Adminer is an open-source tool for managing multiple databases via a web-based interface. It is an alternative to phpMyAdmin and supports several databases such as MariaDB, MySQL, SQLite, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch. It is lightweight, user-friendly, and has a clean interface that makes it easy to use and learn.

Step 1 – Install Apache and PHP

First, you will need a web server installed on your server. You can install the Apache server with PHP packages using the following command.

apt install apache2 php php-fpm php-curl libapache2-mod-php php-cli php-mysql php-gd -y

Once the Apache package is installed, start and enable the Apache service using the following command.

systemctl enable --now apache2

You can verify the status of the Apache using the following command.

systemctl status apache2

Output.

● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sun 2023-10-29 02:19:29 UTC; 2s ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
    Process: 17665 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 17669 (apache2)
      Tasks: 6 (limit: 2242)
     Memory: 20.2M
        CPU: 108ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─17669 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─17670 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─17671 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─17672 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─17673 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─17674 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Step 2 – Install MySQL Server

You will also need a database server to test the Adminer. Let’s install the MySQL server package with the following command.

apt install mysql-server -y

Once the MySQL server is installed, run the mysql_secure_installation script to secure the installation.

mysql_secure_installation

Answer all the questions as shown below:

Enter current password for root (enter for none):
Switch to unix_socket authentication [Y/n] Y
Change the root password? [Y/n] Y //Enter the password you want to set for MySQL root user
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y

Next, log in to the MySQL server.

mysql

Then, set the MySQL root password.

ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'securepassword';

Next, create a sample database and user.

CREATE DATABASE adminerdb;
CREATE USER 'adminer'@'%' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';
GRANT ALL ON adminerdb.* TO 'adminer'@'%';

Next, flush the privileges to reload the changes.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Finally, exit from the MySQL shell.

EXIT;

Step 3 – Install Adminer

By default, the Adminer package is included in the Ubuntu default repository. You can install it using the following command.

apt install adminer -y

Once the Adminer is installed, enable the Adminer configuration file with the following command.

a2enconf php*-fpm
a2enconf adminer

Next, restart the Apache service to apply the changes.

systemctl restart apache2

Step 4 – Access Adminer Web UI

Now, open your web browser and access the Adminer web UI using the URL http://your-server-ip/adminer. You will see the Adminer web interface.

adminer login page

Provide your database username, password, and database, and click on the connect button. You will see the following screen.

adminer dashboard page

You can now manage your database easily from the Adminer dashboard.

Conclusion

In this post, you learned how to install Adminer on Ubuntu 22.04. You can now connect more database servers via Adminer and start managing them from the web-based interface. Try to deploy the Adminer database management tool on dedicated server hosting from Atlantic.Net!