WordPress
WordPress is an open source blogging platform written in PHP and distributed under the GPLv2 licence.
WordPress was released in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little as a fork of b2/cafelog. It is maintained by the WordPress foundation.
Prerequisites
We’re using PHP in the stable version 8.3:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace tools version show php
Using 'PHP' version: '8.3'
[isabell@stardust ~]$
You’ll need your MySQL credentials. Get them with my_print_defaults:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ my_print_defaults client
--default-character-set=utf8mb4
--user=isabell
--password=MySuperSecretPassword
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Your blog domain needs to be setup:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace web domain list
isabell.uber.space
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Installation
cd to your document root, then download and configure WordPress with wp (wp-cli):
You will need to enter the following information:
your blog URL: The URL for your blog. For example: isabell.uber.space
your MySQL username and password: you should know your MySQL credentials by now. If you don’t, start reading again at the top.
your WordPress database name: we suggest you use an additional database. For example: isabell_wordpress
Admin User: The name and the email address of the admin user.
Note
The database name has to start with the user name and an underscore (isabell_xxxx). Otherwise the creation of the database will fail with a permission denied.
[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd /var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
[isabell@stardust html]$ wp core download --locale=en_US
Downloading WordPress 6.7.1 (en_US)...
md5 hash verified: aac77b8e3674c1e6aa7704b5d35fb2c4
Success: WordPress downloaded.
[isabell@stardust html]$ wp config create --dbname=${USER}_wordpress --dbuser=${USER} --dbpass=<password>
Success: Generated 'wp-config.php' file.
[isabell@stardust html]$ wp db create
Success: Database created.
[isabell@stardust html]$ wp core install --url=${USER}.uber.space --title="Super Blog" --admin_user=<adminuser> --admin_email=<emailadress>
Admin password: SuperSecretSecurePassword
Success: WordPress installed successfully.
[isabell@stardust html]$
WordPress will generate a secure password for the admin user.
Updates
By default, WordPress automatically updates itself to the latest stable minor version. Use wp (wp-cli) to update all plugins:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ wp plugin update --all --path=/var/www/virtual/$USER/html/
Success: Plugin already updated.
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Performance / Optimization
All steps described in the following are optional and serve to optimize runtime as well as automation of maintenance and care of the WordPress instance.
PHP Optimization
As PHP Optimization describes in detail, there are certain PHP settings that are particularly beneficial to WordPress performance. You can set all of these by creating a ~/etc/php.d/wordpress.ini with the following content:
max_execution_time = 180
memory_limit = 128M
post_max_size = 64M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
max_input_time = 60
max_input_vars = 3000
Then restart your PHP:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace tools restart php
Your PHP configuration has been loaded.
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Real cronjob
By default, regularly occurring tasks are handled by the web server via wp-cron.php, which can result in longer page loading times for users. Using the system task scheduler instead frees up additional resources for visitors.
To achieve this, first deactivate the execution via wp-cron.php:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ wp config set DISABLE_WP_CRON true --path=/var/www/virtual/${USER}/html
Success: Updated the constant 'DISABLE_WP_CRON' in the 'wp-config.php' file with the value 'true'.
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Add the following cronjob to your crontab:
*/5 * * * * sleep $(( 1 + RANDOM \% 60 )) ; wp cron event run --due-now --path=/var/www/virtual/${USER}/html/ >> ${HOME}/logs/wp-cron.log 2>&1
Cache
In the advanced administration handbook you can read about caching:
“WordPress caching is the fastest way to improve performance. If your site is getting hit right now install W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache or Cache Enabler.”
In this example, we are using W3 Total Cache or Redis Object Cache, PHP’s own OPcache and Redis as non PHP backend to distribute the load. So at first you may follow the redis guide on the lab and eanble OPcache, which caches script bytecode in shared memory, so that scripts need not to be loaded, parsed and compiled on every request.
To enable it, determine your user id and create the file ~/etc/php.d/opcache.ini with the following content - replace <uid> with your own - and restart PHP:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ echo $UID
1337
[isabell@stardust ~]$
opcache.enable=1
opcache.enable_cli=0
opcache.validate_timestamps=1
opcache.revalidate_freq=300
opcache.revalidate_path=0
opcache.max_accelerated_files=16229
opcache.max_wasted_percentage=5
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=64
opcache.fast_shutdown=1
opcache.file_cache=/var/run/user/<uid>/cache
opcache.save_comments=1
[isabell@stardust ~]$ uberspace tools restart php
Your PHP configuration has been loaded.
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Then install and activate the w3 total cache plugin:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ wp plugin install w3-total-cache --activate --path=/var/www/virtual/${USER}/html
...
Activating 'w3-total-cache'...
Plugin 'w3-total-cache' activated.
Success: Installed 1 of 1 plugins.
[isabell@stardust ~]$
Now log in to your Wordpress and configure W3 Total Cache via the web interface that is now available. Opcode and browser cache are already active by default, additionally you can now activate page, database and object cache, save and enter /home/<user>/.redis/sock as redis host under the advanced settings, uncheck Verify TLS Certificates - the connection to redis is internal and via a socket that only you can access - and save again.
Alternatively, you can use the simpler Redis Object Cache plugin:
[isabell@stardust ~]$ wp plugin install redis-cache --activate --path=/var/www/virtual/${USER}/html
...
Activating 'redis-cache'...
Plugin 'redis-cache' activated.
Success: Installed 1 of 1 plugins.
[isabell@stardust ~]$
The new Redis option page will ask you to enable the drop-in. After you have done so, the Redis socket on /home/<user>/.redis/sock should be found automatically.
It is also recommended to make use of the option to empty the cache via WP-Cron. Daily at a time with as little expected usage as possible should work for most instances.
Tested with WordPress 6.7.1, Uberspace 7.16.2, and PHP 8.3
Written by: Nico Graf <hallo@uberspace.de>