WordPress - Getting Started Guide
WordPress is a content management system used by over 40% of all websites. It lets you create blogs, business sites, online stores and portfolios without writing code. This server comes with WordPress fully installed and configured - the domain, admin account and site title you specified during the order are already set up. All you need to do is point your domain to the server's IP address.
Step 1 - Verify Your Site Works
Your server's IP address and root password are shown on the Server Details page in your client panel. The site is already accessible by IP address - open http://your.server.ip in a browser to verify it works. You should see the default WordPress page.
The admin panel is available at http://your.server.ip/wp-admin. Log in with the credentials you entered during the order.
If you placed the server behind a VyOS router on a private network, set up port forwarding for ports 22, 80 and 443 so the site is reachable from the internet.
Step 2 - Point Your Domain to the Server
Go to your domain registrar's DNS settings and create A records pointing to your server's IP address:
| Type | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| A | @ | your.server.ip |
| A | www | your.server.ip |
DNS changes usually take a few minutes, but can take up to 24 hours. You can check the status at dnschecker.org.
Step 3 - Access Your Site
Once DNS has propagated, your site is live:
- Your site:
http://yourdomain.com - Admin panel:
http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin
Log in with the admin credentials you entered during the order.
Step 4 - Enable SSL (Recommended)
Your site works over HTTP by default. To enable HTTPS with a free Let's Encrypt certificate, connect via SSH and run:
ssh root@your.server.ip/opt/setup/get-ssl.shThe script will verify DNS, obtain a Let's Encrypt certificate and switch your site to HTTPS automatically. Automatic renewal is already configured. After completion, your site is available at https://yourdomain.com.
Post-Installation
SSL Certificate Renewal
Let's Encrypt certificates are valid for 90 days. Automatic renewal is configured. You can test it with:
certbot renew --dry-runFail2Ban - Brute-Force Protection
Your server comes with Fail2Ban pre-configured to protect both SSH and WordPress from brute-force attacks.
| Rule | Max Attempts | Ban Duration |
|---|---|---|
| SSH | 5 failed logins | 10 minutes |
| WordPress (hard) | 3 failed logins | 1 hour |
| WordPress (soft) | 5 failed logins | 10 minutes |
Useful commands:
# Check banned IPs
fail2ban-client status wordpress-hard
fail2ban-client status sshd
# Unban an IP
fail2ban-client set wordpress-hard unbanip 1.2.3.4If you accidentally lock yourself out, connect via VNC console in your client panel and unban your IP.
Server Credentials
MySQL credentials are stored in /root/.wp_credentials. WordPress is pre-configured to use them.
Software Included
| Component | Version |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 24.04 LTS |
| Apache | 2.4 |
| MySQL | 8.0 |
| PHP | 8.3 |
| WordPress | Latest |
| WP-CLI | Latest |
| Certbot | 2.9 |
| Fail2Ban | 1.0 |
| Postfix | 3.8 |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Site doesn't open in browser | Check that your domain's A record points to the server IP. Use dnschecker.org to verify |
| SSL script fails | DNS probably hasn't propagated yet. Wait 10-15 minutes and run /opt/setup/get-ssl.sh again |
| Forgot WordPress admin password | SSH in and run: wp user update admin --user_pass="newpass" --allow-root --path="/var/www/html" |
| Blocked by Fail2Ban | Use VNC console in your client panel to unban your IP |
| Forgot root password | Use VNC console in your client panel to reset it |