How To Install WordPress on Contabo VPS (No cPanel)

 sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y 

 sudo mysql -u root -p 

 CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci; 

Here’s what each segment does:

 CREATE USER 'wordpressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Enter_Your_Password_Here'; 

 GRANT ALL ON wordpress.* TO 'wordpressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'enter_a_custom_password_here';

Here’s a detailed breakdown:

• GRANT ALL ON wordpress.*: This part of the command gives full permissions (i.e., ALL privileges) to the user for the “wordpress” database. The .* indicates permissions are granted for all tables and entities within the “wordpress” database.
• TO ‘wordpressuser’@’localhost’: This designates the user (in this case, “wordpressuser”) and the location from which they’ll connect (here, “localhost” or the same machine the MySQL server is on) that the permissions are being granted to.
• IDENTIFIED BY ‘enter_a_custom_password_here’: This sets or confirms the password for the user. As always, you should replace 'enter_a_custom_password_here' with a strong, unique password to ensure the security of your database.

After executing this command, the user “wordpressuser” will have full permissions to perform any operation on the “wordpress” database. It’s vital to ensure that only trusted users have such extensive permissions to maintain the security and integrity of your data.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully created a database and granted a user full access and permissions to manage it.

 FLUSH PRIVILEGES; 

It is an essential SQL directive used in MySQL and MariaDB databases. When you make changes to user privileges, those changes aren’t always immediately recognized by the database.

The FLUSH PRIVILEGES command tells the database system to reload the user privileges from the grant tables in the database, ensuring that all recent changes are taken into account.

In simpler terms, after making changes to user permissions or granting new privileges, use this command to ensure the database updates and recognizes those changes.

This step is especially important when setting up or modifying access controls for users to ensure the correct permissions are actively in place.

You can exit out of MySQL by using this command:

EXIT;

5. Install required PHP extensions:

When setting up a PHP-based application like WordPress, certain plugins or themes might require these extensions. Hence, installing them ensures broader compatibility with various PHP software.

  sudo apt install php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-xmlrpc php-soap php-intl php-zip 

Restart the Apache web service by running this command

 sudo systemctl restart apache2 

This is a Linux command that instructs the system to restart the Apache2 web server using the systemd init system, which is prevalent in many modern Linux distributions.

6. Install WordPress:

Navigate to the web root directory:

 cd /var/www/html 

Download the latest version of WordPress:

 curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz  

Extract the files:

 tar xzvf latest.tar.gz 

For the other tasks you can watch the video below from minute 7:28 – 11:51

7. Apache configurations

Great job! With WordPress now installed, the next step is to configure Apache to allow us to access our website via our domain name. Please reopen WinSCP (as shown in the video) and go to the following directory: /etc/apache2/sites-available/.

Next, create a blank file and name it “domain.conf” (replace “domain” with your actual domain name).

Now, open the “domain.conf” file, copy the content provided below, paste it inside, and then save the file.

Breakdown of the configuration:

The configuration provided is a template for an Apache VirtualHost. VirtualHosts allow Apache to serve different websites or web applications based on the domain name or IP address used to access the server. Here’s a breakdown of the configuration:

• <VirtualHost *:80>: This line starts the VirtualHost definition, specifying that it’s for any IP address (*) on port 80 (the default port for HTTP).
• ServerAdmin: Specifies the email address of the webmaster or server admin. In this template, it’s set to admin@domain.
• DocumentRoot: This points to the directory on the server where the website’s files are located. Here, it’s set to /var/www/html/.
• ServerName: Specifies the primary domain name for this VirtualHost. Here, it’s set as a placeholder domain.
• ServerAlias: This allows you to set alternate domain names for the same site. It’s also set to domain in this template, but in real use, you might have something like www.domain.com.
• <Directory /var/www/html/>: This block defines options for the specified directory and its subdirectories.
  • Options +FollowSymlinks: This allows Apache to follow symbolic links in the directory.
  • AllowOverride All: This permits .htaccess files within the directory to override Apache’s global settings.
  • Require all granted: Grants access to the directory for all users.
• ErrorLog: Specifies where the server will log errors. The ${APACHE_LOG_DIR} variable usually points to Apache’s default log directory, typically something like /var/log/apache2/.
• CustomLog: Specifies where the server will log access requests. The combined format includes additional information like the referrer and user-agent.
• </VirtualHost>: This line ends the VirtualHost definition.

