MediaWiki Details

If a DNS name has been registered and configured for this instance, replace the instance's IP address with the configured name in the below steps. See our instructions to bypass the HTTPS warning for self-signed SSL/TLS certificates if a Commercial or Let's Encrypt SSL/TLS certificate is not going to be installed (instructions for both options are below) and can be completed prior to completing the installation of MediaWiki.

Installation

Once the instance has finished booting and installing the required software, navigate to https://use.your.ip/mw-config/ to complete the MediaWiki installation process.

1.The installation assistant will prompt for the following information:
* Username: userMediaWiki Administrator User
* Password: MediaWiki Administrator Password
2. Select desired language settings and click Continue:

3. Input the following Upgrade key into the text box and click Continue:
Upgrade Key: MediaWiki Upgrade Key

4. Click Continue on the next page titled "Welcome to MediaWiki!"
5. Ensure the checkbox is selected to Use the same account as for installation for the Database Settings page:

6. Complete the form on the page titled "Name" by providing the Name of the wiki, a namespace for the wiki, and administrator account information.
* Reference the help links for further information on the specific fields and the purposes of that information, along with choosing whether or not to:
* Subscribe to a mailing list containing release announcements
* Allow data from this installation to be sent to the developers of MediaWiki
* The last section allows for the installation to be completed with default values for the remainder of the process by selecting "I'm bored already, just install the wiki."
* Click Continue

7. Click Continue on the next page titled "Install"
8. The installation will now complete and indicate the status of various steps needed throughout the process. Click Continue.
9. It is not necessary to download, modify, and upload the LocalSettings.php configuration file.

It is now possible to access https://use.your.ip/ if a DNS name has not already been registered and configured to point to the instance's IP address.

Configuration and Administration

File uploads

File uploads are disabled by default. To enable this functionality, connect as the root user and run:
sed -i -e '/^\$wgEnableUploads/s/false/true/' /var/www/html/LocalSettings.php

Cockpit Control Panel

Cockpit control panel is accessible via https://use.your.ip:9080/:
* Credentials are the same as provided on the Server Information page
If you use the Vultr Firewall, make sure to allow access to port 9080.

Cockpit can be disabled by connecting as the root user and running:
# systemctl disable --now cockpit.socket

PHPMyAdmin

PHPMyAdmin is accessible via https://use.your.ip/mysqladmin/:
* Username for both security modal and logging in: pmauserPHPMyAdmin Username
* Password for security modal: PHPMyAdmin htaccess modal Password
* Password for logging in to PHPMyAdmin: PHPMyAdmin Password

HTTPS: SSL/TLS Certificates

To access the server with a domain name, instead of use.your.ip, it is possible to register a domain name from a domain registrar, and either follow the registrar's documentation on updating DNS records, or utilize Vultr's DNS.

Once DNS has finished propagating, and the registered domain name resolves to use.your.ip, connect to the server via console or SSH as the root user.

Let's Encrypt via Certbot

Certbot is installed by default on Vultr's MediaWiki Marketplace app. If you need to update or reinstall, please see the recommended installation steps at eff.org.

Requesting a Certificate

The below example shows installing multi-domain certificate for the bare or root domain of example.com as well as the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of www.example.com. The email provided is used for registering an account with Let's Encrypt and is not sent to Vultr:
# certbot --nginx --redirect -d www.example.com -d example.com -m admin@example.com --agree-tos --no-eff-email
Upon successfully requesting certificates, a message should be shown that includes text similar to the following:

Successfully deployed certificate for www.example.com to /etc/nginx/conf.d/mediawiki_https.conf
Congratulations! You have successfully enabled HTTPS on https://www.example.com

(Optional) To update the Cockpit Control Panel to use the same certificate, a script is available to be invoked via:
# /opt/vultr/cockpit-certificate.sh

Revoking a Certificate

In case a certificate issued by Let's Encrypt via certbot is to be revoked, or otherwise needs to be uninstalled, these steps should be followed:
1. Back up current web server configuration files:
# cp -r /etc/nginx /root/nginx
2. Revoke the certificate:
# certbot delete
3. Restore default web server configuration:
# /opt/vultr/fix-vhost.sh

Commercial SSL/TLS Certificate

If a commercial certificate is desired instead of the free Let's Encrypt certificate, install the public certificate as /etc/nginx/ssl/server.crt and the private key as /etc/nginx/ssl/server.key. Refer to the certificate vendor's documentation for any further details. Once these files are in place, reboot the server to ensure all services are using the correct certificate: # reboot

Disabling HTTPS

While strongly discouraged, it is possible to disable HTTPS access by running the following:
# mv /etc/nginx/conf.d/mediawiki_https.conf /root/; reboot

SQL Database Access

To access the MariaDB (MySQL) database server, connect as the root user via console or SSH and run:
# mysql -u root

The root password is located in the configuration file /root/.my.cnf.

Logs for the database server can be viewed with:
# journalctl -eu mariadb.service

Helper Scripts

After connecting as the root user via console or SSH as the root user, the following scripts can be invoked to assist in configuration tasks.

Reset NGINX Server Configuration

To reset the NGINX web server configuration to its original settings, use:
# /opt/vultr/fix-vhost.sh

Check Software Versions

Our support team may request OS and MediaWiki version information, which can be obtained via:
# /opt/vultr/version.sh

Files and Folders of Interest

• php.ini : /etc/php/8.2/fpm/php.ini
• NGINX virtual host configuration : /etc/nginx/conf.d/
• NGINX virtual host SSL files (unless Certbot has been utilized to generate Let's Encrypt certificates) : /etc/nginx/ssl/