One-Click WordPress

This article contains information about the WordPress application that can be deployed on Vultr.

App Details

WordPress runs on the Ubuntu Server LTS operating system. You can log into this system with an SSH client using the root login found on your Vultr control panel.

Initially, you will need to access https://[SERVER_IP]/wp-admin/ in your web-browser. Substitute the [SERVER_IP] with the IP address of your VPS. The certificate warning can be safely ignored. Login credentials are sent to you in an email, and can also be found in your Vultr control panel. Once you have completed the WordPress setup, you can access your WordPress site at http://[SERVER_IP]/ or https://[SERVER_IP]/.

You may also want to point the DNS "A record" of your website to your [SERVER_IP]. This will allow you to access WordPress by navigating to your website (www.example.com). If you update your DNS record, be sure to edit your "WordPress Address (URL)" and "Site Address (URL)" to match your domain name. These settings are located in WordPress Admin (https://[SERVER_IP]/wp-admin/) -> Settings -> General. Also, you will need to update the server_name attribute in the Nginx site configuration files, otherwise Wordpress will be unable to send email. Follow these steps:

vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/wordpress_http.conf
# Change the server_name underscore "_" to your domain name.

vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/wordpress_https.conf
# Change the server_name underscore "_" to your domain name.

systemctl restart nginx.service

Removing wp-admin Login Prompt

For security purposes, your WordPress app has an initial login prompt that opens when accessing the /wp-admin/ page. To remove this prompt, follow these steps.

1. Login to your server using ssh as root.
2. Create a backup of your vhost files: cp /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf /root/
3. Edit both vhost files in /etc/nginx/conf.d/. You need to remove the block of code that starts with location ^~ /wp-admin/. It is about 15 lines long.
4. Save your changes, and restart the web server: systemctl restart nginx.service && systemctl restart php7.2-fpm.service ( PHP version may vary )

SSL Details

Your WordPress server can be accessed with both http:// and https:// URLs. By default, the https:// URL uses a self-signed certificate, which displays a security warning. This can be safely ignored.

To disable https:// support, do the following:

1. Login to your server using ssh as root.
2. Move the HTTPS vhost file out of the web server conf: mv /etc/nginx/conf.d/wordpress_https.conf /root/
3. Restart the web server: systemctl restart nginx.service && systemctl restart php7.2-fpm.service ( PHP version may vary )

Depending on your plans for your WordPress site, you may want to update the certificate to one provided by an actual certificate authority. This will remove the security warning error. To install a new certificate, do the following:

1. Obtain a certificate from a certificate authority for your domain.
2. Login to your server using ssh as root.
3. Replace the server.crt and server.key files in /etc/nginx/ssl/ with the updated certificate. Details on converting certificate formats are outside of the scope of this article.
4. Restart the web server: systemctl restart nginx.service && systemctl restart php7.2-fpm.service ( PHP version may vary )

SQL database

There is a MySQL database server running on the VPS. You can connect to the database by executing the following:

mysql -u root

The MySQL root password is saved on the VPS in /root/.my.cnf.

Files/Folders of Interest

• MySQL logs: /var/log/mysqld*.log
• Vhost conf: /etc/nginx/conf.d/
• Vhost SSL: /etc/nginx/ssl
• WP code: /var/www/html/
• WP uploads: /var/www/html/wp-content/uploads
• wp-cli: /usr/local/bin/wp

About Vultr Applications

Vultr applications use modern releases of software packages. Applications are configured to be deployed with specific versions of software. Over time, the Vultr team will update the application offerings to include newer operating systems, package versions, etc. This document only provides up-to-date information about the latest version of this application. Vultr applications are updated without notice. If you plan to build a project or infrastructure based on our application templates, we recommend taking a snapshot of the application used in your initial deployment.