WordPress is the most popular open-source blogging system and CMS on the Web. It is based on PHP and MySQL. Its features can be extended with thousands of free plugins and themes.
In this tutorial we will install WordPress on Apache2 server and create our first post.
Prerequisites:- Ubuntu 20.04 VPS on GoodLeaf
Installing Dependencies:
First, ensure your VPS is up to date with the latest patches. Then, install Apache2, PHP, MySQL, and required PHP extensions:
sudo apt install apache2 \ ghostscript \ libapache2-mod-php \ mysql-server \ php \ php-bcmath \ php-curl \ php-imagick \ php-intl \ php-json \ php-mbstring \ php-mysql \ php-xml \ php-zip
Ensure Apache2 and MySQL services are running and your system is up to date:
sudo systemctl enable mysql
Install WordPress:
We'll opt for the WordPress.org release instead of the APT package available in the Ubuntu Archive. This choice aligns with WordPress’s recommended approach, ensuring a smoother installation experience. Using the WordPress.org release minimizes the chances of encountering unexpected issues that may not have solutions readily available from the WordPress support volunteers. Now, let’s proceed by creating the installation directory and downloading the file directly from WordPress.org:
sudo mkdir -p /srv/www
sudo chown www-data: /srv/www
curl https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz | sudo -u www-data tar zx -C /srv/wwwConfigure Apache2:
We’ll create a new virtual host for our WordPress installation. Create a new configuration file for the WordPress site in /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf:
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /srv/www/wordpress
<Directory /srv/www/wordpress>
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride Limit Options FileInfo
DirectoryIndex index.php
Require all granted
</Directory>
<Directory /srv/www/wordpress/wp-content>
Options FollowSymLinks
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>Enable the new virtual host and restart Apache2:
sudo a2ensite wordpress
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo a2dissite 000-default
sudo systemctl restart apache2Configure a MySQL Database:
Create a new MySQL database and user for our WordPress installation. Log in to MySQL as the root user:
sudo mysql -u rootAnd create a new database and user:
CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
CREATE USER wordpress@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'change-this-to-your-password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO wordpress@localhost;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
quitTo enable MySQL, write:
sudo service mysql startConfigure WordPress:
Configure WordPress to use the MySQL database we created earlier. First, copy the sample configuration file to wp-config.php:
sudo -u www-data cp /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.phpFollowing that, it’s time to configure the database credentials in the configuration file. Please take care not to replace ‘database_name_here’ or ‘username_here’ in the provided commands. However, do replace <your-password> with your actual database password:
sudo -u www-data sed -i 's/database_name_here/wordpress/' /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.php
sudo -u www-data sed -i 's/username_here/wordpress/' /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.php
sudo -u www-data sed -i 's/password_here/<your-password>/' /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.phpTo avoid security issues, we’ll have to change the unique keys and salts in the configuration file. You can generate new ones by visiting the WordPress Salt Generator. First, find the lines in the configuration file that contain the unique keys and salts.
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define('AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define('NONCE_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here' );Once you’ve found them replace them with the new ones generated by the WordPress Salt Generator. Save and close the configuration file.
Finish the Installation:
Complete the installation by visiting the WordPress installation page. Open your browser and navigate to http://your-vps-ip-address/. After completing the installation, you should be logged in and ready to start building your website.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we learned how to set up WordPress on your Ubuntu Virtual Private Server for a seamless website building experience. We installed WordPress on Apache2 server. We also learned how to create a MySQL database and user for our WordPress installation. Finally, we configured WordPress to use the MySQL database we created earlier.
