In this article we will use terraform to provision a lemp stack for a laravel application with all its configurations (database, php, nginx, firewall, ssl, etc).

PHP Stack Provisioning

Every PHP project you worked on has that phase when you need to deploy it to a desired environment that match the application requirement usually its a LEMP or a LAMP stack.

That may require you to install and configure all these applications on the server every time manually, which can be boring, time consuming and redundant.

Terraform-php-stack

Is a terraform project that i was working on to solve my PHP stack provisioning and configurations.

if you are dealing with that manually this will speed up your applications deployments. It can also help if you are migrating to a new server.

The good part is that you can also test it locally before deciding to run it on a production server.

I tried to make the project as user-friendly as possible, so you don’t need to know Terraform to use it.

However, I will still provide a step-by-step explanation:

1. Installing Terraform

2. Setup Target machine

3. Configure terraform-php-stack

4. Deployment

5. Contribution

In fact terraform installation is very simple, i will only cover ubuntu/debian installation for other OS, you can check the official documentation (=>).

wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install terraform

You can use this terraform project against a fresh linux instance (vps) or a local virtual machine which is cool to test stuff before a real deployment.

For local testing i use vagrant & VirtualBox, you can use any other hypervisor.

This is my Vagrantfile :

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
 
  config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"
  config.vm.hostname = "kbouzidi"

  config.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
      apt update &&  hostname -I
     
  SHELL
 
  config.vm.network "private_network", type: "dhcp"

  config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|
   
  end
   
end

COPY SSH KEY

You need to copy your public ssh key to your target server.

ssh-copy-id user@targetIP

🚨 if you skip this probably you will be lost into a desert 🏜️

Well only if you will use vagrant with its own private key.

In this part, I will walk you through how I used this for a Laravel 10 project, and don’t worry, you don’t need to know Terraform at all.

First, you need to clone the project

git clone git@github.com:Safemood/terraform-php-stack.git

To start, you need to copy the example files to create your own configurations.

cd terraform-php-stack
cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars

As you can see, this is the folder structure :

├── main.tf
├── modules
│   ├── install_dependencies
│   │   ├── configure.sh
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   └── variables.tf
│   ├── install_node
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   └── variables.tf
│   ├── install_mysql
│   │   ├── create_db.sh
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   └── variables.tf
│   ├── install_nginx
│   │   ├── default.tftpl
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   └── variables.tf
│   ├── install_php
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   ├── php.ini
│   │   ├── setup.sh
│   │   └── variables.tf
│   └── setup_app
│       ├── main.tf
│		├── .env.tftpl
│       └── variables.tf
├── terraform.tfvars.example

What is important in here :

• main.tf where we can set all the required modules.

• modules folder where the supported modules exist.

• terraform.tfvars where we can set our environment variables && configurations.

• .env.tftpl the template .env file for your php project.

We will configure the whole deployment only from terraform.tfvars

ssh_host            = "target ip"
ssh_user            = "ssh user"
ssh_key             = "private_key path"
php_version         = "8.2"
webmaster_email     = "example@test.com"
mysql_root_password = "crazySecurePassword"
git_repo            = "git@github.com:laravel/laravel"
db_connexion        = "mysql"
db_host             = "localhost"
db_port             = "3306"
db_name             = "kbouzidi"
db_user             = "safemood"
db_password         = "terraform"
domain_name         = "kbouzidi.com"
app_env             = "production"
app_debug           = false
scheme              = "http"  // 'https' will auto assign ssl certificates to your domain
stack_modules       = ["dependencies", "node", "nginx", "php", "app", "mysql"] // dependencies","mysql", "nginx", "php","app" , "node"
system_dependencies = "git tmux vim zip unzip htop fail2ban"
installation_steps = [
  # Set Folder Permissions
  "sudo chgrp -R www-data storage bootstrap/cache",
  "sudo chmod -R ug+rwx storage bootstrap/cache",
  # Installation
  "composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev",
  "php artisan key:generate --force",
  "php artisan storage:link --force",
  "php artisan migrate --seed --force",
  "sudo php artisan optimize:clear",
  "npm install && npm run build",
  "php artisan optimize"
]

What you need to know :

stack_modules is an array of the modules that you wanna install :

• dependencies : to install required system dependencies and make other necessary configurations.

• php : to install php on the system with the required version “php_version“.

• node : to install nodejs & npm on the system with the required version “node_version“.

