Yes the command line instructions in the link you quote includes installing nginx and I just had to completely remove that to get phpmyadmin back and get phpinfo to work properly. I re-installed apache2, php phpmyadmin all clean from scratch.
If I follow the steps in your quoted link can I expect that phpinfo, phpmyadmin AND zoneminder should work properly? or is there an additional tweak I need to ensure it will do that for all those applications to play nice?
The steps indicate to install nginx and mariadb-server; given latest experience I am hesitant to mess with mariaDB server and MySQL as I don't want to mess up the weather databases and phpmyadmin databases by changing it (not being at all familiar with mariadb-server and how it works under mysql). And nginx well I went through all the steps of editing and creating the conf files etc to undo them all and it still did not allow phpmyadmin to return to work nor did it allow phpinfo to display properly either; in the end complete removal was the only thing that worked. Unless I am missing a proper tweak or something.
OK so I am seeing that nginx is a separate and distinct www server installation that can run coincident with apache2 as long as the listening port is different from apache2's listening port from remarks here:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/230 ... -on-ubuntu
Having them both listen on the same port likely does not allow either one to work properly. hence the need to uninstall it to get phpmyadmin and phpinfo to work. However, I did have nginx listening on 8081 port and apache2 on 80 and still it did not work but there may have been other configs needed also.
The problem I am trying to fathom an answer to is how does phpmyadmin and phpinfo configurations work with either one and/or both of these servers?
Likewise, mariadb is a separate database from mysql from the remarks here:
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/maria ... ith-mysql/ and again finding a correct database working tool for mariadb similar to phpmyadmin and MySQL, would seem to imply it would be installed and set to use nginx server rather than apache2 in order to keep them distinct and separate. It would seem that one would need to install a phpmariadbadmin that associated with nginx server and thus would create an phpmariadbadmin database in a mariadb database server similar to MySQLadmin does for phpmyadmin.
The confusing point arises when one tries to visualize how a single install of say php needs to be configured to work with both apache2 and nginx similtaneously.
UPDATE: it appears the link explaining mariadb is a separate database that can run simultaneously with MySQL is somewhat misleading; it is an improved version of MySQL and when it is installed it replaces the older mysql server and client. It preserves existing mysql databases and works with phpmyadmin as well. All existing databases appear to work normally so it is compatible with existing as well as newer databases. However the assumption that both will run simultaneously is incorrect.
I followed the install instructions step by step as outlined in recommended link. I did however NOT install nginx server at all and it appears it adapted to the apache2 installed and began working with that; at least it is displaying text on the zm console page now. Thanks for the tips and pointers; although I cant for certain say what worked to get it going.
It appears [SOLVED] was only temporary as when PC was restarted completely
http://localhost/zm now results in an error ;
"Unable to connect to ZM db.SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory"
and phpmyadmin also generates same errors when trying to connect to databases now. GRRRRR !
attempt to access mysql from command line (mysql -uroot -p ) generates ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2) it appears installing mariadb did trash the mysql databases on PC restart.