Web Development¶

Apache2

• Memory use = High | Multithreaded = Yes

It is feature-rich and popular. It is recommended for beginners and users who are looking to follow Apache2 based guides.

Nginx

• Memory use = Medium | Multithreaded = Yes

It is a lightweight alternative to Apache2 and claims⁴ faster webserver performance compared to Apache2. It is ideal for medium-high traffic situations where Lighttpd will suffer.

Lighttpd

• Memory use = Low | Multithreaded = Optional - Some drawbacks

It is extremely lightweight and is generally considered to offer the “best” webserver performance on Linux for SBCs (single board computers). It is recommended for users who expect low webserver traffic and/or personal use.

Although the DietPi installation of Lighttpd is set to single threaded, do not be put off by this, in low usage scenarios (<10 users) it will still outperform Nginx and Apache2. Activation of multithreading is described in the Lighttpd package description.

MariaDB
It is an open source RDBMS (relational data base management system). It is application compatible to MySQL, i.e. it can be used as a drop in replacement for MySQL. It has more features, fewer bugs, and a better performance compared to MySQL.

SQLite
It is an RDBMS, also compatible to MySQL. It offers a broader language support (i.e. more bindings to programming languages) compared to MariaDB. SQLite has a very small footprint. As drawbacks, it has no multi user capabilities and a couple of SQL features are missing.

Using this option you select the complete web stack for installation. Just select the web stack you want to install and do the installation via the Install execution within dietpi-software.

Using this option you only select the webserver for use in DietPi installations.
When you select any software for installation that requires a webserver (e.g. Pi-hole, Nextcloud, Webmin, installed via Software Optimized), DietPi will automatically install, configure and optimize your chosen webserver preference. DietPi will also install MariaDB / SQLite as required, depending on your software selections. Basically, you will never need to manually select/install a webserver stack again. DietPi will do it all for you.

Access website:

• URL = http://<your.IP> or http://<your.host.name>
• Local directory = /var/www

Access PHP info page:

• URL = http://<your.IP>/phpinfo.php

Access memory cache info:

• APCu = http://<your.IP>/apc.php
• OPcache = http://<your.IP>/opcache.php

For database, check MariaDB details.

Let’s Encrypt is highly recommended - see here how to install. This will automate the creation and setup of your free SSL cert.

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/ssl
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 1000 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.key -out /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.crt

chmod 600 /etc/apache2/ssl/*
cat << '_EOF_' > /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl.conf
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    <VirtualHost _default_:443>
            ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
            ServerName example.com:443
            DocumentRoot /var/www

            LogLevel error
            ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
            #CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

            SSLEngine on

            SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.crt
            SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.key

            <FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
                            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
            </FilesMatch>
            <Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin>
                            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
            </Directory>
        </VirtualHost>
    </IfModule>
_EOF_
a2ensite ssl
systemctl restart apache2

Access website:

• URL = https://<your.IP> or https://<your.host.name>

Access website:

• URL = http://<your.IP> or http://<your.host.name>
• Local directory = /var/www

Access memory cache info:

• APCu = http://<your.IP>/apc.php
• OPcache = http://<your.IP>/opcache.php

Let’s Encrypt is highly recommended - see here how to install. This will automate the creation and setup of your free SSL cert.

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/ssl
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 1000 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.key -out /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.crt

chmod 600 /etc/apache2/ssl/*
cat << '_EOF_' > /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl.conf
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    <VirtualHost _default_:443>
            ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
            ServerName example.com:443
            DocumentRoot /var/www

            LogLevel error
            ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
            #CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

            SSLEngine on

            SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.crt
            SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.key

            <FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
                            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
            </FilesMatch>
            <Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin>
                            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
            </Directory>
        </VirtualHost>
    </IfModule>
_EOF_
a2ensite ssl
systemctl restart apache2

Access website:

• URL = https://<your.IP> or https://<your.host.name>

Access website:

• URL = http://<your.IP> or http://<your.host.name>

Access PHP info page:

• URL = http://<your.IP>/phpinfo.php

Access memory cache info:

• APCu = http://<your.IP>/apc.php
• OPcache = http://<your.IP>/opcache.php

For database, check MariaDB details.

Let’s Encrypt is highly recommended - see here how to install. This will automate the creation and setup of your free SSL cert.

