Installing Backdrop CMS on nixOS Latest

Introduction

Backdrop CMS is a popular open-source content management system based on the Drupal 7 codebase. It offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for non-technical users to manage their website content.

In this guide, we'll show you how to install Backdrop CMS on nixOS, a Linux distribution that uses a unique package manager called Nix.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• A server or virtual machine running nixOS_latest
• sudo or root access to the server

Installing Backdrop CMS

Follow these steps to install Backdrop CMS on nixOS Latest:

Step 1: Install the Nix package manager

The first thing to do is to install the Nix package manager:

curl https://nixos.org/nix/install | sh

Step 2: Configure the Nix package manager

After installing, configure the Nix package manager by running:

source /etc/profile.d/nix.sh

This will add the Nix package manager to your system path.

Step 3: Install the Nix package for Backdrop CMS

Next, install the Nix package for Backdrop CMS:

nix-env -i backdropcms

Nix will download and install all the dependencies required to run Backdrop CMS.

Step 4: Set up a virtual host for Backdrop CMS

To host your Backdrop CMS installation, you need to set up a virtual host.

First, create a directory for your website:

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/my-website.com

Then, create a Nginx virtual host config file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-website.com

Add the following configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name my-website.com www.my-website.com;
    root /var/www/my-website.com;
    index index.html index.php;

    location / {
        try_files $uri /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri /index.php?$args;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Save and exit the file.

Activate the new virtual host configuration by creating a symlink from the sites-available folder to the sites-enabled folder:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-website.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/my-website.com

Finally, restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 5: Install and configure the MariaDB database server

Backdrop CMS requires a database server to store website data. In this example, we'll use MariaDB.

Install MariaDB:

sudo nix-env -i mariadb

Start the MariaDB service and set it up to start at boot:

sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Secure the MariaDB installation by running the MariaDB secure installation script:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts to configure settings for your MySQL installation.

Step 6: Create a database and user for Backdrop CMS

Log in to the MariaDB database with the root user:

sudo mysql -u root

Create a new database for your Backdrop CMS installation:

CREATE DATABASE backdropcms;

Create a new user and grant permission to the new database:

CREATE USER 'myuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON backdropcms.* TO 'myuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Exit the MySQL shell:

exit

Step 7: Install Backdrop CMS with Drush

Drush is a command-line utility for managing Drupal-based websites. We'll use it to install Backdrop CMS.

Install Drush:

sudo nix-env -i drush

Install Backdrop CMS using Drush:

sudo drush dl backdrop && sudo mv backdrop-* /var/www/my-website.com/

Step 8: Set up Backdrop CMS

Navigate to your website's domain name in your web browser. You will see the Backdrop CMS setup page.

Follow the installation steps, entering your database settings and site information.

Once you have completed the installation, you can log in to your new Backdrop CMS site and start managing your content!

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install Backdrop CMS on nixOS Latest using the Nix package manager.

You also learned how to set up a virtual host for your website, install and secure a database server, and install Drush to configure and manage your Backdrop CMS installation.

Now that you have Backdrop CMS up and running, you can start building dynamic, user-friendly websites with ease!