In this tutorial, i’m gonna be showing you how to properly setup a wordpress site on Vultr cloud vps using one-click installation. Actually, i did this tutorial once two years ago. At the time, vultr used ubuntu 16 for one-click installation, but it now switches to ubuntu. 18. The change of linux kernel isn’t the case, but during months i’ve received a few comments from my viewers who told me that the previous tutorial was no longer working.
Hence, i create this content to clarify the confusion of the vultr wordpress installation. The tutorial will guide on everything regarding wordpress app. Those included installing wordpress using vultr app, setting up dns records of your Vultr account and pointing your domain name to vultr nameserver, and finally, how to properly configure virtual host for your wordpress site.
There are more works to do in the tutorial so let’s get started. Now i’m on the home of vultr cloud vps, I’ve ready login my account As you can see on the screen, i have my account button on the upper-right of the home page.
Install WordPress on a VPS
I click on the button to view the account dashboard. On the product page, i click on the (+) icon to deploy a new server or a vps instance. On deploy new instance page under the server location section, i choose new york (nj) as the location of the new server.
Under the server type section, i click on applications tab to view more options. Exactly, i’m gonna install a wordpress app so i choose wordpress from the application list. Under the server size section, i choose $5 per month.
Actually, you can go with the higher price if you demand higher performance. However, the $5 vps instance is more than enough for a small business or a personal blog. I’m gonna enable ip version 6 under the additional features section.
Under the server hostname & label section, i input chamnes.Xyz in the hostname input. The text automatically popup in another input field.
Finally, i click on the deploy new button to deploy a new server or vps instance. Guys! the deploying a new server will take a few minutes so i’ll pause the content recording and come back after the process is complete.
Vultr SSD VPS
Hey, guys! i’m back. As you can see on the screen, the new server has ready deployed on my vultr account. I click on manage to view the current server information. As shows up on the screen, i have two different login credentials — the server login and application login credential.
Under the application information section, i have the application credentials such as username and password of the http authentication with the wordpress login url.
Some folks confused that the username and password is the wordpress login credential so they often complain me about the login issue. Despite the login credentials, vultr has some official instruction about setting up the Dns records such as pointing the a record to the current vps instance.
The most important information i’m gonna point out here is the official document of the one-click wordpress. Obviously, i strongly suggest reading the document if you’ve never done that before. While reading the application information in your vultr account, a copy of the information was sent to your inbox. Here i received a similar information from vultr.
However, the username and password of the http authentication didn’t reveal in the email. I go back my vultr account then open the provided url of the wordpress backend in a new tab of the web browser. As you can see in the browser, i reach a broken page. By default, vultr uses https protocol for the wordpress installation so it causes the. Ssl certificate issue.
I should have to access the wordpress site using http instead of the https protocol. In the address bar of the browser, i delete (s) from the http protocol then hit enter to access the wordpress site again. The http authentication form requires for the process so i have to fill out the correct credential in order to access the wp-admin slash.
The http authentication account credential should be in my vultr account so i go back to my vultr account to get the credential information. Under the application information section, i copy the username then paste it in the username input field of http authentication form. I’ll do the same process of the password field.
I copy the password then paste it into the password field of http authentication form. I click on the login button to continue to the wp-admin of the wordpress site. WordPress bring me up an installation page.
Of course. Vultr only setup the server environment for the wordpress installation, but i have to complete the installation process myself. On the wordpress installation page, i click on the continue button to continue the installation process.
WordPress asks me for the required information in a form. I have to fill out the form in order to complete the installation process. In the site title input field, i input chamnes community as the title of my wordpress site. In the username input field, i use “chamnes” as the admin username of the site.
I copy the generated password to my clipboard then i open a new text file. In the text editor, i save the username and password of the wordpress administrator account. Again, on the wordpress installation page, i input my email address in your email input field.
I click on the checkbox option so my wordpress site won’t index by the search engines. The option help with preventing search engines from indexing the under construction site. Once i finish everything of the wordpress setup, i can later uncheck the option in the.
WordPress Dashboard Configuration
WordPress backend dashboard. Eventually, i click on the install wordpress button to install the wordpress site. The installation finished. I click on the login button to login the wordpress dashboard.
