Install Adminer Database Manager on Ubuntu 24.04 / Rocky Linux 10

Adminer is a lightweight database management tool packaged as a single PHP file. It supports MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MS SQL, Oracle, and CockroachDB – all from one 497 KB file you drop into a web directory. If you have ever dealt with the bloated setup of phpMyAdmin, Adminer is a welcome alternative that just works.

Original content from computingforgeeks.com - post 36352

This guide walks through installing Adminer 5.4.2 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Rocky Linux 10. We cover web server configuration for both Nginx and Apache, HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt, connecting to MySQL/MariaDB and PostgreSQL, basic database operations, and security hardening. The same steps apply to Debian 13, AlmaLinux 10, and RHEL 10 with minimal changes.

Prerequisites

Before starting, confirm you have the following in place:

• A server running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or Rocky Linux 10 with root or sudo access
• A running database server – MariaDB, MySQL, or PostgreSQL
• A domain name pointed to your server (for HTTPS setup) – or use the server IP for testing
• Ports 80 and 443 open in your firewall

Step 1: Install PHP and a Web Server

Adminer needs PHP with a few database extensions and a web server to serve it. Pick either Nginx or Apache based on your environment.

Option A: Nginx + PHP-FPM

On Ubuntu 24.04:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx php-fpm php-mysql php-pgsql php-mbstring php-json

On Rocky Linux 10:

sudo dnf install -y nginx php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-pgsql php-mbstring php-json

Enable and start both services after installation.

Ubuntu:

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx php8.3-fpm

Rocky Linux:

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx php-fpm

Option B: Apache + PHP

On Ubuntu 24.04:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-php php-mysql php-pgsql php-mbstring php-json

On Rocky Linux 10:

sudo dnf install -y httpd php php-mysqlnd php-pgsql php-mbstring php-json

Enable and start Apache.

Ubuntu:

sudo systemctl enable --now apache2

Rocky Linux:

sudo systemctl enable --now httpd

Verify PHP is installed and working by checking the version.

php -v

You should see the PHP version along with the build date and Zend Engine info:

PHP 8.3.6 (cli) (built: Mar 2026)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.6, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.3.6, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Step 2: Download and Install Adminer

Adminer ships as a single PHP file. Download it directly from the official GitHub repository and place it in a web-accessible directory.

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/adminer
sudo curl -L -o /var/www/adminer/index.php https://github.com/vrana/adminer/releases/download/v5.4.2/adminer-5.4.2.php

Set proper ownership so the web server can read the file.

Ubuntu (Nginx/Apache):

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/adminer

Rocky Linux (Nginx/Apache):

sudo chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/adminer

If using Apache on Rocky Linux, set the owner to apache:apache instead.

Verify the download completed and the file size is correct.

ls -lh /var/www/adminer/index.php

The file should be around 497 KB:

-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 497K Mar 22 10:00 /var/www/adminer/index.php

Step 3: Configure Nginx or Apache Virtual Host

Create a dedicated virtual host so Adminer runs on its own domain or subdomain. Replace adminer.example.com with your actual hostname throughout.

Nginx Virtual Host Configuration

Create the Nginx server block configuration file.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/adminer.conf

Add the following server block. On Ubuntu, update the PHP-FPM socket path to match your PHP version (e.g., php8.3-fpm.sock).

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name adminer.example.com;
    root /var/www/adminer;
    index index.php;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;  # Ubuntu
        # fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/www.sock;    # Rocky Linux
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }

    # Block access to hidden files
    location ~ /\. {
        deny all;
    }
}

Test the configuration and reload Nginx.

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

You should see a successful test result:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Apache Virtual Host Configuration

On Ubuntu, create a virtual host config in /etc/apache2/sites-available/.

sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/adminer.conf

Add this virtual host block:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName adminer.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/adminer

    <Directory /var/www/adminer>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    <FilesMatch \.php$>
        SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
    </FilesMatch>
</VirtualHost>

Enable the site and reload Apache.

sudo a2ensite adminer.conf
sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi
sudo systemctl reload apache2

On Rocky Linux, place the config at /etc/httpd/conf.d/adminer.conf and reload with sudo systemctl reload httpd.

