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Install WordPress on Mosso (Cloud Sites)

April 28, 2009

*UPDATE*

Chad Keck recently put a video tutorial which explains how to do this in a much simpler manner than what I have described below. I suggest you first try and follow his video. http://www.rackspacecloud.com/cloud_hosting_demos/cloud_computing_word_press_install

Here is a quick step-by-step guide to install WordPress on a site hosted through Mosso (Cloud Sites).

Assumptions:

You know how to manage your domain
You know how to upload files to your website

1. Set up your Cloud Site.
1a. Login into Mosso then navigate to Cloud Sites under Hosting in the left-hand menu.
1b. Below the currently hosted websites you will see a section Add a New Website. Fill in your details here.

1c. Add the website as you have any others, make sure to allow for 1 database and set the Default Technology to Linux/Apache/PHP

2. Download WordPress. You can get the download at, http://wordpress.org/download/.

3. Extract the zip file to your local computer.

4. Open the extracted directory wordpress and rename the file, “wp-config-sample.php” to “wp-config.php”

5.Set up your MySql database for the website.
5a. After your site is created you should be in the management section of the newly created site. Click on the Features tab to go add a new database.

5b. Once you have navigated to the Features page click on the “Add” button in thee Databases section at the top.

make sure to remember or write down what you fill out in the next two steps.

5c. Step 1 – Give your database a name, I usually choose the domain name of a shortened version of it. Choose MySql * as your Database type. Continue.
5d. Step 2 – Enter a database username, I always use the same as you used for the database name to keep it simple. Enter and confirm your password. Finish.

6. Update the WordPress file, wp-config.php.
6a. While the database is being created you can go ahead and update this file. Open the file up in your favorite text editor. You should see where you need to enter your database name, database username, password and host. The name, username and password you just created.
6b. The host can be found once the database is created under the Features tab you should be able to click on the name of your database to edit it. On this page you will see a section title Database Information. You will see “Hostname” under the Name and Hostname section. Use this to replace, localhost below.

update the fields in red below

// ** MySQL settings – You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘putyourdbnamehere‘);

/** MySQL database username */
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘usernamehere‘);

/** MySQL database password */
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘yourpasswordhere‘);

/** MySQL hostname */
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost‘);

/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8′);

/** The Database Collate type. Don’t change this if in doubt. */
define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);

6c. Update the Authentication Unique Keys in this file. In the file it gives a handy link to generate the keys, https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/. Open up a browser and go to that url. Copy the output of it and replace what is in the file with it.

6d. Save the wp-config-.php file.

7. Upload all the wordpress files to your site via ftp. Go grab a bite to eat, this may take a few minutes.

8. Now you’re ready to start configuring the blog. In your browser navigate to: [yourdomain.com]/wp-admin/install.php. If you haven’t set the domain to be live yet you can use the testing url here.
Fill out the info on this page.
Uncheck “Allow my blog to appear in search engines..” Once you have the blog ready to go live you can check in this settings.
Click the button Install WordPress.

9. Note the username and password and then “Log In”. I just copy the password to my clipboard.

10. Login and change password.
Login and click on “admin” in the upper right corner of the page. This will take you to your profile where you can update your password to something you’ll remember.

11. Create and Upload a .htaccess file so you can have friendly urls for your posts.
11a. Open up a text editor and create a new file. Add the text below:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

11b. Save the file as “.htaccess”.
11c. Upload this file to the root of your blog.

12. Update the blog to allow for friendly urls.
12a. In the WordPress admin section under Settings in the menu found at the bottom click on Permalinks.
Under Common Settings update it to one that you like and Save Changes.

13. Delete the index.html file located in the root directory. This is just a placeholder page created by Mosso until you have your site ready.

YOU’RE DONE. You should now be able to go to your domain and see your blog. Some of the steps could be done out of order but following it will get your blog up and running. I hope you find this beneficial.