If the asset function in Laravel is not working after uploading your project to an EC2 Ubuntu server, it might be due to several reasons including incorrect configuration, incorrect file permissions, or issues with your web server setup. Here’s a comprehensive guide to troubleshoot and resolve this issue:

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide

Check Laravel Environment Configuration

Ensure that your environment configuration is set correctly. The APP_URL in your .env file should match the URL of your server.

plaintext

APP_URL=http://your-ec2-instance-public-dns-or-domain

Clear Laravel Cache

After making changes to your .env file or configuration, you need to clear the cache.

cd /var/www/html/your-laravel-project

php artisan config:cache

php artisan route:cache

php artisan view:clear

php artisan cache:clear

Set Correct Permissions

Ensure that the public directory and its contents have the correct permissions.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/your-laravel-project/public

sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/your-laravel-project/public

Ensure Web Server Configuration

Ensure that your web server is configured to serve the public directory as the document root.

For Apache:

Edit the default Apache configuration file or create a new virtual host file:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Update the <VirtualHost> block to look like this:

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>

   ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

   DocumentRoot /var/www/html/your-laravel-project/public

   <Directory /var/www/html/your-laravel-project/public>

       Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

       AllowOverride All

       Require all granted

   </Directory>

   ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

   CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Enable the mod_rewrite module and restart Apache:

sudo a2enmod rewrite

sudo systemctl restart apache2

For Nginx:

Edit the Nginx configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Update the server block to look like this:

nginx

server {

   listen 80;

   server_name your-domain.com;

   root /var/www/html/your-laravel-project/public;

   index index.php index.html index.htm;

   location / {

       try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;

   }

   location ~ \.php$ {

       include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;

       fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.4-fpm.sock;

       fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;

       include fastcgi_params;

   }

   location ~ /\.ht {

       deny all;

   }

}

Restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Check File Paths in Blade Templates

Ensure that you are using the asset function correctly in your Blade templates.

html

<link href="{{ asset('css/app.css') }}" rel="stylesheet">

<script src="{{ asset('js/app.js') }}" defer></script>

Verify Assets are in the Correct Location

Ensure that the assets (CSS, JS, images) are located in the public directory of your Laravel project.

ls -l /var/www/html/your-laravel-project/public/css

ls -l /var/www/html/your-laravel-project/public/js