Guides - Deploy WordPress through the Linode Marketplace

WordPress is an industry standard open source CMS (content management system) used by the majority of the web. With 60 million users around the globe, WordPress provides an intuitive platform for content-focused websites for both personal and business use. Its focus on best-in-class usability and flexibility makes it possible to have a customized website up and running in minutes.

Deploying a Marketplace App

The Linode Marketplace allows you to easily deploy software on a Compute Instance using the Cloud Manager. See Get Started with Marketplace Apps for complete steps.

1. Log in to the Cloud Manager and select the Marketplace link from the left navigation menu. This displays the Linode Create page with the Marketplace tab pre-selected.

2. Under the Select App section, select the app you would like to deploy.

3. Complete the form by following the steps and advice within the Creating a Compute Instance guide. Depending on the Marketplace App you selected, there may be additional configuration options available. See the Configuration Options section below for compatible distributions, recommended plans, and any additional configuration options available for this Marketplace App.

4. Click the Create Linode button. Once the Compute Instance has been provisioned and has fully powered on, wait for the software installation to complete. If the instance is powered off or restarted before this time, the software installation will likely fail.

To verify that the app has been fully installed, see Get Started with Marketplace Apps > Verify Installation. Once installed, follow the instructions within the Getting Started After Deployment section to access the application and start using it.

Configuration Options

• Supported distributions: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• Recommended minimum plan: All plan types and sizes can be used, though a minimum of a 4GB Dedicated CPU Compute Instance is recommended for production websites.

WordPress Options

• Webserver Stack (required): Choose which webserver to use for the WordPress deployment, Apache2 or NGINX.

• Email address (required): Enter the email address you wish to use when configuring the WordPress admin user, generating SSL certificates, and optionally creating DNS records for a custom domain.

• WordPress Admin Username (required): Username for your WordPress admin user account. Defaults to admin if no username is entered.

• WordPress Database Username (required): MySQL username for the WordPress database user. Defaults to wordpress if no username is entered.

• WordPress Database Name (required): Name for the WordPress MySQL database. Defaults to wordpress if no database name is defined.

• Website Title: Enter a title for your WordPress site.

  Note

  The passwords for the WordPress Admin User, WordPress Database User and MySQL root user are automatically generated and provided in the file /home/$USERNAME/.credentials when the WordPress deployment completes.

Limited Sudo User

You need to fill out the following fields to automatically create a limited sudo user, with a strong generated password for your new Compute Instance. This account will be assigned to the sudo group, which provides elevated permissions when running commands with the sudo prefix.

• Limited sudo user: Enter your preferred username for the limited user. No Capital Letters, Spaces, or Special Characters.

  Locating The Generated Sudo Password

  A password is generated for the limited user and stored in a .credentials file in their home directory, along with application specific passwords. This can be viewed by running: cat /home/$USERNAME/.credentials

  For best results, add an account SSH key for the Cloud Manager user that is deploying the instance, and select that user as an authorized_user in the API or by selecting that option in the Cloud Manager. Their SSH pubkey will be assigned to both root and the limited user.

• Disable root access over SSH: To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes. You can still switch to the root user once logged in, and you can also log in as root through Lish.

  Accessing The Instance Without SSH

  If you disable root access for your deployment and do not provide a valid Account SSH Key assigned to the authorized_user, you will need to login as the root user via the Lish console and run cat /home/$USERNAME/.credentials to view the generated password for the limited user.

Custom Domain (Optional)

If you wish to automatically configure a custom domain, you first need to configure your domain to use Linode’s name servers. This is typically accomplished directly through your registrar. See Use Linode’s Name Servers with Your Domain. Once that is finished, you can fill out the following fields for the Marketplace App:

• Linode API Token: If you wish to use the Linode’s DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain, create a Linode API Personal Access Token on your account with Read/Write access to Domains. If this is provided along with the subdomain and domain fields (outlined below), the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. See Get an API Access Token. If you do not provide this field, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
• Subdomain: The subdomain you wish to use, such as www for www.example.com.
• Domain: The domain name you wish to use, such as example.com.

• Prometheus Exporter: Option to include built in Prometheus endpoints for Node Exporter and MySQLd Exporter. See Prometheus Exporters.