In the wordpress login form, i input my username and password. Of course. The wordpress login credential should be in the text where i saved in the previous step. Make sure you saved yours. I click on the login button to login the backend dashboard. As you can see on the screen, i’m now on the wordpress dashboard.
From the admin menu, i choose visit site to view the frontend page of the wordpress site. If you look at the address of the web browser, the wordpress serves under the ip address of the server or vps instance.
I should have to change the ip address to my domain name which is chamnes.Xyz. You can switch from the ip based to your domain name in three step. First off, you have to setup the dns record of the preferred domain name in your vultr account.
Next, you have to point the nameserver of the domain name to the nameserver of your. Vultr account. Finally, you have to change the wordpress address and site address option in your wordpress site. Okay! lets me show you in practice.
Here i go back to my vultr account. I click on the product icon to view the product page. On the product page, i click on dns tab to view dns settings. On the dns page, i click on the add domain button to add a new domain to my vultr account.
In the domain input field, i input chamnes.Xyz which is my preferred domain name for the. WordPress site. I go back to the wordpress tab to copy the ip address of the wordpress site then i paste the ip address in another input field.
Of course. I don’t need the slash and the http protocol so allow me to eliminate the these stuffs. I click on the add button to the domain name to my vultr account. After adding the domain name, as you can see on the screen, vultr setup the dns records of the current domain name for me.
I have an a record points the ip address of the vps instance. I have a wildcard cname points the domain name which is vpscentos.com. Finally, i have two nameservers point the hostname of vultr server.
The dns records were ready setup on my vultr account so the next is to point the nameserver from domain registar to the nameserver of my vultr account. Since i registered the domain name in godaddy, the domain configuration should be in my godaddy account.
As you can see on the screen, i’ve logged in my godaddy account as my profile name shows up on upper-right of the home page. I click on the profile name then choose visit my account button from the submenu context.
On the godaddy product page, i have two domain names registered in my godaddy account. I click on the dns button of chamnes.Xyz to view the dns settings. On the dns management page under the nameserver section, i click on the change button to change the current setting.
Under choose your new nameserver type, i choose custom from the list. After select the option, the nameserver input fields show up. I go back to my vultr account then copy the primary nameserver from the dns record of my vultr account.
On the godaddy dns management page, i paste the nameserver in the input field. I’ll repeat the same process for the secondary nameserver. I just copy the nameserver from vultr dns record and paste it in another input field. I click on the save button to save the dns records.
Godaddy notices me the requirement of changing the dns records. Nothing is important here, but make sure you aware of the notification. Changing of the dns records needs at least a few hours so i’ll pause the content recording and come back after everything is in places.
How to Point DNS to Domain
The dns records should be in places now. You can use dns lookup to check the current dns settings of your domain name. In the address of the chrome browser, i type “dnslookup” then hit enter to search for the tool.
Here it listed on the top of search engine. I click on the link to view the website. In the domain name input field, i input vpscentos.com then click on the dns lookup button to check the dns settings of the domain name.
As show up on the screen, i have an a record points to the ip address of my vps instance. What ’s more, over here, the dns record was reported vultr nameserver. Everything appeals to be working correctly. In the address bar of the browser, i input vpscentos.com then hit enter to access the wordpress site. Bingo.
The wordpress site is now serving under vpscentos.com domain name. If i go another wordpress tab, i have the same wordpress site that is serving under the ip address of the vps instance. I refresh the tab to make sure it’s still working. Of course. It is. Lets me re-arrange the tabs so you can easily look them.
Here is vpscentos.com and here is another wordpress that serves under the ip address of the vps instance. These two websites are the same but just host under two different addresses. On vpscentos.com tab, i access to the backend dashboard by extent the url with wp-admin slash. The http authentication form shows up in the browser.
Exactly, i have to input the correct username and password in order to access the wp-admin. Url or the backend area of the wordpress site. Again, i go back to my vultr account. I click on product icon to view the product settings.
On product page, i click vpscentos.com row to view the server information. On server information page, under the application information section, i copy the username then paste it in the username input field of the http authentication form. I’ll repeat the same process for the password input field. I just copy the password from the server information page then paste in the http authentication form.
I click on the login button to access to wp-admin url of the wordpress site. Another login form shows up in the browser. Of course. I’ve login once a moment ago, but it’s the http authentication. The https authentication is the security level of the nginx web server.
