I tried following the steps above to run Laravel on my server, but I encountered several issues, particularly during the MySQL configuration and running Laravel database migrations. Errors like "SET PASSWORD has no significance for user 'root'@'localhost'" made the process quite confusing. Additionally, manually setting up the .env file to connect the database required a lot of adjustments, which was time-consuming and prone to errors if something minor went wrong.

Fortunately, I came across Vultr's guide on installing MySQL on Ubuntu 20.04, which provided clear and detailed instructions to resolve MySQL configuration issues and seamlessly run Laravel. Moreover, using Vultr Managed Databases offered a much simpler solution, especially for avoiding manual setup of users and database permissions.

The Vultr guide helped me overcome the challenges I faced and made the Laravel deployment process much smoother and more efficient. If you're dealing with similar issues, I highly recommend using Vultr's services and their detailed guides for an optimized experience! 😊