# How to Install PHP 7.x on CentOS 8

By

Charl Cronje

1. Open the terminal app and log in to the remote CentOS 8 server
2. Update CentOS 8 box, run sudo yum update
3. Search for PHP version, run sudo yum search php
4. Install and enable Remi’s repo for PHP 7.4, run sudo yum install yum-utils http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpm
5. Install PHP 7.2.11 or 7.4 and FastCGI module for Nginx on CentOS 8, execute: sudo yum install php php-fpm
6. Search and install additional PHP modules for graphics and database support using sudo yum search php-
7. Enable and restart both PHP and Nginx server
8. Test and verify both PHP installation
9. Let us see all commands in details.

sudo yum update
sudo reboot

Let us find out PHP version on CentOS Enterprise Linux 8 server, execute:

sudo yum search php-

You may have multiple versions of PHP installed on your systems. One can verify it by merely running the following command:

sudo yum module list php

The following example, indicates that PHP version 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4 available for installation:

sudo yum module list php

By default, PHP version 7.2 would install as indicated by the [d] flag.

I strongly suggest using default PHP version 7.2 for production web apps. However, if you need PHP version 7.3 or 7.4, type the following commands to enable Remi’s repo:

sudo yum install yum-utils http://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rp

Enable default version

he default PHP version locked to PHP 7.2. It would be best if you ran enable command to set the desired PHP version. In other words, to enable PHP version 7.4, run:

sudo yum module list php
sudo yum module reset php
sudo yum module enable php:remi-7.4
## verify it php set to 7.4 ##
sudo yum module list php

For PHP version 7.3, execute:

sudo yum module list php
sudo yum module reset php
sudo yum module enable php:remi-7.3
## verify it php set to 7.3 ##
sudo yum module list php

Now that PHP version set, it is time to install PHP 7.x on your CentOS 8 cloud server by typing the following command:

sudo yum install php php-fpm

It is time to verify and check PHP version, type:

php -v
php --version

sudo systemctl enable php-fpm.service

Start the php-fpm service, run:

sudo systemctl start php-fpm.service
sudo systemctl status php-fpm.service

See how to reload/start/restart PHP-fpm service for more info:

sudo systemctl stop php-fpm.service
sudo systemctl restart php-fpm.service