• nginx : to install nginx and setup an nginx web server.

• mysql : to install and setup a mysql server and a dadicated database to your project with the required permissions.

• app : to setup and install our application.

Some other important notes:

• scheme : https will auto assign ssl certificates to your domain using certbot.

• git_repo : when its a private repo, you will need to add a deploy key to your project (link).

🚨 for private github repo make sure to use deploy keys so the token has access only to the related project only.

Deployment is the simplest part; just access the ‘terraform-php-stack’ folder and hit :

terraform init // only the first time
terraform apply 
// or if you know what your doing 💥
terraform apply --auto-approve

You can see how the deployment process works in action.

As you have seen, the whole LEMP stack took only 4 minutes!

You can destroy this infrastructure with :

terraform destroy 

I created this with Laravel ❤️ in mind and i really love to expand it to be helpful for all major PHP framework and stacks, so contributions are very welcome 🤗🥰.

Just keep in mind these main points :

• The ability to use the project without being a terraform expert.

• Simplify the process of deploying and managing infrastructure for PHP developers using Terraform.

• Make PHP developers happier 😁.

What i have in mind for this project:

• Add Symfony support .

• Add a fully docker version to provision the whole stack with containers.

• Add support for major cloud providers (aws, google cloud, azure) to make PHP stack provisioning easier on these platforms.

• …

I hope the information I provided was helpful. If you have any questions or need further clarification, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m always open to feedback, so please feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions you may have.

You can find me on LinkedIn || Twitter || Github!

Feel free to drop by and say hello – I’m always up for meeting new people and expanding my network!😊

In this post, we will look at generating QR codes within your Laravel applications.

First, we will need to require the simple-qrcode package that provides first-party support for Laravel. The package itself wraps the Bacon/BaconQrCode package which itself is a port of the ZXing library but for PHP.

If you wish – you may directly interact with the BaconQrCode package without using simple-qrcode. However, simple-qrcode provides a better developer experience when used with Laravel. Additionally, with out-of-the-box support for overlaying images on QR codes.

With the context blurb out of the way. Let’s dig in!

Step 1: Setting Up

Spin up a new Laravel 10 project (or step over this if you already have a project ready).

$ laravel new qrcodegenerator

Set up your database connection as per your own preference. Then install the simple-qrcode package via Composer.

$ composer require simplesoftwareio/simple-qrcode "~4"

Optional! If you want to create QR codes in .png format. You will need to install the imagick extension. In most cases, all you need to do is install via pecl with pecl install imagick. If that does not work for you, then Google is your friend here as it goes beyond the topic of this article.

Step 2: Creating The Controller

Now we need to wire up a controller and route before we can pull back a QR code in our browser.

Create a new QrCodeController.

$ php artisan make:controller QrCodeController

And then reference the controller in our routes/web.php file.

<?php

use App\Http\Controllers\QrCodeController;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::get('/', [QrCodeController::class, 'show']);

Opening up the URL in our browser gives us a blank page at this point. Also as I’m using Valet here, I only need to enter the foldername.test to view the project in my browser. Your setup may be different so you do you, whether that’s php artisan serve or something else.

Step 3: Generating QR Codes

At the very bare minimum, you can call the QrCode facade alongside generate with something to render. And you’ll get a QR code back.

In my QrCodeController I am creating a QR code with all the default settings with the following content “Hello, World!”.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use SimpleSoftwareIO\QrCode\Facades\QrCode;

class QrCodeController extends Controller
{
    public function show()
    {
        return QrCode::generate(
            'Hello, World!',
        );
    }
}

Refresh the page in the browser and…

Step 4: Customising the Generated QR Code

Alright so how about something a little more interesting? A splash of colour? Let’s use a couple of methods that allow us to change the background colour, foreground colour, and margin.

public function show()
{
    return QrCode::size(200)
        ->backgroundColor(255, 255, 0)
        ->color(0, 0, 255)
        ->margin(1)
        ->generate(
            'Hello, World!',
        );
}

And here’s the result:

Let’s try something that makes our QR codes stand out. And I’m not talking about colours anymore.

We can actually modify the style and eye (the three corners) of the QR code. Try this out:

return QrCode::size(200)
        ->style('dot')
        ->eye('circle')
        ->color(0, 0, 255)
        ->margin(1)
        ->generate(
            'Hello, World!',
        );

Result:

Before closing this section. One more on colours: gradients.

