Install SSL on an existing wordpress

Hi there,

This would require a few steps. And before making any changes, it’s crucial to back up your entire WordPress site (including databases and files). You can take a manual backup of your files and database or backup your Droplet directly.

Once you have your backup you can follow these steps:

1. Update Apache Virtual Host

   • Edit the Apache configuration file for your website. This file is usually located in /etc/apache2/sites-available/. The file name would typically match your domain name or if it is the default one it could be called default or wordpress.
   • Make sure the ServerName directive is set to your domain, and add a ServerAlias for the www version of your domain. It should look something like this:

     <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName yourdomain.com
        ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com
        # ... other settings ...
     </VirtualHost>
     

   • Save the file and exit the editor.
   • Apply the changes by restarting Apache:

     sudo systemctl restart apache2
     

2. Install Certbot and Obtain SSL Certificate

   • Install Certbot and the Apache plugin, if you’ve used the 1-Click WordPress installation, this should already be available:

     sudo apt update
     sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache
     

   • Next, pbtain and install the SSL certificate:

     sudo certbot --apache
     

   • Follow the on-screen instructions. Certbot will automatically update your Apache configuration to use the SSL certificate.
   • Note that your domain name need have its A record pointing to the server IP address otherwise Let’s Encrypt will not be able to issue the certificate.

3. Update WordPress URLs

   • Log into your WordPress admin dashboard.
   • Go to Settings > General.
   • Change the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) from http:// to https://.
   • Save the changes.
   • If the site and home URLs are not present in there, or if you can’t access your wp-admin area, you would need to access your database with a tool like PHPmyAdmin or any other MySQL client, and update the velues of the site and home URLs in your wp_options table.

That would be pretty much it, next, you can test Your SSL Certificate, by visiting your website with https:// to confirm that SSL is working correctly.

A few things that you need to keep in mind:

• Always backup your website before making significant changes, especially when editing configuration files or database settings.
• The Certbot command will automatically renew your SSL certificate before it expires. However, it’s good practice to verify the auto-renewal process periodically.
• After switching to HTTPS, monitor your website for mixed content issues where some resources might still load over HTTP. You can use browser developer tools or online services to check for such issues. In some cases, you might have to run a search and replace for your database and update all of the references for http://your_ip_address with https://yourdomain.com.

Hope that this helps!

Best,

Bobby