Cannot write to the /var/log directory. Are you root or sudo ?

I set up a new cloud instance. I stripped down to barebones tactics and simply set up a LAMP server with SSL first, following DigitalOcean’s instructions, to ensure smoothest possible sailing… hps://w*w.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/initial-server-setup-with-ubuntu-18-04 hps://w*w.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-linux-apache-mysql-php-lamp-stack-ubuntu-18-04#step-1-—-installing-apache-and-updating-the-firewall h**ps://linoxide.com/linux-how-to/install-letsencrypt-ubuntu/

I made sure Apache and PHP were working before proceeding… I used the manual installation guide found at h**ps://w*w.howtoforge.com/tutorial/perfect-server-ubuntu-18.04-with-apache-php-myqsl-pureftpd-bind-postfix-doveot-and-ispconfig/. No errors about the spam filtering this time, but I don’t think that’s really affecting anyway.

Next, I downloaded the ISPConfig installation from h**ps://ispconfig.org/downloads/ISPConfig-3.1.13.tar.gz

I extracted the archive to my /var/www/html directory. I still get a 500 error when I try to go to hps://myserver.com:8080… When I try to go to hps://myserver.com/install/install.php, I get

System: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS (Bionic Beaver) Following will be a few questions for primary configuration so be careful. Default values are in [brackets] and can be accepted with . Tap in “quit” (without the quotes) to stop the installer. ERROR: Cannot write to the /var/log directory. Are you root or sudo ?

It’s a plain text file, so it’s not like I can respond to it. It’s the only file I can bring up out of any of the PHP files I’ve tried from the ISPConfig directory.

Testing PHP works fine. Testing Apache works fine. I don’t understand how the ISPConfig directory is supposed to work in the /var/www/html directory when it doesn’t have any index.php file in it. Of course I get an error 500, there’s no index file in the html directory…

If there is some kind of script I need to run to GET an index file, please do clue me in… If there is some way I am supposed to run that mysterious install/install.php file, please do clue me in… If you know what file I need to change permissions on so it can write to var/log, please do clue me in… If you know how I can find out what file I need to change permissions on so it can write to var/log, please clue me in…

Just please. HELP.