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/ssl
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 1000 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.key -out /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.crt

chmod 600 /etc/apache2/ssl/*
cat << '_EOF_' > /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl.conf
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    <VirtualHost _default_:443>
            ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
            ServerName example.com:443
            DocumentRoot /var/www

            LogLevel error
            ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
            #CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

            SSLEngine on

            SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.crt
            SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.key

            <FilesMatch "\.(cgi|shtml|phtml|php)$">
                            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
            </FilesMatch>
            <Directory /usr/lib/cgi-bin>
                            SSLOptions +StdEnvVars
            </Directory>
        </VirtualHost>
    </IfModule>
_EOF_
a2ensite ssl
systemctl restart apache2

Access website:

• URL = https://<your.IP> or https://<your.host.name>

Access website:

• URL = http://<your.IP> or http://<your.host.name>

Access memory cache info:

• APCu = http://<your.IP>/apc.php
• OPcache = http://<your.IP>/opcache.php

Let’s Encrypt is highly recommended - see here how to install. This will automate the creation and setup of your free SSL cert.

Access website:

• URL = https://<your.IP> or https://<your.host.name>

Access website:

• URL = http://<your.IP> or http://<your.host.name>
• Local directory = /var/www

Access PHP info page:

• URL = http://<your.IP>/phpinfo.php

Access memory cache info:

• APCu = http://<your.IP>/apc.php
• OPcache = http://<your.IP>/opcache.php

For database, check MariaDB details.

Let’s Encrypt is highly recommended - see here how to install. This will automate the creation and setup of your free SSL cert.

Access website:

• URL = https://<your.IP> or https://<your.host.name>

Access website:

• URL = http://<your.IP> or http://<your.host.name>
• Local directory = /var/www

Access PHP info page:

• URL = http://<your.IP>/phpinfo.php

Access memory cache info:

• APCu = http://<your.IP>/apc.php
• OPcache = http://<your.IP>/opcache.php

For database, check MariaDB details.

Let’s Encrypt is highly recommended - see here how to install. This will automate the creation and setup of your free SSL cert.

Access website:

• URL = https://<your.IP> or https://<your.host.name>

The web development stack could be also individually installed. This option offers more flexibility giving the opportunity to select:

• Webserver

Depending on your needs, you may choose the web server that fits best your needs. In case Lighttpd is not the right choice, you could continue with Apache Web Server, Nginx or Tomcat webserver.

• Database

You may choose to install MariaDB or other available databases like InfluxDB, Redis, SQLite.

After the installation, check if Lighttpd service is running on http://<your.IP>.

Multithreading is supported by Lighttpd and can be enabled in the configuration file /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf. Change the value of 4 to your total core count:

server.max-worker = 4

Then restart services:

systemctl restart lighttpd

The web interface is accessible via port 8080:

• URL = http://<your.IP>:8080

As root user, run mariadb from command line, no separate authentication required. But note that this won’t work via sudo, but an interactive root user shell session is required.

• Username = root
• Password = The same as your root login password, default is dietpi

• URL = http://<your.IP>/phpmyadmin
• Username = phpmyadmin
• Password = The same as your root login password, default is dietpi

To create a database and run commands, use the quick start documentation.

The first thing to do in order to check Redis is working properly is sending a PING command:

redis-cli ping

For more commands and an introduction to Redis data types and commands, read the quick start documentation.

After the installation, the data transfers are made via the HTTP requests, and are handled directly by the InfluxDB service running on http://<your.IP>:8086.

• Create a database using influxdb via command line tool.

influx -execute 'create database myfirstdb'

• Create a database using a HTTP request and curl tool:

curl -i -XPOST http://<your.IP>:8086/query --data-urlencode "q=CREATE DATABASE myfirstdb"

• Post data

curl -i -XPOST 'http://<your.IP>:8086/write?db=myfirstdb' --data-binary 'temperature value=20.12'

• Retrieve and display data from the database

influx -database myfirstdb -execute 'SELECT * FROM temperature'

Create users and authorizations from influx CLI

influx -username admin -password admin01

CREATE USER admin WITH PASSWORD 'admin01' WITH ALL PRIVILEGES
CREATE USER test_user WITH PASSWORD 'test_user01'
GRANT ALL ON mydb TO test_user  
exit

auth-enabled = true

systemctl restart influxdb

• There are many tutorials - here is the official Getting started from PHP documentation.

In order to use Flask it is first required first to install the Python Package Manager - see Python pip 3. Then run the next command.

pip3 install -U Flask