Getting Started After Deployment

Obtain the Credentials

Once the app has been fully deployed, you need to obtain the credentials from the server.

1. Log in to your new Compute Instance using one of the methods below:

   • Lish Console: Within the Cloud Manager, navigate to Linodes from the left menu, select the Compute Instance you just deployed, and click the Launch LISH Console button. Log in as the root user. See Using the Lish Console.
   • SSH: Log in to your Compute Instance over SSH using the root user. See Connecting to a Remote Server Over SSH for assistance.

2. Once logged in, access the credentials file by running the following command:

   cat /home/$USERNAME/.credentials

3. This displays the passwords that were automatically generated when the instance was deployed. Once you save these passwords, you can safely delete this file.

Accessing the WordPress Admin Dashboard

1. Open your web browser and navigate to https://[domain]/wp-admin/, where [domain] can be replaced with the custom domain you entered during deployment or your Compute Instance’s rDNS domain (such as 192-0-2-1.ip.linodeusercontent.com). You can also use your IPv4 address, though the connection will not be secure. See the Managing IP Addresses guide for information on viewing IP addresses and rDNS.

   Note

   A TLS/SSL certificate is automatically generated for your custom domain, enabling you to connect to the site over the https protocol. If you did not enter a custom domain, a TLS/SSL certificate is configured on the rDNS domain instead. Connections using your IP address are not secured and will use the http protocol.

2. Within the login page that appears, enter the username (admin username) that you created when you deployed this instance and the associated password that was automatically generated. Then click the Log In button.

3. Once logged in, the WordPress Admin Dashboard appears. From here, you can create new posts, add users, modify the theme, and adjust any settings.

Viewing Your Website

Open a web browser and navigate to https://[domain], replacing [domain] with the custom domain you entered during deployment or your Compute Instance’s IPv4 address or rDNS domain. See the Managing IP Addresses guide for information on viewing IP addresses and rDNS. Your WordPress site should now be displayed.

Manually Configure a Domain

If you didn’t set up a domain during the deployment process, you can add it manually following the instructions in this section. Before beginning, make sure you have a registered domain name.

1. Within the name servers for your domain name, create an A record. The hostname / name field should be @ for a bare domain (example.tld) or should specify the subdomain you wish to use, such as app for app.example.tld. It’s common to create two A records, one using @ and one using www. The IP address should be the IPv4 address of your new Compute Instance. If you do not have a name server, consider using Linode’s DNS Manager.

2. Update WordPress so that it uses your new domain name. This can be done directly in the WordPress Admin panel or through the command line. See Changing The Site URL to learn more.

   1. Log in to Admin dashboard. See Accessing the WordPress Admin Dashboard.

   2. Click on the Settings link in the sidebar and then click on the General option from the dropdown menu that appears.

   3. Within the General Settings form, update the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) fields with the full domain you assigned to your site (such as http://example.com or http://www.example.com)

   4. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the form.

Resetting Your Admin Password or Email Address

If you need to reset your admin user’s password and you aren’t receiving the password reset request email, you can update the password from command line. This method also allows you to update the email address for your admin account without needing an email confirmation.

1. Log in to the Compute Instance using SSH or Lish.

2. Navigate to the public_html directory of your WordPress installation:.

   cd /var/www/example.com/public_html

3. Using the WP-CLI, update either the password or email address. You can also update other values as needed. See WP-CLI wp user update command.

   Update password (replace [user] with the username of the user you want to update and [password] with the password you wish to use):

   wp user update [user] --user_pass="[password]" --allow-root

   Update email (replace [user] with the username of the user you want to update and [email] with the email address you wish to use):

   wp user update [user] --user_email="[email]" --allow-root

Going Further

Now that your WordPress installation is deployed, you can start adding content and modifying it to suit your needs. Here are a few links to help get you started:

• WordPress Support: Learn the basic workflows for using WordPress.
• Securing WordPress: Advice on securing WordPress through HTTPS, using a secure password, changing the admin username, and more.
• WordPress Themes: A collection of thousands of WordPress themes.
• Marketplace Apps Repository: Review the deployment Ansible playbooks.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• WordPress Codex (Documentation)