When using this template in a real-world scenario, you’ll want to replace the placeholders (domain, admin@domain) with appropriate values to match your specific domain and setup.

Enable configuration in Apache and restart the service.

Run the following commands to finish the setup:

sudo a2ensite domain.conf

sudo a2enmod rewrite

sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Then, assign the right permissions:

 sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html 

This command is used to change the ownership of the /var/www/html directory and its contents on a Linux system. Here’s a breakdown:

• sudo: This is a prefix that grants administrative permissions. Using sudo means you’re executing the command with superuser (root) privileges, which is often required for system-level changes.
• chown: This stands for “change owner”. It’s the Linux command used to change the ownership of files and directories.
• -R: This is an option for the chown command which means “recursive”. It ensures that the ownership change applies not only to the specified directory but also to all of its contents, including subdirectories and their files.
• www-data:www-data: This specifies the new owner and group for the file or directory. In many Linux distributions, www-data is the default user and group under which the Apache web server runs. By changing the ownership to www-data, you’re ensuring that Apache has the appropriate permissions to read, write, and execute files in the /var/www/html directory.
• /var/www/html: This is the target directory whose ownership you’re changing. It’s a common default directory for web content on servers running the Apache web server.

In essence, by running this command, you’re ensuring that the Apache web server has the proper permissions to manage and serve content from the /var/www/html directory. This is especially useful when setting up web applications like WordPress, as it may need to create or modify files within this directory.

Now run the following two find commands to set the correct permissions on the WordPress directories and files:

sudo find /var/www/html/ -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \; 
sudo find /var/www/html/ -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \;

8. Setup WordPress Config File

To get secure values from the WordPress secret key generator, run the following command:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

This command retrieves unique security keys and salts from the official WordPress API. Here’s a breakdown:

When you run this command, you’ll receive a series of define statements with unique keys and salts that can be directly copied and pasted into your wp-config.php file. This step is critical for the security of your WordPress site, as these keys and salts play a crucial role in encrypting information stored in user cookies, making it harder for malicious users to hijack sessions.

Outputdefine('AUTH_KEY',         '1jl/vqfs<XhdXoAPz9 DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES c_j{iwqD^<+c9.k<J@4H');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  'E2N-h2]Dcvp+aS/p7X DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES {Ka(f;rv?Pxf})CgLi-3');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'W(50,{W^,OPB%PB<JF DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES 2;y&,2m%3]R6DUth[;88');
define('NONCE_KEY',        'll,4UC)7ua+8<!4VM+ DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES #`DXF+[$atzM7 o^-C7g');
define('AUTH_SALT',        'koMrurzOA+|L_lG}kf DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES  07VC*Lj*lD&?3w!BT#-');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'p32*p,]z%LZ+pAu:VY DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES C-?y+K0DK_+F|0h{!_xY');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   'i^/G2W7!-1H2OQ+t$3 DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES t6**bRVFSD[Hi])-qS`|');
define('NONCE_SALT',       'Q6]U:K?j4L%Z]}h^q7 DO NOT COPY THESE VALUES 1% ^qUswWgn+6&xqHN&%');

Now open the wp-config file with either your FTP like WinSCP, Filezilla or via command line and update the file with the above auto-generated lines.

Now, go to your web browser and navigate to your server’s IP address. You should see the WordPress installation page. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.

In your web browser, navigate to your server’s domain name or public IP address:

http://server_domain

Choose the language you would like to use: Then you will be prompted to supply your database credential. Just supply them and continue.