Step 4: Secure Adminer with HTTPS Using Let’s Encrypt

Running a database management tool over plain HTTP is a serious risk – credentials travel in cleartext. Set up HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt free certificates using Certbot.

Install Certbot on Ubuntu 24.04:

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Install Certbot on Rocky Linux 10:

sudo dnf install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

If using Apache, replace python3-certbot-nginx with python3-certbot-apache.

Request and install the certificate. Certbot modifies your Nginx or Apache config automatically to serve HTTPS.

sudo certbot --nginx -d adminer.example.com

For Apache, use --apache instead of --nginx. Follow the interactive prompts to complete the setup. Certbot handles automatic renewal through a systemd timer.

Verify the timer is active for automatic renewals.

sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

The timer should show as active and enabled:

● certbot.timer - Run certbot twice daily
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/certbot.timer; enabled)
     Active: active (waiting)

Step 5: Connect to MySQL or MariaDB with Adminer

Open your browser and navigate to https://adminer.example.com. The Adminer login page presents fields for the database system, server, username, password, and database name.

To connect to a MySQL or MariaDB server:

• System – select MySQL
• Server – enter localhost or the remote server IP
• Username – your database user (e.g., root or a dedicated user)
• Password – the user’s password
• Database – leave blank to see all databases, or enter a specific name

Click Login. If using MariaDB, select “MySQL” as the system – Adminer uses the same driver for both since MariaDB is wire-compatible with MySQL.

If the connection fails with “Access denied”, confirm the database user can connect from localhost. For MariaDB, check with:

sudo mariadb -e "SELECT user, host FROM mysql.user WHERE user='root';"

Step 6: Connect to PostgreSQL with Adminer

Adminer handles PostgreSQL connections through the same interface. On the login screen:

• System – select PostgreSQL
• Server – enter localhost or the PostgreSQL server address
• Username – your PostgreSQL user (e.g., postgres)
• Password – the user’s password
• Database – enter the target database name (e.g., postgres)

PostgreSQL requires the php-pgsql extension we installed earlier. If you see a “No extension” error, verify the extension is loaded.

php -m | grep pgsql

The output should show both the base and PDO PostgreSQL extensions:

pdo_pgsql
pgsql

If the extension is missing, install it and restart PHP-FPM.

sudo apt install -y php-pgsql
sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Also confirm that PostgreSQL allows password authentication in pg_hba.conf. The md5 or scram-sha-256 method is required for Adminer to connect – peer authentication only works for local socket connections, not web-based tools.

Step 7: Basic Database Operations in Adminer

Once logged in, Adminer shows the database dashboard with a clean sidebar listing all databases. Here are the most common operations.

Create a New Database

Click “Create database” in the top navigation. Enter the database name and select the collation. For MySQL/MariaDB, utf8mb4_general_ci is the standard choice for modern applications. For PostgreSQL, the default UTF8 encoding works for most setups. Click Save.

Create Tables

Select a database from the sidebar, then click “Create table”. The table editor provides a visual form where you define column names, types, default values, indexes, and foreign keys. This is faster than writing DDL by hand for quick prototyping.

Run SQL Queries

Click “SQL command” in the top navigation to open the query editor. Type or paste your SQL and click Execute. Results appear in a formatted table below the editor. You can run multiple statements separated by semicolons.

Example query to test on a MySQL/MariaDB server:

SELECT VERSION();
SHOW DATABASES;
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'max_connections';

For PostgreSQL, use standard SQL syntax:

SELECT version();
SELECT datname FROM pg_database;
SHOW max_connections;

Step 8: Import and Export Databases

Adminer includes built-in import and export tools accessible from the top navigation bar of any database view.

Export a Database

Click “Export” from the top menu. Adminer gives you several options:

• Output – choose “save” for file download or “open” for in-browser display
• Format – SQL is the standard choice for backups and migrations
• Tables – select specific tables or export everything
• Data – choose between structure only, data only, or both

Click Export to download the SQL dump file. For large databases, use the command-line mysqldump or pg_dump tools instead – Adminer’s export runs through PHP memory limits and may time out on databases larger than a few hundred megabytes.

