Install Ghost CMS on Ubuntu 20.04

Updated on July 29, 2021
Install Ghost CMS on Ubuntu 20.04 header image

Introduction

Ghost is a lightweight, open-source Content Management System (CMS) and blogging platform built with Node.js. It is customizable and has many pre-built themes available. In this article, you'll learn how to install Ghost CMS on Ubuntu 20.04.

Prerequisites

1. Create the Ghost Database

  1. SSH to the server as your non-root user with sudo access.

  2. Login to mysql.

     $ sudo mysql -u root -p
  3. Create a database named ghost.

     CREATE DATABASE ghost;
  4. Create a database user named ghost.

     CREATE USER 'ghost'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'StrongPassword';
  5. Grant all privileges of the ghost database to the user ghost.

     GRANT ALL ON ghost.* TO 'ghost'@'localhost';
  6. Flush privileges for the changes to take effect.

     FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
  7. Exit MySQL.

    exit

2. Install Nginx

  1. Install Nginx.

     $ sudo apt-get install nginx -y
  2. Enable Nginx server to start on boot.

     $ sudo systemctl enable nginx
  3. Allow firewall for both HTTP and HTTPS connections.

     $ sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

3. Install Node.js

  1. Add the NodeSource APT repository for Node 14.

     $ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash
  2. Install Node.js.

     $ sudo apt-get install nodejs -y

4. Install Ghost

  1. Install Ghost-CLI.

     $ sudo npm install ghost-cli@latest -g
  2. Create a directory /var/www/ghost/.

     $ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/ghost/
  3. Set ownership of the directory to the current user account.

     $ sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/ghost/
     $ sudo chmod 775 /var/www/ghost
  4. Go to /var/www/ghost/ directory.

     $ cd /var/www/ghost/
  5. Install Ghost.

     $ ghost install
  6. Answer the prompts as shown.

     ? Enter your blog URL: https://ghost.example.com
     ? Enter your MySQL hostname: localhost
     ? Enter your MySQL username: ghost
     ? Enter your MySQL password: [hidden]
     ? Enter your Ghost database name: ghost
     ? Configuring Ghost
     ? Setting up instance
     ? Do you wish to set up Nginx? Yes
     ? Do you wish to set up Systemd? Yes
     ? Do you want to start Ghost? (Y/n) Y
  7. Navigate to your Ghost admin portal. For example:

     https://ghost.example.com/ghost/

More Information