In this video, we will see how to install and secure phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 20.04. phpMyAdmin was created to easily interact with MySQL databases using a web-based interface. I will assume that you have configured a non-root user on your ubuntu machine and installed the lamp stack.
We will also see how to enable password authentication on MySQL which supports socket-based authentication by default.
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<h2>Step 1 - Installing PHPMyAdmin&nbsp;</h2>
Let's update our server's package index
<pre class="language-bash"><code>sudo apt update</code></pre>
<img src="https://api.codewithharry.com/media/blogFiles/install-phpmyadmin-ubuntu/1.PNG" width="980" height="265" />
Run the following command to install phpMyAdmin and related packages
<pre class="language-bash"><code>sudo apt install phpmyadmin php-mbstring php-zip php-gd php-json php-curl</code></pre>
Using this command we installed the following packages:
<ul>
<li>php-mbstring: A module for managing non-ASCII strings with different encodings</li>
<li>php-zip: An extension that facilitates uploading .zip&nbsp;files to phpMyAdmin</li>
<li>php-gd: Enables support for GD graphics library</li>
<li>php-json: Provides support for JSON serialization</li>
<li>php-curl: Allows PHP to communicate with other servers</li>
</ul>
While installing PHPMyAdmin you will see a prompt that will ask you to select the webserver. Press &lt;Spacebar&gt; &lt;Tab&gt; and then enter key to continue the installation.
<img src="https://api.codewithharry.com/media/blogFiles/install-phpmyadmin-ubuntu/2.PNG" width="943" height="401" />
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You will also be asked to continue with dbconfig-common setup. Press enter to confirm.
<img src="https://api.codewithharry.com/media/blogFiles/install-phpmyadmin-ubuntu/3.PNG" width="949" height="426" />
Finally, choose and confirm a strong password for PHPMyAdmin. If you get a prompt asking for the services which need to be restarted, simply press the "tab" and then "enter" key to continue. Phpmyadmin is now installed on your Ubuntu server
<h2>Step 2 - Configuring password access in MySQL&nbsp;</h2>
to use MySQL we need to enable password login in MySQL. enter the following command to launch the MySQL console:
<pre class="language-bash"><code>sudo mysql</code></pre>
<img src="https://api.codewithharry.com/media/blogFiles/install-phpmyadmin-ubuntu/4a.PNG" width="951" height="291" />
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Now enter the following query to enable password authentication in MySQL&nbsp;
<pre class="language-bash"><code>ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password BY 'MyStrongPassword1234$';</code></pre>
<img src="https://api.codewithharry.com/media/blogFiles/install-phpmyadmin-ubuntu/5.png" width="955" height="559" />
Please make sure you choose your own password and not the one which I chose ('MyStrongPassword1234$')
You can always check the authentication method used by using the following MySQL query:
<pre class="language-bash"><code>SELECT user,authentication_string,plugin,host FROM mysql.user;
</code></pre>
Exit from the MySQL console by typing exit.
Now you can log in using your MySQL password by entering the following command to the MySQL console
<pre class="language-bash"><code>sudo mysql -u root -p
</code></pre>
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<h2>Step 3 - Configuring a non-root user in MySQL</h2>
Since its not a good idea to use root as your login user, we will create another MySQL user named harry to login to the PHPMyAdmin console:
Execute the following query:
<pre class="language-bash"><code>CREATE USER 'harry'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH caching_sha2_password BY 'MyStrongPassword1234$';
</code></pre>
This creates a user named harry with the password - 'MyStrongPassword1234$'
Let's provide this user all the privileges so that we can use it to access the PHPMyAdmin console. Execute the query below
<pre class="language-bash"><code>GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'harry'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
</code></pre>
You can now exit the MySQL shell:
<pre class="language-bash"><code>exit
</code></pre>
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<h2>Step 4 - Accessing phpMyAdmin&nbsp;</h2>
Go to the browser and type 'http://your_domain_or_IP/phpmyadmin' in your URL bar. You will see an option to log into your PHPMyAdmin console. Enter the username (harry in my case) and password you chose for this user.&nbsp;
<img src="https://api.codewithharry.com/media/blogFiles/install-phpmyadmin-ubuntu/6.PNG" width="930" height="496" />
You will be logged in to PHPMyAdmin.
<img src="https://api.codewithharry.com/media/blogFiles/install-phpmyadmin-ubuntu/6.PNG" width="988" height="527" />
Enjoy managing your MySQL databases with ease and security. Happy coding!

Installing phpMyAdmin and adding password authentication to MySQL on Ubuntu

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