Using WordPress

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Using WordPress

Overview

WordPress is an open source content management system that is used for everything from personal websites and blogs to large enterprise applications. WordPress can also be used as the development platform for web based applications. There are thousands of modules available for WordPress that can be used as building blocks to enhance the functionality of your WordPress-based website or web application.

Installing WordPress
    Installing WordPress using the Control Panel
    Installing WordPress from wordpress.org (command line method)

Using WordPress
Adding WordPress Themes and Plugins

Updating WordPress

Installing WordPress

WordPress can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of your Virtual Server. Before installing WordPress, make sure your Virtual Server meets the basic system requirements. The official WordPress system requirements can be found here: WordPress System Requirements.

If you built your Virtual Server with a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP) template you should have the necessary software for WordPress already installed. The available LAMP templates are CentOS 7 64bit LAMP w/ MariaDB (ISPmanager), CentOS 6 64bit LAMP (ISPmanager), and CentOS 6 32bit LAMP (ISPmanager). eApps recommends that you use a LAMP template if you are going to install Drupal.

If you did not create your Virtual Server with a LAMP template, you will need to make sure that you have PHP and either MySQL (CentOS 6) or MariaDB (CentOS 7) installed. Depending on the template you used you may also have to install the Apache web server (httpd).

PHP can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of your Virtual Server. More information about installing PHP can be found here: PHP User Guide - Installing PHP.

MySQL can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of a CentOS 6 server or from the command line of a CentOS 7 server. More information about installing MySQL can be found here: MySQL User Guide - Installing MySQL.

MariaDB can be installed from the Control Panel or the command line of a CentOS 7 server. More information on installing MariaDB can be found here: MariaDB User Guide - Installing MariaDB.

Installing WordPress using the Control Panel

WordPress can be installed using the Control Panel of your Virtual Server (if available).

Installing WordPress using the ISPmanager Control Panel

If you are using the ISPmanager Control Panel, you can install WordPress using Web-scripts. Both ISPmanager 4 and ISPmanager 5 have Web-scripts available. More information about installing applications using Web-scripts can be found here: Installing Applications Using ISPmanager Web-scripts.

Installing WordPress from wordpress.org (command line method)

WordPress can be downloaded and installed from the main WordPress website. This is a command line or FTP based installation method. Full instructions for the WordPress installation are available here: Installing WordPress. This method will always have the latest version of WordPress available, as well as the most up-to-date instructions.

This method is generally for advanced users who are familiar with working from the command line of the Virtual Server.

Using WordPress

WordPress can be used for anything from a personal blog to an enterprise website or web application. Examples of the different ways that WordPress is used can be found on the WordPress Showcase.

There is extensive online and printed documentation on how to use WordPress. The Getting Started section of the WordPress website has a list of WordPress modules, documentation, and resources for training and support. There are also a large number of WordPress books available.

Adding WordPress Themes and Plugins

Themes and Plugins Overview

WordPress has a large number of themes and plugins available. A theme allows you to change the appearance of WordPress, such as the color scheme or page layout. A plugin adds some sort of functionality to WordPress, such as additional security features or ways to add or manage content. Some themes and plugins are free, and some require a paid license to use. You can also create your own themes and plugins for WordPress.

NOTE - please see the Themes and Plugins Installation section below before trying to install a theme or plugin.

The official WordPress documentation for Themes is here: Using Themes. This page links to the official WordPress Theme Directory, which is a list of themes that have been checked and inspected and are known to work correctly with WordPress.

The official WordPress documentation for Plugins is here: Plugins. Also see the Managing Plugins documentation for how to install, update, and find plugins.

Themes and Plugins Installation

In order to install themes or plugins for WordPress, you will need to add the website owner group to the apache user, and change the permissions on one directory.

Adding the website owner group to the apache user

You will need to add the website owner group (SITE_OWNER_GROUP) as an additional group to the apache user. The website owner is the user that owns the WWW-domain (in ISPmanager) or the user that owns the files and directories where WordPress is installed. This will allow the web server to write (make changes) to some WordPress directories as needed.