By default, when using one-click installation, vultr setup the https authentication to secure sensitive requests of the wordpress site. This login form, however, is belong to the wordpress authentication. So, please don’t be confused between the http authentication and wordpress authentication.
Another important thing i’m wanna point out here is the domain url. As you can see in the address bar of the browser, domain url changed from vpscentos.com to the. Ip address of the vps instance. This because vultr set the url of wordpress address and blog address to the ip address in wordpress options.
I have to change the setting options to chamnes.Xyz in order to make the domain name properly work with the wordpress site. I hope i make a clear explain here. I’m now gonna login the backend dashboard.
As you can on screen, my admin username ready popped up in the login form so i only need the password for the user account. I open the text file where i save my admin username and password in the previous step.
In the text file, i copy the password then paste it in the password input field. Next, i click on the login button to log in the backend dashboard of the wordpress site. On the wordpress dashboard, i select settings from the admin menu then choose general from the submenu context.
As you can see on the screen, wordpress address and site address were set to the ip address of the vps instance. I change the both option to vpscentos.com then click on the save change button to update the setting options.
WordPress log me out the dashboard for the security reasons. However, the wordpress site url changed back to vpscentos.com if you look at the wordpress site url in the address of the browser. I received a few complaint from the viewers regarding this logout process.
The viewers told that they couldn’t log back in the wordpress sites after they were logged out. I don’t think changing the wordpress address and site address is the problem of the case but the confusing between the http authentication and wordpress authentication. Hence, make sure you use the correct username and password.
I’m gonna use the username and password in the text file to log back in again. Bingo! i now log back in the wordpress dashboard. From the admin bar, i choose visit site from the submenu context to the frontend side. There we go.
The wordpress site fully work with the vpscentos.com domain name. Here is the ip based wordpress that is the same wordpress site to vpscentos.com. In fact, you should redirect the ip based wordpress site to vpscentos.com, or you can deny users accessing the website through ip address of the vps instance.
Unfortunately, i’m not gonna talk about the redirecting and denying of users accessing the server ip in this tutorial. However, i’m gonna focus on additional configuration that might be necessary for wordpress app on vultr. I go back to my vultr account.
Under the application information section, we have a provided document related to wordpress app. I open the document in a new tab of the browser. As you can see in the document, it has some instruction relating to change the wordpress address and site address where we did in the previous step.
In additional to the above configuration, vultr suggests changing the default server from “_” to a prefer domain name. The configuration is optional but strongly recommended. Change the default server name will be helpful when you later want to install let’s encrypt.
Ssl certificates or mail servers on the vps instance. Thus, i’m gonna follow the instructions and show you how to default server name and remove the wp-admin login prompt. Because editing the virtual host configuration can be done on the server, i’m gonna connect to the vps instance using ssh client called putty.
I open the start menu then choose putty from the start menu context. If you’ve not ready installed putty ssh client tool on your computer, please find the download link down there in the description. I go my vultr account and click on the copy ip address icon to copy the ip address of the vps instance.
On putty configuration window, i paste the ip address in the host name input field. Under the saved sessions section, i input vpscentos.com in the input field then click on the save button to save the current session.
Lastly, i click on the open button to open the connection. Putty brings up a terminal window with a security alert. On putty security alert dialog box, i click the yes button to continue the connection. Putty asks me for the username to be login. In this case, i input root then hit enter to log in as the root.
Again, putty asks me for the password of the root user. I go back to the vultr account then click on the copy password icon to copy the root password to my clipboard. On the terminal window, i right click on the black area to paste the root password then hit enter to log in the vps instance. Bingo. I successfully login my vps instance.
As you can in the terminal window, at the last line, i have my username@serverhostname. Guys! the font of the terminal window is a bit small. I understand you now find difficult to read the inside content.
Hence, allow to enlarge the font size so you’ll be happier to follow what i’m doing in the tutorial. I right click on the title of the terminal window then choose change setting from the submenu context. On putty reconfiguration window, i select appearance from the list then click on the.
Change button under font settings section. On the font dialog box, i choose cousine, 16 point then click on the ok button to set the font property. On putty reconfiguration window, i click on the apply button to apply the new setting.
