How to Deploy a Laravel PHP App on a Cloud Server — Nginx, PHP-FPM, and MySQL

Laravel development is pleasantly smooth — php artisan serve, everything works locally. Production is where things get interesting.

File permissions trip up most people first. Laravel needs to write to storage/ and bootstrap/cache/, but those folders need specific ownership to work with PHP-FPM. Get it wrong and you'll see 500 errors with no obvious cause.

Then there's the .env file, Composer dependencies, the application key, queue workers, scheduled tasks — each piece has a right way to set it up in production. I've debugged enough Laravel deployments to know where people get stuck, and this guide addresses each one.

The stack: Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL. Deploy from a GitHub repo. Production-ready in one go.

I run this on Tencent Cloud Lighthouse with Ubuntu 22.04. The 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM plan handles a production Laravel app comfortably. Two Lighthouse features I use specifically for Laravel deployments: the snapshot feature lets me take a full server backup before running database migrations (Laravel migrations are reversible in theory, but having a full snapshot is better), and CBS cloud disk expansion means I can increase storage capacity as the app's uploaded files grow without provisioning a new server. For caching and queues, Redis runs efficiently on the same instance without needing a separate cache server.

What You're Building
Prerequisites
Part 1 — Server Setup
Part 2 — Install PHP and Extensions
Part 3 — Install Composer
Part 4 — Set Up MySQL Database
Part 5 — Deploy the Laravel App
Part 6 — Configure Nginx
Part 7 — Set File Permissions
Part 8 — Enable HTTPS
Part 9 — Set Up Queue Workers and Scheduler
The Gotcha: Storage and Bootstrap Cache Permissions
Common Commands

Key Takeaways

Set correct ownership: www-data:www-data for storage/ and bootstrap/cache/

Never commit .env to version control — it contains secrets

Run php artisan key:generate and php artisan migrate after deployment

Set up systemd services for queue workers to keep them running persistently

Add one cron entry * * * * * php artisan schedule:run for all scheduled tasks

What You're Building {#stack}

Internet → Nginx → PHP-FPM → Laravel
                ↓
           MySQL database
           Redis (optional, for cache/queue)

Prerequisites {#prerequisites}

Requirement	Notes
Cloud server	Tencent Cloud Lighthouse Ubuntu 22.04
PHP 8.2+	Laravel 11 requires PHP 8.2
Composer	PHP dependency manager
MySQL	Or PostgreSQL — both supported
A Laravel project on GitHub	Or we'll create a fresh one

Part 1 — Server Setup {#part-1}

ssh ubuntu@YOUR_SERVER_IP
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw enable

Part 2 — Install PHP and Extensions {#part-2}

Laravel 11 requires PHP 8.2 and specific extensions:

# Add PHP repository for latest versions
sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
sudo apt update

# Install PHP 8.2 and required extensions
sudo apt install -y \
  php8.2-fpm \
  php8.2-mysql \
  php8.2-xml \
  php8.2-curl \
  php8.2-mbstring \
  php8.2-zip \
  php8.2-gd \
  php8.2-intl \
  php8.2-bcmath \
  php8.2-redis \
  nginx

# Verify
php8.2 --version

Check PHP-FPM socket path:

ls /run/php/
# php8.2-fpm.sock

Part 3 — Install Composer {#part-3}

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/composer

composer --version

Part 4 — Set Up MySQL Database {#part-4}

sudo apt install -y mysql-server
sudo systemctl start mysql && sudo systemctl enable mysql
sudo mysql_secure_installation

Create database and user:

sudo mysql

CREATE DATABASE laravel_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'laravel_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'choose_strong_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON laravel_db.* TO 'laravel_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Part 5 — Deploy the Laravel App {#part-5}

cd /var/www
sudo git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-laravel-app.git mylaravel
sudo chown -R ubuntu:www-data /var/www/mylaravel
cd /var/www/mylaravel

# Install PHP dependencies
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

# Create and configure .env
cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Update the .env file:

APP_NAME="My App"
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=laravel_db
DB_USERNAME=laravel_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_password

CACHE_DRIVER=file
QUEUE_CONNECTION=database
SESSION_DRIVER=database

# Generate application key
php artisan key:generate

# Run migrations
php artisan migrate --force

# Optimize for production
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
php artisan optimize

Part 6 — Configure Nginx {#part-6}

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mylaravel

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

    root /var/www/mylaravel/public;
    index index.php index.html;

    access_log /var/log/nginx/mylaravel_access.log;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/mylaravel_error.log;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    # Deny access to hidden files
    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }

    # Cache static assets
    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|woff|woff2)$ {
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mylaravel /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Part 7 — Set File Permissions {#part-7}

Laravel needs write access to storage/ and bootstrap/cache/:

sudo chown -R ubuntu:www-data /var/www/mylaravel
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/mylaravel
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/mylaravel/storage
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/mylaravel/bootstrap/cache

Part 8 — Enable HTTPS {#part-8}

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

After enabling HTTPS, update .env:

APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com

Clear cache:

php artisan config:clear && php artisan config:cache

Part 9 — Set Up Queue Workers and Scheduler {#part-9}

Queue workers with Supervisor

sudo apt install -y supervisor

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/laravel-worker.conf

[program:laravel-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=php /var/www/mylaravel/artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3 --max-time=3600
autostart=true
autorestart=true
stopasgroup=true
killasgroup=true
user=ubuntu
numprocs=2
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/log/laravel-worker.log
stopwaitsecs=3600

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start laravel-worker:*

Task scheduler (cron)

crontab -e
# Add:
* * * * * cd /var/www/mylaravel && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

The Gotcha: Storage and Bootstrap Cache Permissions {#gotcha}

The most common Laravel error after deployment is a 500 error with this in the logs:

The stream or file "storage/logs/laravel.log" could not be opened: 
failed to open stream: Permission denied

This means Nginx (running as www-data) can't write to the storage directory.

Fix:

sudo chown -R ubuntu:www-data /var/www/mylaravel/storage
sudo chown -R ubuntu:www-data /var/www/mylaravel/bootstrap/cache
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/mylaravel/storage
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/mylaravel/bootstrap/cache

Also common: forgetting to run php artisan config:cache after changing .env. Laravel reads from the cache in production, so changes to .env don't take effect until you clear and rebuild the cache.

php artisan config:clear
php artisan config:cache

Common Commands {#commands}

# Deploy a new version
cd /var/www/mylaravel
git pull origin main
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan optimize
sudo systemctl reload nginx

# Clear all caches
php artisan optimize:clear

# View logs
tail -f /var/www/mylaravel/storage/logs/laravel.log

# Queue status
sudo supervisorctl status

Troubleshooting {#troubleshooting}

Issue	Likely Cause	Fix
Connection refused	Service not running or wrong port	Check `systemctl status SERVICE` and verify firewall rules
Permission denied	Wrong file ownership or permissions	Check file ownership with `ls -la` and use `chown`/`chmod` to fix
502 Bad Gateway	Backend service not running	Restart the backend service; check logs with `journalctl -u SERVICE`
SSL certificate error	Certificate expired or domain mismatch	Run `sudo certbot renew` and verify domain DNS points to server IP
Service not starting	Config error or missing dependency	Check logs with `journalctl -u SERVICE -n 50` for specific error
Out of disk space	Logs or data accumulation	Run `df -h` to identify usage; clean logs or attach CBS storage
High memory usage	Too many processes or memory leak	Check with `htop`; consider upgrading instance plan if consistently high
Firewall blocking traffic	Port not open in UFW or Lighthouse console	Open port in Lighthouse console firewall AND `sudo ufw allow PORT`

Frequently Asked Questions {#faq}

What PHP version does Laravel require?
Laravel 11 requires PHP 8.2+. Laravel 10 requires PHP 8.1+. Check composer.json in your project for the exact requirement. Use php -v on the server to verify the installed version.

Why do I get "permission denied" errors with Laravel?
Laravel needs write access to storage/ and bootstrap/cache/. Set correct ownership with sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/app and permissions with sudo chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache.

How do I run Laravel queue workers in production?
Create a systemd service for php artisan queue:work. Set it to restart automatically. The queue worker must keep running — if it stops, queued jobs won't be processed.

What is APP_KEY in Laravel and how do I generate it?
APP_KEY is a 32-character encryption key used for secure cookies and encrypted data. Generate it with php artisan key:generate. Never commit it to version control.

How do I schedule Laravel tasks (cron) on a server?
Add one cron entry to run the Laravel scheduler every minute: `* * * * * cd /path/to/app && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1`. Laravel handles the actual task scheduling logic internally.

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