Install and configure wordpress.org on a shared host

We’ve moved! Yes, you know or you wouldn’t be here. :P

Here are my initial thoughts on setting up this new self-hosted blog using WordPress.org on a shared server. I will come back and update this at a later stage when the whole move is completed and I had had the time to crystallize my thoughts and also to correct on any factual errors.

Web hosting for the new wordpress.org blog

So I’ve rented some server space and tinkered with wordpress.org installation.

Some of the popular webhosts include Bluehost, Hostgator and Dreamhost. We went with Bluehost, although I also have to note that right now with the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, Hostgator appears to be cheaper.

Mr P explained to me his opinion that all these hosts are the same. In a shared hosting environment (regardless of company) where your site is parked on the same server as many other sites all sharing the same resources, how stable your site is depends on your luck. If you are located on a server where other sites are compromised or take up a lot of bandwidth then you may have more issues, compared to if you are on a server with relatively well run sites. At least, that’s how I understood from what he said. Haha!

So anyway, the new blog is work in progress at the moment, so I’m just posting working notes here in the interim, in case anyone is interested.

Install and configure WordPress.org on the shared server

The current wordpress version allows multi-sites on the same hosting account. So like a wordpress.com account, you can create more than 1 blog using the same login. However, this function is not automatically available on installation. There are a number of steps involving editing the code in some of the wordpress.org files from the control panel of the webhost in order to get the multi-site function to work.

Here are the steps I went through so far, and the webpages with instructions that I followed and which worked for me. Of the four steps here, it would appear #1 and #2 are essential to have wordpress.org running on a webhost and for the reader to visit the blog at your domain. #3 and #4 are optional.

1. WordPress.org installation
   • Most web hosts provide one-click installation for wordpress.org. However, the first installation failed for me and I have had to try again before the software was successfully installed.
2. Mapping domain to the location of the new blog
   • we originally bought our domain from namecheap, which is a different company from Bluehost. This article explains how to ensure typing out our domain URL will call up the page on Bluehost – http://wphostingdiscount.com/namecheap-bluehost-nameservers/
   • Note: most webhosts do advertise that hosting costs include a free URL, so what we are doing here may not be that relevant to you. But if you worry about the stability of the new webhost you are trying out, having the domain purchased with another company ensures that you have the option to quickly point the URL to a backup site, in the event there are issues accessing the webhost. 
3. Run WordPress.org out of its own directory
   • Moving the WordPress core files into a folder of their own helps secure the site from being hacked and also helps prevent clutter in the root directory.
   • – http://softstribe.com/wordpress/moving-wordpress-core-files
     
   • – http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory
   • For this, you need to play around with the webhost’s control panel to figure how to view the file directory and to move and edit files.
4. Enabling the multi-site function
   • If you are just wanting to run one blog, not more, you don’t really need to go through the extra fuss of enabling the multi-site function. But in my case, I would like to have the option to have multiple sites. Even on my wordpress.com account, I have a “testing blog” that I use to test and try new themes, etc, rather than experiment on the main blog (and taking people by surprise) or running the risk of something going wrong and I will end up with a broken site, particularly in the wordpress.org environement.  Step-by-step instructions here – http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network

How difficult was the whole process?

Since I was testing out the new theme, I had that running when I tried the above steps and ended up with a blank page! Part of the time the blog appeared to be down as I couldn’t load the page on my Google Chrome browser. So I’m not really sure what happened there.

I ended up re-installing wordpress.org, overwriting the previous install and then running through the steps above using the default template that the clean wordpress.org install came with. That worked.

What’s next

• Installing plugins to extend the functionality of the blog
• Hardening security
• Installing and customising the new theme
• Cleaning up the existing posts
• and whatever else that I can think of by the by…

As usual, I am happy to hear advice or words of caution as all this is pretty new to me and I am just learning to do this along the way. :)