Pimcore on AWS EC2 Instance Installation

Pimcore is a powerful open-source platform for managing digital content, and AWS EC2 provides a flexible and scalable cloud infrastructure for running applications. In this article, we'll go through the steps to install Pimcore on an AWS EC2 instance.

Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Launch an EC2 instance

The first step is to launch an EC2 instance on AWS. You can choose an instance with the desired configuration and operating system. Make sure that the instance is accessible via SSH, and that the appropriate ports are open to allow web traffic.

Step 2: Update the instance

Once the instance is launched, connect to it via SSH and update the software packages by running the following command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Step 3: Install required packages

Pimcore requires several packages to be installed before it can be used. Install them by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install apache2 php7.4 php7.4-cli php7.4-curl php7.4-gd php7.4-intl php7.4-json php7.4-mbstring php7.4-mysql php7.4-xml libapache2-mod-php7.4 mysql-server-5.7 unzip

Step 4: Create a MySQL database

Pimcore requires a MySQL database to store its data. Create a new database and user by running the following command:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Once you're logged in to MySQL, run the following commands to create a new database and user:

CREATE DATABASE pimcore;
CREATE USER 'pimcoreuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON pimcore.* TO 'pimcoreuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Make sure to replace 'password' with a strong password of your choice.

Step 5: Download and extract Pimcore

Download the latest version of Pimcore from the official website (https://pimcore.com/en/resources/downloads), and extract it to the /var/www/html directory on the EC2 instance.

cd /var/www/html
sudo wget https://www.pimcore.org/download/pimcore-latest.zip
sudo unzip pimcore-latest.zip

Step 6: Configure Apache

Create a new virtual host for Pimcore by creating a new Apache configuration file:

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

Paste the following content into the file: 

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/pimcore

    <Directory /var/www/html/pimcore>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Make sure to replace "yourdomain.com" with your own domain name or the public IP address of your EC2 instance.

Enable the new virtual host by running the following command:

sudo a2ensite pimcore.conf

Restart Apache to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 7: Run the Pimcore installer

Open a web browser and go to http://yourdomain.com/install. This will launch the Pimcore installer. Follow the instructions to complete the installation process. When prompted for the database 

connection details, enter the following:

• Database Host: localhost
• Database Name: pimcore
• Database User: pimcoreuser
• Database Password: the password you set earlier

Follow the rest of the installation steps, which will include setting up a Pimcore administrator account and configuring the website settings.

Step 8: Configure HTTPS

It's recommended to use HTTPS to secure the Pimcore website. To configure HTTPS, you'll need to obtain an SSL certificate and configure Apache to use it. You can obtain a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt.

To install Let's Encrypt, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install certbot python3-certbot-apache

Once it's installed, run the following command to obtain a new SSL certificate:

sudo certbot --apache -d yourdomain.com

Follow the instructions to obtain the certificate, and then restart Apache to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Conclusion

In this article, we've gone through the steps to install Pimcore on an AWS EC2 instance. By following these steps, you should be able to get Pimcore up and running in no time. With its powerful content management and digital asset management features, Pimcore is an excellent choice for managing digital content. Running it on AWS EC2 provides the flexibility and scalability needed to handle even the largest content management projects.