Drupal 11 is an enterprise-grade open-source CMS and web application framework. Released in 2024, it requires PHP 8.3+ and modern extensions. This guide installs Drupal 11 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, PHP 8.3-FPM, MySQL 8.0 installed
  • Composer installed

Step 1 – Create the Database

Create a Drupal 11 database and user:

sudo mysql
CREATE DATABASE drupal11;
CREATE USER 'drupaluser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'DrupalPass123!';
GRANT ALL ON drupal11.* TO 'drupaluser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 2 – Install Drupal 11 via Composer

Create the project in the web root:

composer create-project drupal/recommended-project /var/www/drupal11

Step 3 – Install Required PHP Extensions

Drupal 11 requires these extensions:

sudo apt install php8.3-gd php8.3-dom php8.3-mbstring php8.3-pdo php8.3-xml php8.3-curl -y

Step 4 – Set Permissions

Set correct ownership and write permissions:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/drupal11
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/drupal11
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/drupal11/web/sites/default/files

Step 5 – Configure Nginx

Create a Drupal-optimised Nginx config:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/drupal11

Add:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name drupal.example.com;
    root /var/www/drupal11/web;
    index index.php;
    location / { try_files $uri /index.php?$query_string; }
    location ~ .php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Enable and reload:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/drupal11 /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 6 – Complete the Web Installer

Visit http://drupal.example.com and follow the installation wizard. Select the Standard profile, enter database credentials, and create the admin account.

Step 7 – Add SSL

Secure with Let’s Encrypt:

sudo certbot --nginx -d drupal.example.com

Conclusion

Drupal 11 is now installed on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. It is ready for enterprise content management. Enable caching, CDN integration, and Varnish for high-traffic deployments.