phpMyAdmin is a free web-based interface for managing MySQL/MariaDB databases. This guide installs phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS with Nginx and PHP 8.3.

Tested and valid on:

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS server
Nginx, MySQL, PHP 8.3-FPM installed
A user with sudo privileges

Step 1 – Install phpMyAdmin

Install from the Ubuntu repository:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install phpmyadmin -y

During installation: select apache2 if prompted (we’ll configure manually for Nginx), and set the application password when asked.

Step 2 – Create a Symlink for Nginx

Link phpMyAdmin to the web root:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/phpmyadmin /var/www/html/phpmyadmin

Step 3 – Configure Nginx

Add a location block to your Nginx server block:

location /phpmyadmin {
    root /var/www/html;
    index index.php;
    location ~ ^/phpmyadmin/.+.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Step 4 – Test and Reload Nginx

Validate configuration and reload:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 5 – Create a phpMyAdmin Admin User

Log into MySQL and create a dedicated phpMyAdmin user:

sudo mysql
CREATE USER 'pmauser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPmaPass123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'pmauser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 6 – Access phpMyAdmin

Open a browser and navigate to https://your_server_ip/phpmyadmin. Log in with your MySQL credentials.

Step 7 – Restrict Access by IP (recommended)

Inside the Nginx location block, add:

allow 203.0.113.0/24;   # your office IP range
deny all;

Conclusion

phpMyAdmin is now accessible on your Ubuntu 24.04 LTS server. Always restrict access to trusted IPs and use HTTPS to protect database credentials during transit.

How to Install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 24.04