Well. The terminal window is now looking better. I go back to vultr one-click wordpress document then copy the command line from the document. On the terminal window, i right click on the black area to paste the command line in the terminal.
By default, vultr vps uses vim editor but i prefer vi so i delete “m” from the line. I hit enter to execute the command line. In the text editor, at server_name parameter, i press “i” to view insert mode then change the value from “_” to vpscentos.com.
I press escape to exit the insert mode then type “:x” then hit enter to exit and save the configuration. Again, i go back to the vultr official document and copy the command line. This time, i need to change the virtual host configuration for the https version.
On the terminal window, i right click on the black area to paste the command line in the terminal. As i did before, i change vim to vi then hit enter to edit the virtual host file. In the text editor, at server_name parameter, i change the value from “_” to vpscentos.com.
I save and exit the editor. I need to restart the nginx service in order to put everything in place. Hence, i go back to the official document one more time for the command line. On the terminal window, i right click on the black area to paste the command in the terminal window. I hit enter to restart the nginx service.
Bingo! the nginx service restarted without issues that means we’ve done the step. Please look at another suggestion — removing wp-admin login prompt or the http authentication. By default, vultr adds the http authentication to enhance the security of the wordpress site.
The http authentication, on the other hand, is annoying or cause issues when implement multi-authors or ecommerce function. For instance, you have to share the http authentication account credential to all authors of the wordpress site.
What’s more, your customers need the account credential in order to purchase any product on the wordpress site. Hence, it’s required to remove the wp-admin login prompt or http authentication if you plan to implement woocommerce or multi-authors.
I go back to the wordpress site. As you can see in the browser, the admin bar is showing up on the top of vpscentos.com that means i’m currently logging in the wordpress site. I’m gonna logout the wordpress site to show the wp-admin login prompt.
On the profile menu, i select logout from the submenu context. In address of the browser, i go to vpscentos.com/wp-admin. Well. The http authentication form didn’t show up because i did login once before so the browser cached my account authentication.
I should have to clear the browser cache in order to re-authenticate the http request. I press ctrl and delete on my keyboard to clear the browser cache. On clear browser data dialog box, i click on the clear data button to delete the browser cache.
Okay. I’m done. I go back to the wordpress tab and access the wp-admin again. There we go. The http authentication form or wp-admin login prompt is now showing up. If i click on the cancel button, i’ll reach the 401 error page.
Of course. That’s what i expected. Again, i go to the official document for the command line. I copy the command line from the document then right click on the back area to paste the command in the terminal window.
This command line use to create a backup of all virtual host files in the conf.D directory. I hit enter to execute the command. I go back to the official document again. This time, i copy the location of the virtual host file that we’ve edited in the previous step.
I right click on the black area to paste the file location string in the terminal window. I type “vi” in front of the string then hit enter to edit the virtual host file. In the text editor, i type /auth then hit enter to search for the auth_basic parameter.
I press “i” on my keyboard to view insert mode then i comment out the auth_basic lines. I press escape to exit the insert mode then i type “: x” and hit enter to save and exit the editor. I press arrow up on my keyboard to the previous command line.
This time i’m gonna edit the virtual host file for the https version. I hit enter to edit the file. I’ll do the same process to the previous step. In the text editor, i type /auth then hit enter to search for auth_basic parameter.
I comment out the auth_basic parameter lines then i save the file and exit the editor. To put everything in place, i have to restart the nginx service. Again, i go to the official document for the command line.
In the document, i copy the command line then paste it on the terminal window. I hit enter to execute the command line. There we go. The nginx service restarted. I go back to the wordpress tab and refresh the browser.
Bingo! i now can access the wordpress login form without the http authentication required. Guys! thanks for watching. Hopefully, you found something useful in the tutorial. If you have any question or suggestion, lets me know through the below comment. I’ll try to respond to the commend as soon as possible.
Hit thump up and share the content if you enjoy the tutorial. What’s more, i leave my affiliate links down there.
Please consider using the affiliate if you want to go with vultr cloud vps. The link won’t add any additional fee, but you’ll receive $50 free credit in your account after the first deposit. Lastly, i plan to create more tutorials related to vultr one-click installation so make sure. See you again in next tutorials, bye.
