LEMP Overview
A LEMP web stack is a set of open source Linux software which together form the platform where a website's files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, web fonts, videos, and images) and data can be served to visitors. Every website you visit on the internet is powered by and served from some form of web stack software bundled together. When your web browser connects to a website, it communicates with a web server requesting files hosted on that server. This communication and transfer of data can be done via plain text unencrypted connections (HTTP) or via secure encrypted connections (HTTPS via SSL/TLS protocol).
Traditionally, LEMP web stack software is manually installed one by one and then configured for serving a website's files and data. This manual process can take hours from installation through configuring and optimising each component.
Centmin Mod takes the manual work out of the process and fully automates the install, configuration, base optimisation, and best recommended practices for CentOS, Nginx, MariaDB MySQL, PHP, CSF Firewall, and other installed software. The entire process is driven via the core centmin.sh shell-based script, which can install Centmin Mod via a curl one-liner install method.
LEMP vs LAMP
LEMP is an alternative to the traditional LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). While Apache has a longer history and is bundled by default with many Linux distributions, Nginx is faster, more efficient, and more scalable - especially for the busiest websites online. LEMP is sometimes also referred to as LNMP, where N stands for Nginx.
Stack Components
Linux
The Linux operating system forms the foundation of the LEMP stack. Centmin Mod supports AlmaLinux 8/9/10, Rocky Linux 8/9/10, and CentOS 7 (EOL) - all enterprise-grade RHEL-based distributions optimised for server workloads. The latest 141.00beta01 branch adds EL10 support for AlmaLinux 10 and Rocky Linux 10.
Nginx (Engine-X)
Pronounced "Engine-X," Nginx is the high-performance web server listening on port 80 (HTTP) and port 443 (HTTPS). Nginx is what visitors interact with first, as it serves the data hosted on your website. It is much more than just a web server - Nginx handles reverse proxying, load balancing, HTTP/2, HTTP/3 QUIC, and TLS termination. Nginx is faster, more efficient, and more scalable than Apache, with a growing market share among the busiest websites online.
Learn more about Nginx →MariaDB MySQL
MariaDB is a drop-in replacement fork of MySQL, the open source relational database server. It listens on port 3306 by default and holds database data which is queried and written to by MySQL clients such as PHP. MariaDB offers improved performance, additional storage engines, and enhanced security features over the original MySQL. Centmin Mod supports multiple MariaDB versions with easy upgrade/downgrade options.
Learn more about MariaDB →PHP-FPM
PHP is a server-side scripting language, and Centmin Mod compiles PHP as PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager). PHP-FPM listens on port 9000 by default and communicates with MariaDB MySQL to retrieve and store website data. Centmin Mod supports multiple PHP versions with easy upgrade/downgrade, Zend OPcache, and a wide range of PHP extensions pre-configured for optimal performance.
Learn more about PHP-FPM →Additional Components
Beyond the core LEMP stack, Centmin Mod includes several additional components to provide a complete, production-ready server environment.
Memcached
High-performance distributed memory object caching system for speeding up dynamic web applications by reducing database load.
Learn more →CSF Firewall
ConfigServer Security & Firewall (CSF) with Login Failure Daemon (LFD) provides comprehensive server-level security, intrusion detection, and brute-force protection.
Learn more →Zend OPcache
PHP opcode caching that stores precompiled script bytecode in shared memory, eliminating the need for PHP to load and parse scripts on each request.
Learn more →Let's Encrypt SSL
Free, automated TLS/SSL certificate provisioning and renewal via Let's Encrypt integration with ACME client support for securing your websites with HTTPS.
Learn more →Addons & Extensions
Extend Centmin Mod with addons including WP-CLI, IonCube Loader, GeoIP, Python, NodeJS, malware detection, and more. Over 35 optional addon modules available.
View all addons →Pure-FTPD
Secure FTP server for virtual host user file management with virtual user support, TLS encryption, and integration with Centmin Mod's vhost system.
Learn more →Install Centmin Mod LEMP Stack Today
Get started with a fully automated LEMP stack installation in minutes. One command is all it takes.