\nginx\html\info.php”with the following content:
<?php
phpinfo();
?> - Run “start_nginx.bat” to launch Nginx and php-cgi. Browse to http://localhost/info.php and you should see information about the PHP installation.
Install MySQL
Let’s get MySQL up and running:
- Download the latest MySQL Community Server. I suggest the “ZIP Archive” distributions, either the 32-bit or 64-bit version. Click the Download button. You don’t need to log in to download, just click the “No thanks, just start my download” link at the bottom of the page.
- Unzip to a directory like “c:\nginx\mysql”.
- Select the default MySQL configuration:
copy c:\nginx\mysql\my-default.ini c:\nginx\mysql\my.ini
- Initialize MySQL by running the “Command Prompt” as an administrator (so Windows registry keys and service can be created) and these commands:
# Current directory must be the MySQL installation directory
cd c:\nginx\mysql
# Initialize database with root user and blank password
bin\mysqld --initialize-insecure
# Install MySQL as a Windows service
bin\mysqld --install-manual
# Start MySQL Server service
net start mysql - Test by running these commands (administrator privileges not required):
# Run MySQL client, skipping password input since blank
c:\nginx\mysql\bin\mysql.exe -u root --skip-password
# Run some commands and a query
mysql> SHOW databases;
mysql> USE mysql;
mysql> SHOW tables;
mysql> DESC user;
mysql> SELECT * FROM user;
# Assign new root password
mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password';
# Quit MySQL client
mysql> quit;
# Run MySQL client with password prompt
c:\nginx\mysql\bin\mysql.exe -u root -p
# Input the new_password - Enable PHP mysqli extension by uncommenting the line below in “c:\nginx\php\php.ini”:
extension=php_mysqli.dll
- Create a test script named mysql.php with the following content:
<?php
// HTML response header
header('Content-type: text/plain');
// Database connection parameters
$DB_HOST = 'localhost';
$DB_PORT = 3306; // 3306 is default MySQL port
$DB_USER = 'root';
$DB_PASS = ''; // blank or new_password
$DB_NAME = 'mysql'; // database instance name
// Open connection (all args can be optional or NULL!)
$mysqli = new mysqli($DB_HOST, $DB_USER, $DB_PASS, $DB_NAME, $DB_PORT);
if ($mysqli->connect_error) {
echo 'Connect Error (' . $mysqli->connect_errno . ') ' . $mysqli->connect_error . PHP_EOL;
} else {
// Query users
if ($result = $mysqli->query('SELECT User FROM user')) {
echo 'Database users are:' . PHP_EOL;
for ($i = 0; $i < $result->num_rows; $i++) {
$result->data_seek($i);
$row = $result->fetch_assoc();
echo $row['User'] . PHP_EOL;
}
$result->close();
} else {
echo 'Query failed' . PHP_EOL;
}
}
// Close connection
$mysqli->close();
?> - Run “stop_nginx.bat” followed by “start_nginx.bat” to restart Nginx and php-cgi processes. Browse to http://localhost/mysql.php and you should see a listing of the MySQL database users.
- You can stop and/or uninstall the MySQL Server service by running “Command Prompt” as an administrator and issuing these commands:
# Stop MySQL Server service
net stop mysql
# Uninstall MySQL Server service
sc delete mysql
You don’t have to run MySQL Server as a Windows service. Instead, you can run MySQL Server from the “Command Prompt” (administrator privileges not required) like so:
# Start MySQL Server
c:\nginx\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe
# Stop MySQL Server
c:\nginx\mysql\bin\mysqladmin.exe -u root shutdown
c:\nginx\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe
# Stop MySQL Server
c:\nginx\mysql\bin\mysqladmin.exe -u root shutdown
Unfortunately, the “mysqld.exe” will take control of the “Command Prompt” window and the “start” command does not work in this case, so you will need to open a second “Command Prompt” window in order to issue the shutdown command.
Some info taken from:
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