WordPress Setup Guide on RamNode VPS

Why Choose WordPress and RamNode?

WordPress Benefits:

• Powers 40%+ of all websites globally
• Thousands of themes and plugins available
• Easy content management interface
• SEO-friendly and mobile responsive
• Strong community support

RamNode + Nginx Advantages:

• High-performance SSD storage
• Nginx for superior performance
• Free SSL certificates with Let's Encrypt
• Full root access for customization
• Cost-effective hosting solution

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

Server Requirements

• RamNode VPS (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS recommended)
• Domain name pointed to your server IP
• SSH access to your server
• At least 1GB RAM (2GB+ recommended)

→ View Recommended Standard VPS Plans

Knowledge Requirements

• Basic Linux command line skills
• Understanding of web servers
• Domain DNS management

Initial Server Setup

Connect to your RamNode VPS and prepare the system:

Connect via SSH

ssh root@your-server-ip

Update System Packages

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Install Essential Tools

apt install curl wget unzip software-properties-common -y

💡 Tip: Replace "your-server-ip" with your actual RamNode VPS IP address.

Install Nginx Web Server

Install and configure Nginx as the web server:

Install Nginx

apt install nginx -y

Start and Enable Nginx

systemctl start nginx
systemctl enable nginx
systemctl status nginx

Configure Firewall

ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw --force enable

✅ You can now visit your server's IP address to see the Nginx welcome page.

Install MySQL Database

Install MySQL server for WordPress data storage:

Install MySQL Server

apt install mysql-server -y

Secure MySQL Installation

mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts to:

Set up VALIDATE PASSWORD component (recommended: Y)
Set password validation policy (Medium recommended)
Set a strong root password
Remove anonymous users (Y)
Disallow root login remotely (Y)
Remove test database (Y)
Reload privilege tables (Y)

Test MySQL Connection

mysql -u root -p

Install PHP

Install PHP and required extensions for WordPress:

Install PHP and Extensions

apt install php8.1-fpm php8.1-mysql php8.1-curl php8.1-gd php8.1-mbstring \
php8.1-xml php8.1-zip php8.1-intl php8.1-bcmath php8.1-soap \
php8.1-imagick php8.1-readline php8.1-common php8.1-cli -y

Start and Enable PHP-FPM

systemctl start php8.1-fpm
systemctl enable php8.1-fpm
systemctl status php8.1-fpm

Optimize PHP Configuration

nano /etc/php/8.1/fpm/php.ini

Update these PHP settings for better performance:

PHP Configuration Updates

memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
max_input_vars = 3000

Restart PHP-FPM

systemctl restart php8.1-fpm

Configure Nginx for WordPress

Create Nginx virtual host configuration for your domain:

Create Site Configuration

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-domain.com

Add the following configuration (replace your-domain.com with your actual domain):

Nginx WordPress Configuration

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html/your-domain.com;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name your-domain.com www.your-domain.com;

    client_max_body_size 100M;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico { 
        log_not_found off; 
        access_log off; 
    }
    
    location = /robots.txt { 
        log_not_found off; 
        access_log off; 
        allow all; 
    }
    
    location ~* \.(css|gif|ico|jpeg|jpg|js|png)$ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
        log_not_found off;
    }
}

Enable Site and Test Configuration

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-domain.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t
systemctl reload nginx

Create Web Directory

mkdir -p /var/www/html/your-domain.com
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/your-domain.com

Download WordPress

Download and extract WordPress to your web directory:

Download Latest WordPress

cd /tmp
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar xzf latest.tar.gz

Move WordPress Files

cp -R wordpress/* /var/www/html/your-domain.com/
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/your-domain.com
chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/your-domain.com

Create WordPress Configuration

cd /var/www/html/your-domain.com
cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

Configure MySQL Database

Create a MySQL database and user for WordPress:

Access MySQL

mysql -u root -p

Create Database and User

CREATE DATABASE wordpress_db;
CREATE USER 'wordpress_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strong_password_here';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress_db.* TO 'wordpress_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Update WordPress Configuration

nano /var/www/html/your-domain.com/wp-config.php

Update the database configuration in wp-config.php:

Database Configuration

define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress_db');
define('DB_USER', 'wordpress_user');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'strong_password_here');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4');
define('DB_COLLATE', '');

Generate Security Keys

curl -s https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

Copy the generated keys and replace the placeholder values in wp-config.php.

