How to Install WordPress on Digital Ocean VPS

This article will serve as a walkthrough for how to install WordPress on a Digital Ocean VPS. To do this, please follow the guide below.

Adding a User

1. Login to your droplet via ssh.
   

   ~$ ssh root@123.123.123.123
   The authenticity of host '123.123.123.123 (123.123.123.123)' can't be established.
   ECDSA key fingerprint is 79:95:46:1a:ab:37:11:8e:86:54:36:38:bb:3c:fa:c0.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

2. Add a new user and fill out the following details to complete user creation: password, full name, phone number, etc.
   

   ~# adduser developer

3. Confirm root privileges for your new user:
   
   1. Open sudoers file.
      

      ~# nano /etc/sudoers

   2. Find the following row:
      

      root    ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

   3. Add the following below root: ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
      

      developer    ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

4. Change user.
   

   ~# su - developer

5. Update system:
   1. DEBIAN
      
      

      1. ~$ sudo apt-get update

   2. RHEL
      
      

      1. ~$ sudo yum update

Installing the Web Server

1. DEBIAN
   
   

   1. ~$ sudo apt-get install apache2

2. RHEL
   
   

   1. ~$ sudo yum install apache2

Installing mysql

1. DEBIAN
   
   

   1. ~$ sudo apt-get install mysql-server libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql
      ~$ sudo /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

   2. Enter current password for root (hit enter if there isn't a password).
2. RHEL
   
   

   1. ~$ sudo yum install mysql-server libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql
      ~$ sudo /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

   2. Enter current password for root (hit enter if there isn't a password).

OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Then the prompt will ask you if you want to change the root password. Go ahead and choose N and move on to the next steps.
It’s easiest just to say Yes to all the options. At the end, MySQL will reload and implement the new changes.
By default, a MySQL installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MySQL without having to have a user account created for
them.  This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother.  You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.

Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] y                                            
... Success!

Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'.  This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.

Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] y
... Success!

By default, MySQL comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access.  This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.

Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] y
- Dropping test database...
... Success!
- Removing privileges on test database...
... Success!

Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.

Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] y
... Success!

Cleaning up...
                

Installing php

1. DEBIAN
   
   

   1. ~$ sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mcrypt

2. RHEL
   
   

   1. ~$ sudo yum install php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-mcrypt

Preparing the Database

1. Login to the mysql server.
   

   ~$ mysql -uroot -ppassword

2. Create a mysql user.
   

   mysql> CREATE USER 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'desired_password';

3. Grant privileges for the new user
   

   mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'user'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;

4. Create database.
   

   mysql> CREATE DATABASE wp_db;

Installing WordPress

~$ cd /var/www/html/
~$ wget https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
~$ unzip latest.zip
~$ mv -f /var/www/html/wordpress/* /var/www/html/

If you don’t have unzip install it with:

DEBIAN

~$ apt-get install unzip

OR

RHEL

~$ yum install unzip

Installation via Browser

Access your WordPress installation via browser by typing your domain associated with your Droplet or IP address you received after the droplet was created:

http://domain.com/
http://123.123.123.123/

The installation will automatically start and you should complete the installation of WordPress by filling out the requested fields. Below are a few examples (be sure to use your own unique names):

• Database user: user
• Database user password: desired_password
• Database name: wp_db
• Host server: localhost

If you have any questions about the content of this article, please feel free to reach out to the Support Team for assistance, we're available 24/7 for your convenience.