# Deploying PHP applications (on DigitalOcean)

*This is my very first hashnode post!*

So every time I want to deploy a Laravel app to a digital ocean droplet I encounter a number of issues, I decided to write it down somewhere so I can save my mind for my pets birthday ;)

This guide is probably useful for any Linux server, since I'm writing for ubuntu(18.04) droplets.

### A few things to get started
What's needed to run a server for a php application is:

- PHP itself
- MYSQL
- phpMyAdmin (I like to view my databases in a nice GUI)
- Composer
- Git(already installed in fresh ubuntu droplets)
- Nginx / Apache (but I will focus only on Nginx)
- Let's stop there for now!

First things first, you need to setup your droplet to handle a web application, here is a pretty great guide I use almost all the time. This will help you get your environment ready. 
[How To Install Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP on Ubuntu 18.04](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-linux-nginx-mysql-php-lemp-stack-ubuntu-18-04) 

### Deployment
Deployment is simply pulling your code from wherever it is into the `/var/www/html` directory in your new droplet. If you have your code in a git repository, then it should be as easy as `git pull`. I sincerely recommend you use git, *its good for your teeth* ;)

After pulling the code you may need to install whatever dependencies your app needs using [composer](https://getcomposer.org/). The first issue I always get is some php extensions missing which can prevent composer from installing the rest of the dependencies. To fix this, use this guide to install the missing extensions, [Installing php extensions](https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-php-on-ubuntu-18-04/) 

### Issues encountered (Laravel/WordPress applications)
#### 403(Access denied)
This error sometimes mean file/folder permissions are not properly set up, or the server blocks are not allowing `.php` files to be run.
To get around this, make sure the server block has `index.php` alongside index.html, index.htm etc.
Edit 
``` 
server {
        ....
        root /var/www/html/application;
        index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
        ....
} 
```

To
```
server {
        ....
        root /var/www/html/application;
        index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html index.php;
        ....
} 
```

#### 404(Page not found)
When I try to run the applications in `/var/www/html`, the first thing I notice is a `404!` error even though my Laravel routes are all setup. 

Edit 
``` 
location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
} 
```

To
```
location / {
        # First attempt to serve request as file, then
        # as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?q=$uri&$args; 
 }
```

Hopefully this helps anyone else facing issues after doing `everything needed`