phpMyAdmin Installation and Secure Access Guide

# System update
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# PHP and required modules
apt install -y php php-mysql php-mbstring php-zip php-gd php-json php-curl

# Check PHP version
php -v

# Install phpMyAdmin
apt install -y phpmyadmin

# Download the latest release
cd /tmp
wget https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz

# Extract archive
tar xzf phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.tar.gz

# Move to web directory
mv phpMyAdmin-*-all-languages /var/www/html/phpmyadmin

# Set ownership
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/phpmyadmin
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/phpmyadmin

# Create config file
cp /var/www/html/phpmyadmin/config.sample.inc.php /var/www/html/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

# Generate a random 32-character key
openssl rand -base64 32

# Edit config.inc.php
nano /var/www/html/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

// Paste the generated key here
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'PASTE_YOUR_RANDOM_KEY_HERE';

// Set temp directory
$cfg['TempDir'] = '/tmp/phpmyadmin';

# Create temp directory
mkdir -p /tmp/phpmyadmin
chown www-data:www-data /tmp/phpmyadmin

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/phpmyadmin.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName pma.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/phpmyadmin

    <Directory /var/www/html/phpmyadmin>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        DirectoryIndex index.php
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/phpmyadmin_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/phpmyadmin_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

# Enable site
a2ensite phpmyadmin.conf
a2enmod rewrite
systemctl reload apache2

# Create .htpasswd file
htpasswd -c /etc/apache2/.htpasswd admin

<Directory /var/www/html/phpmyadmin>
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName 'phpMyAdmin Access'
    AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user
</Directory>

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/phpmyadmin

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name pma.example.com;
    root /var/www/html/phpmyadmin;
    index index.php;

    # HTTP Auth protection
    auth_basic 'phpMyAdmin Access';
    auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    # Hide sensitive directories
    location ~* /(libraries|setup/frames|setup/libs) {
        deny all;
        return 404;
    }
}

# Create htpasswd for Nginx
apt install -y apache2-utils
htpasswd -c /etc/nginx/.htpasswd admin

# Enable site
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/phpmyadmin /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t
systemctl reload nginx

# Install Certbot
apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-apache
# or for Nginx:
apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Obtain SSL certificate for Apache
certbot --apache -d pma.example.com

# Obtain SSL certificate for Nginx
certbot --nginx -d pma.example.com

# Test auto-renewal
certbot renew --dry-run

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name pma.example.com;
    root /var/www/html/phpmyadmin;
    index index.php;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/pma.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/pma.example.com/privkey.pem;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    # HSTS
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security 'max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains' always;

    auth_basic 'phpMyAdmin Access';
    auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
    }
}

# Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name pma.example.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

-- Connect to MySQL/MariaDB
mysql -u root -p

-- Create admin user for phpMyAdmin
CREATE USER 'pma_admin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'pma_admin'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

-- Create restricted app user
CREATE USER 'app_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'AppPassword456!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myapp.* TO 'app_user'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

// Allow only specific users
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['order'] = 'deny,allow';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowDeny']['rules'] = [
    'deny % from all',
    'allow pma_admin from localhost',
    'allow app_user from 192.168.1.0/24',
];

// Block root login
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowRoot'] = false;

# Nginx - allow only specific IPs
location / {
    allow 192.168.1.0/24;
    allow 10.0.0.5;
    deny all;
}

# Apache - IP restriction
<Directory /var/www/html/phpmyadmin>
    Require ip 192.168.1.0/24
    Require ip 10.0.0.5
</Directory>

# Rename the phpmyadmin directory
mv /var/www/html/phpmyadmin /var/www/html/db_manager_x7k2

# Update Nginx/Apache configuration accordingly

// config.inc.php - security settings
$cfg['LoginCookieValidity'] = 1800;    // 30 minute session timeout
$cfg['LoginCookieStore'] = 0;          // Delete session on browser close
$cfg['ForceSSL'] = true;               // Enforce SSL
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['ssl'] = true;     // MySQL SSL connection

$cfg['SendErrorReports'] = 'never';

# Remove setup directory after installation
rm -rf /var/www/html/phpmyadmin/setup

nano /etc/fail2ban/filter.d/phpmyadmin.conf

[Definition]
failregex = ^<HOST> .* 'POST /phpmyadmin/index.php.*' (401|403)
ignoreregex =

# /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
[phpmyadmin]
enabled = true
port = http,https
filter = phpmyadmin
logpath = /var/log/nginx/phpmyadmin_access.log
maxretry = 5
bantime = 3600

# Check PHP error logs
tail -f /var/log/php8.1-fpm.log

# Nginx error logs
tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

# Apache error logs
tail -f /var/log/apache2/phpmyadmin_error.log

# Check phpMyAdmin permissions
ls -la /var/www/html/phpmyadmin/

# Verify PHP modules
php -m | grep -E 'mysql|mbstring|zip'