Complete WordPress Setup

Complete the WordPress installation through the web interface:

🌐 Web Setup: Visit http://your-domain.com in your browser to complete the WordPress installation.

Fill out the WordPress installation form with:

Site Title: Your website name
Username: Admin username (avoid "admin")
Password: Strong password
Email: Your email address
Search Engine Visibility: Check if you don't want search engines to index yet

🎉 Success: WordPress is now installed! You can access the admin area at /wp-admin/

Install SSL Certificate

Secure your WordPress site with a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt:

Install Certbot

apt install snapd -y
snap install core; snap refresh core
snap install --classic certbot

Create Certbot Symlink

ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot

Obtain SSL Certificate

certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com -d www.your-domain.com

Follow the prompts to:

Enter your email address
Agree to terms of service
Choose whether to share email with EFF
Select redirect option (recommended: 2)

Test SSL Renewal

certbot renew --dry-run

🔒 SSL Active: Your WordPress site is now secured with HTTPS!

Security Hardening

Implement additional security measures for your WordPress installation:

Hide Nginx Version

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Add this line to the http block:

Nginx Security Configuration

server_tokens off;

Create WordPress Security Configuration

nano /var/www/html/your-domain.com/.htaccess

WordPress .htaccess Security

# Block access to wp-config.php
<Files wp-config.php>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>

# Block access to xmlrpc.php
<Files xmlrpc.php>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>

# Disable directory browsing
Options -Indexes

# Block suspicious requests
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C).*script.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]
</IfModule>

Update WordPress Configuration Security

nano /var/www/html/your-domain.com/wp-config.php

Add these security settings to wp-config.php:

WordPress Security Settings

// Disable file editing from WordPress admin
define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);

// Force SSL
define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);

// Limit login attempts
define('WP_FAIL2BAN_BLOCKED_USERS', array('admin', 'administrator'));

// Hide WordPress version
remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator');

Performance Optimization

Optimize your WordPress site for better performance:

Install Redis for Caching

apt install redis-server -y
systemctl enable redis-server
systemctl start redis-server

Configure Nginx Caching

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-domain.com

Add caching configuration to your Nginx virtual host:

Nginx Caching Configuration

# Add to server block
location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|pdf)$ {
    expires 1y;
    add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    add_header Vary Accept-Encoding;
    access_log off;
}

# Enable Gzip compression
gzip on;
gzip_vary on;
gzip_min_length 1024;
gzip_proxied expired no-cache no-store private auth;
gzip_types
    text/plain
    text/css
    text/xml
    text/javascript
    application/javascript
    application/xml+rss
    application/json;

Reload Nginx

nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx

🚀 Recommended: Install a WordPress caching plugin like WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or WP Super Cache for additional performance gains.

Troubleshooting

Next Steps & Recommendations

Essential WordPress Plugins

• Security: Wordfence Security, Sucuri, or iThemes Security
• SEO: Yoast SEO or RankMath
• Caching: WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or WP Super Cache
• Backup: UpdraftPlus, BackupBuddy, or Jetpack Backup
• Performance: Smush (image optimization), Lazy Load

Maintenance Tasks

• Regular WordPress, theme, and plugin updates
• Weekly database optimization
• Daily automated backups
• Monthly security scans
• Performance monitoring and optimization

Deploy WordPress on RamNode VPS

📋 Guide Contents

Why Choose WordPress and RamNode?

WordPress Benefits:

RamNode + Nginx Advantages:

Prerequisites

Server Requirements

Knowledge Requirements

Initial Server Setup

Install Nginx Web Server

Install MySQL Database

Install PHP

Configure Nginx for WordPress

Download WordPress

Configure MySQL Database

Complete WordPress Setup

Install SSL Certificate

Security Hardening

Performance Optimization

Troubleshooting

Next Steps & Recommendations

Essential WordPress Plugins

Maintenance Tasks

Further Reading

Deploy WordPress on RamNode VPS

Why Choose WordPress and RamNode?

WordPress Benefits:

RamNode + Nginx Advantages:

Prerequisites

Server Requirements

Knowledge Requirements

Initial Server Setup

Install Nginx Web Server

Install MySQL Database

Install PHP

Configure Nginx for WordPress

Download WordPress

Configure MySQL Database

Complete WordPress Setup

Install SSL Certificate

Security Hardening

Performance Optimization

Troubleshooting

White Screen of Death

File Permission Issues

Database Connection Error

SSL Certificate Issues

Next Steps & Recommendations

Essential WordPress Plugins

Maintenance Tasks

Further Reading