Import a Database

Click “Import” from the top menu. You can upload a SQL file or paste SQL directly into the text box. Click Execute to run the import. The maximum upload size depends on your PHP configuration – check upload_max_filesize and post_max_size in your php.ini if large imports fail.

To increase the upload limit for larger imports, edit the PHP configuration.

sudo vi /etc/php/8.3/fpm/php.ini

Find and update these directives:

upload_max_filesize = 256M
post_max_size = 256M
memory_limit = 512M
max_execution_time = 300

On Rocky Linux, the PHP config path is /etc/php.ini. Restart PHP-FPM after making changes.

sudo systemctl restart php8.3-fpm

Step 9: Security Hardening for Adminer

A database management tool exposed to the internet is a high-value target. Lock it down with these measures.

Restrict Access by IP Address

The most effective protection is limiting access to known IPs. In Nginx, add an allow/deny block to the server configuration.

sudo vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/adminer.conf

Add IP restriction rules inside the server block. Replace 10.0.1.50 with your actual IP address or office CIDR range:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name adminer.example.com;
    root /var/www/adminer;
    index index.php;

    # Restrict to trusted IPs only
    allow 10.0.1.50;
    allow 192.168.1.0/24;
    deny all;

    # ... rest of config
}

Reload Nginx after the change.

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Apache .htaccess IP Restriction

For Apache, create an .htaccess file in the Adminer directory.

sudo vi /var/www/adminer/.htaccess

Add the following directives to restrict access by IP:

Require ip 10.0.1.50
Require ip 192.168.1.0/24

Firewall Rules

On Ubuntu, if you use UFW, allow HTTP and HTTPS only from trusted networks.

sudo ufw allow from 10.0.1.0/24 to any port 443
sudo ufw reload

On Rocky Linux with firewalld:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-rich-rule='rule family="ipv4" source address="10.0.1.0/24" port protocol="tcp" port="443" accept'
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Additional Security Measures

Consider these hardening steps for production environments:

• Rename the file – rename index.php to something non-obvious like dbadmin-x7k2.php to avoid automated scanners that probe for /adminer.php
• HTTP Basic Auth – add a second authentication layer in Nginx or Apache before Adminer’s own login page
• Disable when not in use – rename or move the file when you do not need database access. A tool that is not running cannot be exploited
• Use dedicated database users – never connect with the root account. Create users with specific privileges for the databases they need to manage
• Monitor access logs – watch your web server logs for unauthorized access attempts

Adminer vs phpMyAdmin – Feature Comparison

The table below shows the key differences between Adminer and phpMyAdmin, the two most common PHP-based database management tools.

Feature	Adminer 5.4.2	phpMyAdmin
File size	Single PHP file (497 KB)	Multiple files (15+ MB)
Database support	MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MS SQL, Oracle, CockroachDB	MySQL and MariaDB only
Installation	Drop one file into web root	Extract archive, configure config.inc.php
PHP requirement	PHP 7.1+	PHP 8.1+
Themes/skins	Supported via CSS plugins	Built-in theme system
Security	No default login – requires credentials	Needs manual hardening of config
Editor mode	Yes – restricted interface for non-admin users	No built-in restricted mode
Plugin system	PHP-based plugins	Limited extension support

Adminer wins on portability and multi-database support. phpMyAdmin has a more polished interface and deeper MySQL-specific features like advisor recommendations and query profiling. For teams that manage both MySQL and PostgreSQL, Adminer is the practical choice since one tool handles everything.

Conclusion

Adminer gives you a complete database management interface from a single PHP file – no package managers, no dependency chains, no multi-step installations. We covered installing it on Ubuntu 24.04 and Rocky Linux 10 with Nginx/Apache, securing it with HTTPS, and connecting to both MySQL/MariaDB and PostgreSQL.

For production use, always restrict access by IP, enforce HTTPS, and use dedicated database accounts with limited privileges. Consider disabling Adminer entirely when not actively managing databases – the safest tool is one that is not running.