Maximum performance at minimal cost. Start your server in seconds now!
    Vijona

    Install and Configure WordPress on Ubuntu 24.04 with LEMP

    WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) developed with PHP and supported by MySQL or MariaDB. Originally a blogging tool, it has evolved into one of the most popular website platforms, powering more than 22% of the top one million websites as of December 2024.

    This guide details the process of installing and setting up WordPress on an Ubuntu 24.04 server with the LEMP stack (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP). You will install the required software, secure your setup, and configure WordPress to serve dynamic sites from your own server.

    Prerequisites

    Before proceeding, ensure you meet the following requirements:

    • Access to an Ubuntu 24.04 server using a non-root user with sudo privileges.
    • A domain A record pointing to your server IP (for example, www.example.com) if using a custom domain.

    Install Nginx Web Server

    First, install Nginx on your system:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo apt install nginx -y

    Start the Nginx service:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl start nginx

    Enable Nginx to launch at system boot:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl enable nginx

    Check the service status to confirm Nginx is running:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl status nginx

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    ● nginx.service - nginx - high performance web server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-04-26 13:18:09 WAT; 9min ago
       Docs: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
   Main PID: 1629 (nginx)
...

    Configure the Firewall

    Next, adjust the firewall settings with UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

    Check the current firewall status:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo ufw status

    Allow HTTP and HTTPS using the Nginx Full profile:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo ufw allow "Nginx Full"

    Reload UFW to apply changes:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo ufw reload

    Verify the updated firewall rules:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo ufw status

    Expected Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    To                         Action      From
--                         ------      ----
Nginx Full                 ALLOW       Anywhere
Nginx Full (v6)            ALLOW       Anywhere (v6)

    Install MySQL Database

    Next, install and configure the MySQL database server for WordPress.

    Install the MySQL server package:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo apt install mysql-server -y

    Check that MySQL was installed properly:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ mysql --version

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql  Ver 8.0.36 for Linux on x86_64 (MySQL Community Server - GPL)

    Start the MySQL service:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl start mysql

    Enable MySQL to launch at startup:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl enable mysql

    Verify that the service is active and running:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl status mysql

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    ● mysql.service - MySQL Community Server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/mysql.service; enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-04-26 13:42:56 WAT; 2min ago
   Main PID: 43442 (mysqld)
...

    For security, run the built-in script to strengthen your MySQL installation:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo mysql_secure_installation

    Create a WordPress Database and User

    WordPress needs a separate MySQL database to store content, settings, and user data. Follow these steps to create one:

    Log into the MySQL shell as the root user:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo mysql

    Create the database for WordPress:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> CREATE DATABASE wordpressdb;

    Create a dedicated MySQL user with a strong password:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> CREATE USER 'wordpressdbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword';

    Grant all privileges on the WordPress database to this user:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpressdb.* TO 'wordpressdbuser'@'localhost';

    Apply the new privileges:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

    Verify the database creation:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> SHOW DATABASES;

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    +--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| mysql              |
| performance_schema |
| sys                |
| wordpressdb        |
+--------------------+

    Check that the user was created:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> SELECT User, Host FROM mysql.user WHERE User = 'wordpressdbuser';

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    +-----------------+-----------+
| User            | Host      |
+-----------------+-----------+
| wordpressdbuser | localhost |
+-----------------+-----------+

    Confirm the privileges assigned to the user:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> SHOW GRANTS FOR 'wordpressdbuser'@'localhost';

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Grants for wordpressdbuser@localhost                                     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO `wordpressdbuser`@`localhost`                      |
| GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `wordpressdb`.* TO `wordpressdbuser`@`localhost` |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

    Exit the MySQL shell:

    Copy Code 
    

    mysql> EXIT;

    Install PHP and Extensions

    WordPress requires PHP to generate dynamic content and connect with the MySQL database. Begin by installing PHP and the necessary modules:

    Install PHP and required packages:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo apt install php php-cli php-common php-imap php-fpm php-snmp php-xml php-zip php-mbstring php-curl php-mysqli php-gd php-intl -y

    Check the installed PHP version:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ php -v

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    PHP 8.3.X (cli) (built: ...)

    Confirm php-fpm is active and running:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl status php8.3-fpm

    Download and Install WordPress

    Now, download and prepare WordPress:

    Download the latest WordPress release:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ wget http://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

    Extract the downloaded archive:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo tar -xvzf latest.tar.gz

    Move WordPress files to the Nginx web root directory:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo mv wordpress/* /var/www/html/

    Set file ownership to the Nginx user:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

    Switch to the web root directory:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ cd /var/www/html/

    Remove default Nginx placeholder files:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo rm index.html index.nginx-debian.html

    Rename the sample WordPress configuration file:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo mv wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

    Verify WordPress files are in place:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ ls -l

    Ensure files such as wp-config.php, wp-login.php, and the wp-admin folder are present.

    Configure the wp-config.php File

    Update the WordPress configuration file with your database credentials so it can connect to MySQL.

    Open wp-config.php with a text editor:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo nano wp-config.php

    Update the following lines with the database information:

    Copy Code 
    

    // The name of the database for WordPress 
define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpressdb' );

// MySQL database username 
define( 'DB_USER', 'wordpressdbuser' );

// MySQL database password 
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'strongpassword' );

// MySQL hostname 
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

    Save and close the file. Ensure the values match those set earlier when creating the database and user.

    Create an Nginx Server Block for WordPress

    Configure Nginx with a server block to properly handle WordPress traffic and PHP requests.

    Locate the active PHP-FPM socket:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ ls /var/run/php

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    php8.3-fpm.pid  php8.3-fpm.sock  php-fpm.sock

    Note the correct socket filename, e.g., php8.3-fpm.sock.

    Edit the default Nginx configuration file:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

    Replace its content with the following configuration (adjust domain and socket path as needed):

    Copy Code 
    

    server {
    listen 80;
    server_name www.example.com;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?q=$uri&$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock; # adjust if your PHP version differs
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico {
        access_log off;
        log_not_found off;
        expires max;
    }

    location = /robots.txt {
        access_log off;
        log_not_found off;
    }

    error_page 404 /404.html;

    error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html {
        root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    }

    location ~ /\. {
        deny all;
        access_log off;
        log_not_found off;
    }

    location /wp-content/uploads/ {
        location ~ \.php$ {
            deny all;
        }
    }
}

    Check the configuration syntax:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo nginx -t

    Sample Output:

    Copy Code 
    

    nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

    Restart Nginx to apply changes:

    Copy Code 
    

    $ sudo systemctl restart nginx

    Access the WordPress Dashboard

    Open a browser and navigate to http://www.example.com. You should see the WordPress installation page.

    Select your preferred language and click Continue. Fill in your Site Title, Username, Password, and Email, then click Install WordPress. Once completed, log in with the credentials you set to reach the WordPress dashboard.

    Conclusion

    In this tutorial, you installed and configured WordPress on Ubuntu 24.04 using the LEMP stack (Linux, Nginx, MySQL, PHP). You set up Nginx, created a secure MySQL database, configured PHP with the necessary extensions, and deployed WordPress for production use.

    Source: vultr.com

    Create a Free Account

    Register now and get access to our Cloud Services.

    Try now

    Posts you might be interested in: