If you want to install WordPress on Ubuntu, it is best to use the LAMP stack, a com­bi­na­tion of the Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion, the Apache web server, MySQL or MariaDB and the PHP scripting language. In­stal­la­tion and setup of the content man­age­ment system can be done via the terminal.

Why use WordPress with Ubuntu?

If you want to run a web project with the popular CMS WordPress, you can use classic server options. But an Ubuntu server is also a good hosting system. Here are a few reasons why:

  • Ubuntu is open source and free to use
  • Security-relevant errors and weak points are quickly repaired
  • You benefit from large ad­min­is­tra­tive freedoms
  • Ubuntu is less often the target of cy­ber­crime (compared to Windows systems)
  • In­te­grat­ed tools for remote access are provided

When creating your WordPress site, the choice of using Ubuntu with a graphical user interface is entirely up to you. If you are already familiar with the Linux universe, it may be best to do without the GUI. This way you save valuable hardware resources.

Tip

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What do I need for WordPress with Ubuntu?

Similar to Ubuntu, WordPress isn’t very demanding on the hardware of the hosting en­vi­ron­ment. If you want to run a simple site, WordPress usually requires no more than 512 MB of RAM and 1 gigabyte of CPU. However, if the project grows and you also work with a variety of WordPress themes and WordPress plugins, you should plan ad­di­tion­al power and main­te­nance for your CMS.

WordPress requires the following software com­po­nents in order to run smoothly:

  • Scripting language: PHP 7.4 or higher
  • Web server: Apache; NGINX
  • Database: MySQL 5.7 or higher; MariaDB 10.3 or higher (see also “MariaDB vs. MySQL”)

HTTPS support is required, which can be enabled at any time in both Apache (via module) and NGINX (via parameter).

Tip

The easiest solution to prepare the software mentioned above is to install a LAMP server.

Step-by-step guide to in­stalling WordPress on Ubuntu

WordPress runs on a wide variety of Ubuntu versions. So, you can either go back to an older edition of the Linux dis­tri­b­u­tion or use the current version. In the following tutorial, we have installed and set up WordPress on Ubuntu 22.04. Apache is used as the server and MySQL as the database.

Step 1: Install de­pen­den­cies

If you have not yet set up a LAMP server or installed the necessary software com­po­nents, do so before con­tin­u­ing with the following steps. To get the latest versions of Apache, MySQL and PHP, open the terminal and execute the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2 \
    ghostscript \
    libapache2-mod-php \
    mysql-server \
    php \
    php-bcmath \
    php-curl \
    php-imagick \
    php-intl \
    php-json \
    php-mbstring \
    php-mysql \
    php-xml \
    php-zip
bash

After a short check has been completed, you will get an overview of the packages that need to be re­in­stalled or updated. Confirm the download (and the space required for in­stal­la­tion) by typing “Y” and pressing Enter.

Image: Ubuntu 22.04: Installing PHP, MySQL and Apache via terminal
In­stal­la­tion of PHP, MySQL and Apache in the Ubuntu 22.04 terminal: In this example, there are 66 com­po­nents to reinstall and four com­po­nents to update.

Step 2: Download WordPress files

Once the basic framework is in place, you can start in­stalling WordPress on your Ubuntu server. Ubuntu provides package files for this by default. These can be installed using the package manager. However, we recommend getting the in­stal­la­tion files directly from the official WordPress website wordpress.org. This way, you can be sure you are working with the latest WordPress version as well as get as­sis­tance from WordPress support if you run into any problems.

Using the commands below, create a suitable in­stal­la­tion directory. Once you have created the in­stal­la­tion directory, give access rights to the user profile “www-data” (default user for web server op­er­a­tions). After access rights have been granted, the current WordPress in­stal­la­tion files will be down­loaded:

sudo mkdir -p /srv/www
sudo chown www-data: /srv/www
curl https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz | sudo -u www-data tar zx -C /srv/www
bash
Tip

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Step 3: Configure Apache for WordPress

The next step is to configure the Apache web server so you can run WordPress on Ubuntu. Start by creating a con­fig­u­ra­tion file named wordpress.conf in the Apache directory:

sudo touch /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf
bash

Then open the file with the following command:

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf
bash

Now copy the following lines into the file and then hit save:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot /srv/www/wordpress
    <Directory /srv/www/wordpress>
        Options FollowSymLinks
      AllowOverride Limit Options FileInfo
      DirectoryIndex index.php
      Require all granted
    </Directory>
    <Directory /srv/www/wordpress/wp-content>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>
bash

Now enable the page and URL rewrite and disable the default “It works!” page from WordPress. To do this, execute the following three commands in suc­ces­sion:

sudo a2ensite wordpress
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo a2dissite 000-default
bash
Image: Ubuntu terminal: Enabling and disabling modules and pages in Ubuntu Terminal
Enabling and disabling modules and pages in Ubuntu Terminal

Now restart the Apache web server:

sudo service apache2 reload
bash
Tip

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Step 4: Create MySQL database

You also need to create an initial database for the project to install WordPress on Ubuntu. In order to do this, log in to the MySQL server with the root account:

sudo mysql -u root
bash

After suc­cess­ful­ly logging in, you will see the MySQL input line “mysql>”.

Image: MySQL login in Ubuntu terminal
After suc­cess­ful­ly logging into the MySQL server, the Ubuntu terminal shows the specific input line “mysql>”.

In the next step, create a database named “wordpress” with the following command:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
bash

You also need to create a user profile for the database. Instead of “Your­Pass­word”, define your own password with the following command:

CREATE USER wordpress@localhost IDENTIFIED BY '<YourPassword>';
bash

Then grant the user profile you created the rights to access the database:

GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP,ALTER
    -> ON wordpress.*
    -> TO wordpress@localhost;
bash

The changes to the database can be applied without restart­ing MySQL service as follows:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
bash

Finally, log out of the MySQL server:

quit
bash

Step 5: Link WordPress with the created database

Now, it’s time to link the new database with WordPress. In order to do this, you need to create suitable entries in the con­fig­u­ra­tion file wp-config.php. Since the con­fig­u­ra­tion has not been created yet, simply use the sample config. You can do this by copying the command below into wp-config.php:

sudo -u www-data cp /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.php
bash

After that, transfer the name of the database (wordpress), the created user (wordpress) and the chosen password (which was defined in step 4) to the con­fig­u­ra­tion file:

sudo -u www-data sed -i 's/database_name_here/wordpress/' /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.php
sudo -u www-data sed -i 's/username_here/wordpress/' /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.php
sudo -u www-data sed -i 's/password_here/<IhrPasswort>/' /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.php
bash

Af­ter­wards, open the con­fig­u­ra­tion file with the command:

sudo -u www-data nano /srv/www/wordpress/wp-config.php
bash

Verify that the in­for­ma­tion in the created database has been trans­ferred as intended, and then delete the following lines from the file:

define( 'AUTH_KEY',         'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'NONCE_KEY',        'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'AUTH_SALT',        'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'LOGGED_IN_SALT',   'put your unique phrase here' );
define( 'NONCE_SALT',       'put your unique phrase here' );
bash

Go to this page on wordpress.org and copy the presented entries with randomly generated keys to the place where the deleted lines pre­vi­ous­ly were. Save the changes to the con­fig­u­ra­tion file.

Image: Configuration file wp-config.php with new key entries
Each time the key generator page is accessed, new random entries are au­to­mat­i­cal­ly created for wp-config.php. These should resemble the screen­shot above.

Step 6: Install and set up WordPress on Ubuntu

Open your browser and type “localhost”. The WordPress setup assistant will appear au­to­mat­i­cal­ly. First, select the desired language and type in the title of the project. Then, enter your username, password and a valid email address to complete the setup.

Image: Setup assistant to install WordPress on Ubuntu
One of the ways to exclude your project from search engine indexing is by checking the “Search engine vis­i­bil­i­ty” box in the WordPress Ubuntu setup assistant.

When you have filled in all the in­for­ma­tion, complete the setup and in­stal­la­tion of WordPress on Ubuntu by clicking on “Install WordPress”. You will receive a success message and can now access the login screen for the backend at any time. All you need to do is go to the address localhost/wp-login.php, and enter your username and password.

Image: WordPress backend login page
WordPress backend login page

Con­clu­sion: Creating web projects with WordPress and Ubuntu

In­stalling WordPress on Ubuntu only takes a few steps and is a task that can quickly be mastered by newcomers. As long as the hardware is there, anyone can install the software com­po­nents. At first, the setup of the web server and database might seem un­fa­mil­iar, but with the in­struc­tions above, you will be able to easily add your WordPress project to your Ubuntu server in no time.

Tip

Installed WordPress on Ubuntu and now want to get into the content man­age­ment system properly? Take a look at the following articles in the Digital Guide:

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