How to create a fully functional AWS EC2/RDS PHP/MySQL installation complete with phpMyAdmin. Asumes that the user is using Windows for their remote access.

1. How to Create a fully functional
PHP/MySQL AWS EC2/RDS installation,
including phpMyAdmin

2. 1. First create an AWS EC2 instance and MySQL RDS instance following the instructions
found in AWS’s slideshare: “Your first week on Amazon EC2”, Days 1 through 3
2. Configure your Putty connectivity to your EC2 Server following the instructions found
@ http://docs.aws.amazon.com/gettingstarted/latest/wah-linux/getting-started-
deploy-app-connect.html
3. Install Apache on your server
• Using Putty, login to your EC2 instance as root (sudo su)
sudo yum install httpd
4. Verify that your httpd installation worked by going to
http://ec2-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.YOUR-REGION.compute.amazonaws.com/
where you *should* see the Amazon Linux AMI test page:

3. 5. Install and configure WinSCP for connectivity to your EC2 Server using the
Instructions found at http://avastechnology.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/setting-up-
winscp-for-aws-access/
6. Using WinSCP, upload a test file to /var/www/http (I like <?php phpinfo(); ?>, which
provides useful information). Go back to http://ec2-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.YOUR-
REGION.compute.amazonaws.com/TEST-FILE-NAME.php and make sure it renders
AOK.
7. If (so far=so good) then buy yourself a beer.

4. 8. Now we’re going to get phpMyAdmin to work with it…
9. As per the instructions found at https://gist.github.com/aronwoost/1105007
• Using Putty, login to your EC2 instance as root (sudo su)
• If you like, reinstall php and MySQL packages and other goodies:
sudo yum install https mod_ssl mysql mysql-server php php-mysql php-xml
10. As per the instructions @ http://superuser.com/questions/291230/how-to-install-
phpmyadmin-on-linux-ec2-instance
• Using Putty (as ec2-user)
• Download & unpack the latest version of phpMyAdmin:
cd /var/www/html
sudo chown ec2-user .
wget
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/phpmyadmin/files/phpMyAdmin/4.0.4.1/phpMyA
dmin-4.0.4.1-all-languages.tar.bz2
tar -jxf phpMyAdmin-4.0.4.1-all-languages.tar.bz2 -C /var/www/html
mv phpMyAdmin-4.0.4.1-all-languages phpmyadmin
rm -rf phpMyAdmin-4.0.4.1-all-languages.tar.bz2

5. 11. Returning to the instructions @ https://gist.github.com/aronwoost/1105007
• Using Putty, login to your EC2 instance as root (sudo su)
• Install phpMyAdmin
wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-
2.el5.rf.i386.rpm
sudo rpm –Uvh rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.i386.rpm
sudo yum install phpmyadmin
(or just skip all that & use: yum --enablerepo=epel install phpmyadmin)
12. Notice that either of the above techniques installed phpMyAdmin v2.11, and v 4.0.1
is now available, so decide that was a bad idea and uninstall phpmyadmin:
yum erase phpmyadmin

6. 13. Returning to the instructions @ https://gist.github.com/aronwoost/1105007
• Start the MySQL service
cd /etc/rc.d/init.d/
sudo ./mysqld start
sudo /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation (follow the instructions at the
prompts & note that you should not use the same password as in your
previously defined RDS instance for user: root in order to prevent imminent
confusion)
• Note that you now have a MySQL Server on your EC2 Instance, BUT THIS IS
PROBABLY NOT ONE THAT YOU REALLY WANT TO USE! Use your RDS MySQL for
data! So why did we bother?
• Set startup scripts for apache & MySQL:
cd /etc/rc.d/rc3.d
sudo rm K15httpd
sudo rm K36mysqld
sudo ln -s ../init.d/mysqld S30mysql
sudo ln -s ../init.d/httpd S85httpd
• Set up phpMyAdmin to allow access from external IPs:
sudo chmod 0700 /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf
(Oh! That’s why we bothered… because the config files persist through the
uninstall. How convenient…)

7. 13. (contd…)
• Set up aliases & Allow access from external IPs
sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/phpMyAdmin.conf
…
# Web application to manage MySQL
# #
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.1
Allow from PUT.YOUR.IP.HERE
#
Alias /phpmyadmin /usr/share/phpMyAdmin
Alias /phpMyAdmin /usr/share/phpMyAdmin
Alias /mysqladmin /usr/share/phpMyAdmin
…
• Set blowfish_secret to make it work with cookie auth
sudo chmod 0700 /usr/share/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php
sudo nano /usr/share/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php
…
$cfg['blowfish_secret'+ = ‘put-your-secret-magic –string-here';
…
sudo chmod 0755 /usr/share/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

8. 13. (contd…)
• Make mod_rewrite (.htaccess) work in subdirectories
cd /etc/httpd/conf
sudo nano httpd.conf
Find <Directory "/var/www/html">
Replace AllowOverride none with AllowOverride all
Save changes and exit
• Restart Apache
sudo service httpd restart
14. Test connectivity of phpMyAdmin by going to
http://ec2-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.your-region.compute.amazonaws.com/phpMyAdmin/
The phpMyAdmin login screen should appear:

9. 14. Use the loginID and password for the LOCAL MySQL installation on the EC2 server (the one
you won’t want to use in the future… we’re just making sure phpMyAdmin got set up
correctly).
15. If that worked, then modify the phpMyAdmin configuration file to point to your RDS instan
sudo nano /usr/share/phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php
Change host to
$cfg*‘Servers’+*$i+*‘host’+ =‘YOUR-RDS-HOST-STRING.rds.amazonaws.com’
Save & exit
16. Restart Apache
sudo service httpd restart

10. 17. Test connectivity of phpMyAdmin to your RDS MySQL DB by going back to the
phpMyAdmin login Screen.
18. This time use the loginID and password for the RDS MySQL Server.
19. Success!
20. Drink that beer! Heck, you deserve a 6-pack! You now have a fully functional AWS
EC2/RDS PHP/MySQL installation complete with phpMyAdmin. Congratulations!