WordPress for documenting and sharing information.

One of the key elements of managing a home lab is documenting every single step and keeping that documentation updated. There are many platforms suitable for this purpose, but I prefer WordPress because it is convenient, flexible, and easy to maintain.

This post captures the exact steps I used to deploy a production-grade WordPress instance on Ubuntu, backed by an external MariaDB 11.8 database and served securely over HTTPS using Apache2. These notes ensure a consistent, repeatable deployment inside the infrastructure.

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1. Create the WordPress Database in MariaDB

On the MariaDB server, run:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<Password>';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'%';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

This creates a dedicated WordPress database and a user accessible from external hosts.

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2. Install Apache and Required PHP Modules (WordPress VM)

On the WordPress VM:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apache2 php php-mysql php-gd php-curl php-xml php-mbstring php-zip php-intl php-soap php-bcmath php-imagick
sudo systemctl enable --now apache2

These packages provide the full PHP runtime required by WordPress.

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3. Configure Apache Virtual Host with HTTPS

Place your SSL certificates in the appropriate directories:

File	Path
yourdomain.key	/etc/ssl/private/
yourdomain.crt	/etc/ssl/certs/
ca_bundle.crt	/etc/ssl/certs/

Set secure permissions:

chmod 640 /etc/ssl/private/yourdomain.key
chown root:www-data /etc/ssl/private/yourdomain.key

chmod 644 /etc/ssl/certs/yourdomain.crt
chmod 644 /etc/ssl/certs/ca_bundle.crt

Create the virtual host:

File:
/etc/apache2/sites-available/blog.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName blog.yourdomain.net
    Redirect permanent / https://blog.yourdomain.net/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName blog.yourdomain.net
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile      /etc/ssl/certs/yourdomain.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile   /etc/ssl/private/yourdomain.key
    SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/ssl/certs/ca_bundle.crt

    <Directory /var/www/html>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog  ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/blog_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/blog_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Enable required modules and activate the site:

sudo a2enmod ssl rewrite headers
sudo a2ensite blog.conf
sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf
sudo systemctl reload apache2
sudo systemctl restart apache2

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4. Download and Install WordPress

Prepare a working directory:

mkdir wp
cd wp

Download WordPress:

wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar -xf latest.tar.gz

Install it:

sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/*
sudo mv wordpress/* /var/www/html/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html

Copy default configuration:

cd /var/www/html/
sudo cp wp-config-sample.php ../wp-config.php

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5. Configure WordPress (wp-config.php)

Edit:

/var/www/wp-config.php

Force HTTPS

Add this at the top:

// Force HTTPS
if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] === 'https') {
    $_SERVER['HTTPS'] = 'on';
}
define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);

Database Settings

define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpress' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'wpuser' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', '<PasswordConfigured>' );
define( 'DB_HOST', '<MariaDB host>' );
define( 'DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4' );
define( 'DB_COLLATE', 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci' );

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6. Secure the WordPress Configuration

sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/wp-config.php
sudo chmod 640 /var/www/wp-config.php
sudo chmod 440 /var/www/wp-config.php

This restricts access so only the web server can read the file.

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7. Complete WordPress Installation

Open your browser and navigate to:

https://blog.yourdomain.net

Walk through the WordPress setup wizard:

• Set site name
• Create admin account
• Finalize installation

Your WordPress instance is now ready.