How to Host a WordPress Website on a VPS Server

Hosting your WordPress Website on a VPS Server is a much better option than shared hosting for many reasons. The biggest reason is that Shared Hosting makes you share resources with other people which slows down your website and generally gives you a hard time. On a VPS server, though, you are the only one in charge of all the allocated resources which makes your website very fast and efficient.

One drawback of using VPS Servers over using shared hosting services is a couple of extra bucks you may have to cough up. But those few extra bucks are definitely worth it since you will be getting space on an extremely powerful main server.

The question that arises now is how exactly do we host our WordPress websites on a VPS Server? Simply follow the steps and pay heed to the considerations below:

Cloud Based or Conventional VPS?

So there are two types of VPS servers available, Cloud Based VPS and Conventional VPS. The difference between the two is simply that conventional VPS servers are virtual divisions of a single powerful physical unit whereas a Cloud Based VPS has a main server that is made up of many different powerful servers.

It should not be surprising to you that Cloud Based Servers are more efficient for the user. The main reason for this is that you can keep on adding extra memory to it as per your needs, unlike a conventional server where the memory allocated to a user is fixed.

Select a Company

Next, select a simple and reliable company where you can get a server for hosting your website. One of the most reliable options in the market includes DigitalOcean.

DigitalOcean is simple to use and is quite affordable as well. This is because it has hourly charges which means they only charge you based on the amount of time you have used your VPS-based website and no more.

Create a Droplet

The first thing you do after you buy vps is create a droplet. Websites like DigitalOcean have their own tutorials for creating droplets which you can follow for your own ease.

The main thing you have to do is input a Host Name, your Region which should be selected keeping your target audience in mind, an Image like Ubuntu, and an SSH key pair. You will also be required to set up your time zone and install software updates since the server you have provisioned is entirely new.

It is highly recommended that you configure the SSH key pair since it will save you the trouble of entering your password every time. The server will simply compare the public and the private key files (hence the term ‘pair’) which are both encrypted and grant you access. After you have set up your droplet entirely, you will receive an email containing the user ID and password that you will use to log in to your new server. It is ideal that you only use this ID and password once, create a new user, then disable the original one and use only the new one for your future tasks.

Create New User

It is necessary to create a new user and use that instead of the root login you originally created. This is because the root login has great command over the entire server so there are lots of things that could go wrong with a single diabolical command.

For this reason, it is best to create an entirely new user account and disable the main one. You simply have to add a new user by the (adduser) command, fill in some basic information, and set up a password. Note that the password must ideally be complex so as to not be deciphered easily. This should not pose a problem for you since your main entrance into the server will be using the SSH key pair you have configured.

Now log out of the root user you have been using and log in using the new username and password you have created. Remember to disable the root user login!

Set up the Following

Now your server is made and ready to use. All you have to do is make a few more configurations to enable WordPress to run on your newly provisioned system

• Firewall Setting up a firewall is necessary for security purposes so that no third party could gain access to your system and it remains exclusive to you.
• Web Server Software The most popular web server software includes Apache and Nginx.
• Database For the database engine, preferably MySQL, you will be asked for the password of the root user.
• PHP PHP is an Open Source Language. We use PHP because it is the language WordPress is written in so it is necessary that it makes sure that it functions properly.
• FTP FTP server is also set up to ensure that WordPress works properly.
• Mailer You could install a separate mailer application or use the default option given to you.

Install WordPress

Now finally, we get to the real deal and that is installing WordPress on your freshly developed VPS Server. All you have to do is follow the simple steps given below and you will have your own VPS-based WordPress Website:

• Download WordPress and then extract the downloaded archive using the appropriate commands.
• Connect to your MySQL Database to create a database for installation purposes. Enter your password and then create the database.
• Create a user and set up a password for your database.
• Grant all privileges to your database and then refresh the privileges using the “Flush Privileges” Command.
• Exit MySQL
• Rename the WordPress Configuration file.
• Edit the WordPress Configuration File by pressing the “i” key on your keyboard.
• Replace the database name, username, and password with the ones which you created in the earlier steps.
• Save and quit.
• Move the extracted folder using the appropriate command to your web directory.
• Finish the installation.