Wordpress installation in Raspberry Pi using Nginx

We will be continuing from were we left off. Disclaimer: You can use apache if you want. Apache is easier to setup compared to Nginx.

Keywords used in the guide:

• Raspberry Pi


• NGINX server


• WordPress


• MySQL


• PHP

Step 1: Update the Raspberry Pi

First, make sure your Raspberry Pi is up-to-date:

sudo apt update 

sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install NGINX

NGINX will serve as your web server.

1. 
   

   Install NGINX:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo apt install nginx -y
   
   

   
   
   


2. 
   

   Start and enable NGINX:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo systemctl start nginx
   
   sudo systemctl enable nginx
   
   

   
   
   


3. 
   

   Verify NGINX is running:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo systemctl status nginx
   
   

   
   
   



4. Check in a browser by typing your Raspberry Pi's IP address (e.g., http://192.168.x.x).

Step 3: Install MySQL (MariaDB)

WordPress needs a database, so we will install MariaDB.

1. 
   

   Install MariaDB server:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo apt install mariadb-server -y
   
   

   
   
   


2. 
   

   Secure the installation:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo mysql_secure_installation
   
   

   
   
   
   

   Follow the prompts to secure your database (set root password, remove anonymous users, disable root login remotely, etc.).

   
   


3. 
   

   Log in to MariaDB:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo mysql -u root -p
   
   

   
   
   


4. 
   

   Create a database for WordPress:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
   
   CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
   
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost';
   
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   
   EXIT;
   
   

   
   
   

Step 4: Install PHP

PHP will be used to process dynamic content for WordPress.

1. 
   

   Install PHP and necessary extensions:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo apt install php-fpm php-mysql php-curl php-gd php-xml php-mbstring -y
   
   

   
   
   

Step 5: Configure NGINX to Use PHP

1. 
   

   Create an NGINX server block for WordPress:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/wordpress
   
   

   
   
   


2. 
   

   Add the following configuration:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   server {
   
       listen 80;
   
       server_name _;
   
       root /var/www/wordpress;
   
   
   
       index index.php index.html index.htm;
   
   
   
       location / {
   
           try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
   
       }
   
   
   
       location ~ \.php$ {
   
           include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
   
           fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php-fpm.sock;
   
       }
   
   
   
       location ~ /\.ht {
   
           deny all;
   
       }
   
   }
   
   

   
   
   


3. 
   

   Enable the configuration:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/wordpress /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
   
   sudo rm -r /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
   
   

   
   
   


4. 
   

   Test and restart NGINX:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo nginx -t
   
   sudo systemctl restart nginx
   
   

   
   
   

Step 6: Download and Configure WordPress

1. 
   

   Install wget and unzip (if not installed):
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo apt install wget unzip -y
   
   

   
   
   


2. 
   

   Download WordPress:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   cd /var/www
   
   sudo wget https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
   
   sudo unzip latest.zip
   
   sudo mv wordpress /var/www/
   
   

   
   
   


3. 
   

   Set correct permissions:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/wordpress
   
   sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/wordpress
   
   

   
   
   


4. 
   

   Configure WordPress to connect to your database:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

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

   
   
   
   

   Update the database settings in wp-config.php:
   
   

   
   
   CODE Kopieren

   define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpress' );
   
   define( 'DB_USER', 'wpuser' );
   
   define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'password' );
   
   define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );
   
   

   
   
   

Step 7: Complete WordPress Installation

1. Open your web browser and navigate to http://your_domain_or_IP.


2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the WordPress installation.

After these steps, your Raspberry Pi should be hosting a fully functional WordPress site using NGINX, PHP, and MariaDB.

In the next blog, we will be hosting the site to public using a secure tunnel. Stay tuned for that....!