$from = [255, 0, 0];
$to = [0, 0, 255];

return QrCode::size(200)
    ->style('dot')
    ->eye('circle')
    ->gradient($from[0], $from[1], $from[2], $to[0], $to[1], $to[2], 'diagonal')
    ->margin(1)
    ->generate(
        'Hello, World!',
    );

By specifying a from and to colour, alongside a type of gradient (vertical, horizontal, etc). You can create something really cool!

Merging Images

To overlay an image in a QR code – we’ll need to change the way we do a few things.

To prepare for this I have dropped an image (twitter.jpg) in my storage/app folder. Then by calling ->merge($filepath), simple-qrcode will load that image and overlay it onto the QR code.

If you want to pull in the image data yourself, you can replace merge with mergeString. Eg: ->mergeString(Storage::get($path)).

Merging an image is only supported with png QR codes, so we need to specify the format on this, too.

public function show()
    {
        $data = QrCode::size(512)
            ->format('png')
            ->merge('/storage/app/twitter.jpg')
            ->errorCorrection('M')
            ->generate(
                'https://twitter.com/HarryKir',
            );

        return response($data)
            ->header('Content-type', 'image/png');
    }

Then the result of all this:

You may have noticed the line in regards to errorCorrection. When we overlay an image, part of the QR code’s data becomes obscured.

By default, the errorCorrection is set to the lowest value (‘L’). If you attempt to scan your QR code like this, it’s likely that the QR code will not scan. To remedy this we adjust the errorCorrection level up a notch until our code is scannable.

The various levels are:

• L: Low (7% correction)
• M: Medium (15% correction)
• Q: Quartile (25% correction)
• H: High (30% correction)

The higher the correction level, the more “noisy” the QR code becomes. Preferably you want the lowest correction level alongside a scannable QR code for the sake of keeping up appearances.

Downloading Generated QR Codes

To return a download response, you can either store the QR code as a file and return the path with return response()->download($path); or stream the contents of the QR code without using the filesystem.

An example of using streamDownload to do this:

public function download()
{
    return response()->streamDownload(
        function () {
            echo QrCode::size(200)
                ->format('png')
                ->generate('https://harrk.dev');
        },
        'qr-code.png',
        [
            'Content-Type' => 'image/png',
        ]
    );
}

Generating QR Codes in Blade

Since we’ve been using a Facade all along, generating a QR code in Blade is as simple as repeating the above steps. Call the facade, customise as required, and call generate.

{!! QrCode::size(256)->generate('https://google.com') !!}

Or another approach, encode the data within an image tag manually. For example, if you need to change the image type for whatever reason.

<img src="data:image/png;base64, {!! base64_encode(QrCode::format('png')->size(256)->generate('https://google.com')) !!} ">

QR Code Data Types

Alright, so we’ve been using URLs in these examples. Mobile devices are clever enough to figure out how to handle these when scanned, but we can go a step further.

If you want to read the long version of this. Check out the ZXing’s Wiki page.

To summarise: simple-qrcode has a couple of helpers to specify the data the QR code will contain. You can replace the generate method with any of these.

Here are a few examples:

Email

Open a blank email addressed to “hello@example.com”.

QrCode::size(200)->email('hello@example.com');

Open an email with a predefined subject and body.

QrCode::size(200)->email('hello@example.com', 'Hello World', 'This is a test message.');

Phone Number

QrCode::size(200)->phoneNumber('555-555-5555');

SMS Text Message

Send an SMS text message to 555-555-5555 with a prewritten message, “Hi!”.

QrCode::size(200)->SMS('555-555-5555', 'Hi!');

Wi-Fi

Share Wi-Fi credentials for your visitors.

QrCode::size(200)->wiFi([
    'encryption' => 'WPA/WEP',
    'ssid' => 'SSID of the network',
    'password' => 'Password of the network',
    'hidden' => 'Whether the network is a hidden SSID or not.'
]);

Geolocation

Share a location by providing a latitude and longitude.

QrCode::size(200)->geo(51.378638, -0.100897);

Conclusion

To see more advance options for QR code customisation, refer to the documentation for simple-qrcode.

As for some real world examples of this package in action. I use simple-qrcode for generating QR codes for my QR code tracking SaaS.

Otherwise, if generating QR codes with Javascript is your thing. Consider checking out the node-qrcode library. I use this for generating QR codes on a static site, without any server involvement altogether.