This can only be done from the command line of the Virtual Server. To do this, you will need to connect to the Virtual Server using SSH and be able to work as the root user. If you need assistance with this, please contact eApps Support.

To add the website owner group to the apache user, use the usermod -a -G command. Note the capital G.

[root@eapps-example ~]# usermod -a -G SITE_OWNER_GROUP apache

Changing directory permissions

You will need to change the permissions on one directory in your WordPress install directory (WP_INSTALL_DIR). Depending on how you installed WordPress, this will either be the DocumentRoot of your website, or a subdirectory of the DocumentRoot.

The directory you will need to change permissions on is:

WP_INSTALL_DIR/wp-content/

The directory and all its subdirectories will need to be set to 775 permissions.

This can be done from either the command line of the Virtual Server or the File Manager in your Control Panel.


Changing directory permissions using the Control Panel

Your Control Panel will have a file manager that you can use to manage the permissions of files and directories.

Using the File Manager in the ISPmanager Control Panel

You can make changes to files and directories from the ISPmanager Control Panel using the File Manager. The location of the File Manager will differ depending on which version of ISPmanager you are using. How to tell which version of ISPmanager you have can be found here: ISPmanager versions.

  • ISPmanager 4 - information about using the File Manager in ISPmanager 4, including links to the official vendor documentation, can be found here - ISPmanager 4 File Manager.

  • ISPmanager 5 - information about using the File Manager in ISPmanager 5, including links to the official vendor documentation, can be found here - ISPmanager 5 File Manager.

In the ISPmanager File Manager, the Change child elements feature is what you need to use to change the files and subdirectories below a main directory.


Changing directory permissions using the command line

The directory permissions can also be changed from the command line of the Virtual Server. To do this, you will need to connect to the Virtual Server using SSH and be able to work as either the root user or as the user who owns the website files.

To change the permissions for the WP_INSTALL_DIR/wp-content directory and all subdirectories, use the chmod -R 775 command. Note the capital R.

[root@eapps-example ~]# chmod -R 775 WP_INSTALL_DIR/wp-content


Once you have changed the permissions for the directories listed, you should be able to install themes and plugins.

Updating WordPress

Overview

For WordPress, an update and an upgrade are the same thing. Depending on your configuration, you may be able to do an automatic update or a one-click update. There is also the ability to do a manual update if the automatic or one-click options are not available for you.

The official WordPress update documentation is here: Updating WordPress. This page has information on the automatic and one-click updates, as well as the manual update.

Make sure to read the instructions carefully, and make sure to ALWAYS have a current backup of your website and database. If you do not have a current backup and something goes wrong during the update, you may have data loss. Instructions on how to back up WordPress are here: WordPress Backups.

WordPress update configuration

You will need to make a change to one file in your WordPress install directory. Depending on how you installed WordPress, this will either be the DocumentRoot of your website, or a subdirectory of the DocumentRoot.

The file you will need to change is the wp-config.php file, which controls some of the WordPress default and installed settings. This can be done from either the Control Panel or the command line.

You will need to change this line:

define ('FS_METHOD', 'direct');

to this:

define ('FS_METHOD', 'ftpext');

Editing files using the Control Panel

Your Control Panel will have a file manager that you can use to edit files.

Using the File Manager in the ISPmanager Control Panel

You can edit files from the ISPmanager Control Panel using the File Manager. The location of the File Manager will differ depending on which version of ISPmanager you are using. How to tell which version of ISPmanager you have can be found here: ISPmanager versions.

  • ISPmanager 4 - information about using the File Manager in ISPmanager 4, including links to the official vendor documentation, can be found here - ISPmanager 4 File Manager.

  • ISPmanager 5 - information about using the File Manager in ISPmanager 5, including links to the official vendor documentation, can be found here - ISPmanager 5 File Manager.

Editing files using the command line

You can also edit files using a text editor from the command line of your Virtual Server. Vim is available by default, but you can install another text editor if that is your preference.

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