Since Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Beta was released, I have been messing with it and the steps below is how I got WordPress installed…
If you’re thinking about running a content management systems to power your websites and blogs, consider WordPress first… There are many other CMS systems out there, and few are very good, however, WordPress has more support, huge based and thousands of plugins and themes…
WordPress, the most powerful and popular content management systems (CMS) is the right tool to develop and build powerful and dynamic websites based on PHP…
With PHP 7.1 now supported, you can greatly improve its performance when configured with Apache2 HTTP Server… For those who are new and want to learn how to install WordPress on Ubuntu running Apache2 with PHP 7.1, the steps below should be a great starting point.
This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users how to install WordPress on Ubuntu 18.04 LT with Apache2, MariaDB and PHP 7.1 support.
To get started with installing WordPress, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Install Apache2 HTTP Server
WordPress needs a web server and Apache2 is a lightweight and powerful HTTP Server. To install Apache2 on Ubuntu, run the commands below:
sudo apt update sudo apt install apache2
After installing Apache2, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Apache2 service to always start up with the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service sudo systemctl start apache2.service sudo systemctl enable apache2.service
Step 2: Install MariaDB Database Server
WordPress also need a database server… and MariaDB database server is a great place to start. To install it run the commands below.
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client
After installing, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable MariaDB service to always start up when the server boots.
sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service sudo systemctl start mariadb.service sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service
After that, run the commands below to secure MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.
sudo mysql_secure_installation
When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.
- Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
- Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
- New password: Enter password
- Re-enter new password: Repeat password
- Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
- Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
- Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
- Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y
Restart MariaDB server
sudo systemctl restart mariadb.service
Step 3: Install PHP 7.1 and Related Modules
PHP 7.1 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories… in order to install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.
Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.1
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.1
sudo apt update
Finally, run the commands below to install PHP 7.1 and related modules..
sudo apt install php7.1 libapache2-mod-php7.1 php7.1-common php7.1-mbstring php7.1-xmlrpc php7.1-gd php7.1-xml php7.1-mysql php7.1-cli php7.1-mcrypt php7.1-zip php7.1-curl
After install PHP 7.1, run the commands below to open PHP-FPM default file.
sudo nano /etc/php/7.1/apache2/php.ini
Then make the changes on the following lines below in the file and save. The value below are great settings to apply in your environments.
file_uploads = On allow_url_fopen = On memory_limit = 256M upload_max_filesize = 100M max_execution_time = 360 date.timezone = America/Chicago
Step 4: Create WordPress Database
Now that you’ve install all the packages that are required, continue below to start configuring the servers. First run the commands below to create a blank WordPress database.
To logon to MariaDB database server, run the commands below.
sudo mysql -u root -p
Then create a database called wpdb
CREATE DATABASE wpdb;
Create a database user called wpdbuser with new password
CREATE USER 'wpdbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';
Then grant the user full access to the database.
GRANT ALL ON wpdb.* TO 'wpdbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;
Finally, save your changes and exit.
FLUSH PRIVILEGES; EXIT;
Step 5: Download WordPress Latest Release
Next, visit WordPress site and download the latest version….
After downloading, run the commands below to extract the downloaded file and move it into a new WordPress root directory.
cd /tmp && wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz tar -zxvf latest.tar.gz sudo mv wordpress /var/www/html/wordpress
Then run the commands below to set the correct permissions for WordPress to function.
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/wordpress/ sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/wordpress/
Step 6: Configure Apache2 HTTP Server
Finally, configure Apache2 site configuration file for WordPress. This file will control how users access WordPress content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called wordpress.conf
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf
Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your own domain name and directory root location.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/wordpress/
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
<Directory /var/www/html/wordpress/>
Options +FollowSymlinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
Save the file and exit.
Step 7: Enable the WordPress and Rewrite Module
After configuring the VirtualHost above, enable it by running the commands below… the commands also disable PHP7.0 and enable PHP 7.1 for Apache2.
sudo a2ensite wordpress.conf sudo a2enmod rewrite
Step 8 : Restart Apache2
To load all the settings above, restart Apache2 by running the commands below.
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service
STEP 9: CONFIGURE WORDPRESS
Now that Apache2 is configured, run the commands below to create WordPress wp-config.php file.
sudo mv /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config.php
Then run the commands below to open WordPress configuration file.
sudo nano /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config.php
Enter the highlighted text below that you created for your database and save.
// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'wpdb');
/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'wpdbuser');
/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'user_password_here');
/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');
After that, open your browser and browse to your domain name to launch WordPress configuration wizard.
You should see WordPress setup wizard to complete. Please follow the wizard carefully.
http://example.com
Then type the WordPress website name and create a new admin user and password.. the click install.
This should install WordPress.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed WordPress on Ubuntu.
You may also like the post below: