This post shows students and new users the steps to install WordPress on Google Cloud servers running Ubuntu Linux. We’ve been through a series of posts that started with registering a domain name, setting up a Google Cloud server, and installing software and packages to help us build a functional website online.

Now we are ready to install WordPress to help us build our first dynamic, professional and beautiful website to wonderfully publish our content that we were dying to publish.

WordPress is a free and open source website builder or content management system written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. With WordPress, we can create wonderful websites using free templates, plugins, and a support base to help us through the whole process.

This is the seventh post in this series that can be used as a beginner’s guide to learning how to create a website domain, configure a Google Cloud server with Ubuntu Linux, and install software and packages to create and run an online website.

In this series:

Now that you have learned how to create a website domain, set up a Google Cloud server, install Apache, Nginx, PHP, and MySQL or MariaDB, you can proceed below to tie it all together with WordPress.

When we started this series, we said that the web server allows content to be published and served to web clients and your audience that browses your website. A PHP or server-side scripting language allows for a more functional and dynamic website. A database server enables you to store your website content efficiently.

YOU CAN ALSO READ:   What is the Spotify "Enhance" button for?

Other programs and packages may also be required to enhance the functionality of a website. Next, we will show you how to install these tools with WordPress.

In our first post, we also said that after creating a domain name, it cannot be used until it is forwarded or pointed to a server. In the second post, we showed you how to point a domain to a server that we created. We then show you how to install software and packages to help us run an online website.

At this point, we are ready to connect to our Google Cloud server and install WordPress by linking the software and packages installed in our previous posts with WordPress.

How to connect to Google Cloud servers

The Google Cloud (Compute Engine) server allows users to connect using SSH from the browser window to your virtual machine (VM) instance from within the Google Cloud Console.

Browser SSH supports the following:

  • web browsers
    • Latest version of Google Chrome
    • Firefox
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 and later
    • Safari 8 and later. Please note that Safari in private browser mode is not supported.
  • Virtual machine configurations
    • All Linux VM images that are available natively on Google Cloud.

No additional software or browser extensions are required. Just log in to the Google Cloud Console and go to Menu ==> Compute Engine ==> VM instances.

In the list of virtual machine instances, click SSH in the row of the instance you want to connect to.

establish ssh connection to vm instances

Alternatively, you can open an SSH connection to an instance by clicking its name and clicking SSH from the instance details page.

YOU CAN ALSO READ:   LinkedIn doesn't work, I can't access my LinkedIn account

An SSH terminal window will open with the Ubuntu Linux instance that was created in the second posts in the series.

You should now be able to run commands on Ubuntu Linux created on the Google Cloud server.

connect to the host of the Google cloud instance

How to use WordPress on Google cloud servers

Installing and managing a WordPress website on Ubuntu Linux is no different, whether it’s on Google Cloud or on a local VM instance.

Once you have installed all the necessary packages, WordPress can be configured directly from your browser by navigating to the server’s hostname or IP address.

A detailed post and help on how to install WordPress on Ubuntu Linux with Apache or Nginx is at the link below. Click on it to learn more about how to install and manage WordPress on Ubuntu Linux.

How to install WordPress on Ubuntu Linux with Apache

How to install WordPress on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx

Each link above will show you all the steps we took in our previous posts to get here. You will also learn how to protect your WordPress website with free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates.

You should do that!

Conclusion:

This post is the final post in this series on installing WordPress on Ubuntu Linux on Google Cloud. If you find any errors above or have something to add, please use the comment form below.

Write A Comment