Installing Simbioza

These guides take you from an empty server to the first sign-in and routine maintenance. The English version follows three separate local installations of release 0.2.4: Apache mod_php, ordinary PHP-FPM and isolated PHP-FPM. Screenshots show the real English-language steps in the light theme. One-time setup URLs, passwords and private keys are deliberately omitted.

Module selection in the updated installer: all optional modules start selected. Deselect only those you do not want. The screenshots come from the earlier 0.2.4 release, where only Theme was preselected; their captions accurately describe that test.

Which mode should you choose?

We recommend isolated FPM for a new public site. If you administer only the application and not system services, ordinary FPM or mod_php may be more practical. Never make an entire release writable by the web user merely to enable graphical upgrades.

Before the first command

• Choose a public TLS URL, a release directory outside the public document root, and a PHP execution mode. For a subpath, include the prefix in both web-server routing and the installer base URL.
• Install PHP 8.2 or newer, Composer 2, Git, a web server, and the required PHP extensions. The wizard checks ctype, DOM, fileinfo, intl, mbstring, OpenSSL, PDO, XMLReader, ZIP, and the driver for your chosen database.
• Prepare SQLite, MySQL, or PostgreSQL. For MySQL/PostgreSQL, create an empty database and an application-specific account limited to that database; do not use a database administrator account in the app.
• Make sure the database, configuration, private data, and user files can be backed up and restored. Keep the first administrator credentials in a password manager.
• Verify that only public/ is served. The config/, data/, vendor/, and Git directories must not be publicly reachable.

The sequence for every mode

1. Fetch an exact release tag and install its Composer dependencies. Do not mix files from different tags.
2. Prepare the database and narrow write permissions. For mod_php and ordinary FPM, pre-install the optional packages you intend to select as the maintenance account.
3. Configure Apache or Nginx and, for FPM, its pool. Validate configuration syntax and the actual Unix identity of the PHP worker before opening the installer.
4. Create a one-time installer URL with bin/simbioza install:prepare. Never record or share its token.
5. In the browser, complete requirements, database connection, site identity and first administrator, review, and final installation in order.
6. Sign in as the first administrator, check modules and migrations, confirm that the installer is locked, load the public homepage, and make a restorable backup.

Three verified English installations

SimbiozaEN verifies mod_php, SimbiozaEN_FPM ordinary FPM, and SimbiozaEN_FPMsecured isolated FPM. Each has its own directory, SQLite database and first administrator. The isolated FPM supports GUI package management through its restricted helper.

Choose a complete procedure

• Apache mod_php — English wizard, configuration, first admin and maintenance
• PHP-FPM — ordinary and isolated modes, Apache and Nginx, English wizards and GUI package management

The child pages include every group of terminal commands used, the actual configurations, an explanation of each screen and post-login maintenance. Nginx was temporarily tested on loopback and then completely removed; the three English installations remain available locally for verification. Replace example directories, accounts, ports, hostnames and certificates for a public server.