phpMyAdmin Install Guide

Make sure you have a LAMP stack (Apache + MariaDB/MySQL + PHP):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server php php-mysql libapache2-mod-php php-mbstring php-zip php-gd php-json php-curl -y

Secure your database:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

sudo apt update
sudo apt install phpmyadmin -y

During install:

Select apache2 (SPACE to mark, TAB → OK)
dbconfig-common? → Yes
Set a strong application password

sudo phpenmod mbstring
sudo systemctl restart apache2

URL: http://your-server/phpmyadmin

Ubuntu 24.04 issue: root uses socket auth → password login fails.

sudo mysql
CREATE USER 'admin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YourVeryStrongPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'admin'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Login → Username: admin / your password

Change URL:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/conf-available/phpmyadmin.conf
# Change Alias /phpmyadmin → /secret-db
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Add basic auth:

sudo htpasswd -c /etc/phpmyadmin/.htpasswd youruser

Add inside <Directory>:

    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted"
    AuthUserFile /etc/phpmyadmin/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user

Enable HTTPS:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache -y
sudo certbot --apache

404? → sudo ln -s /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/ → restart
Blank page? → check /var/log/apache2/error.log
Login fails? → Use new user method