Setting up WP on my Digital Ocean

Hello Yuke,

Before you start with any of the following troubleshooting steps, keep in mind that once you make a DNS change it might take up to 24-48 hours for the DNS to propagate over the Globe before you could see the new records.

If it has already been more than that since you’ve made the DNS change, you could keep following these steps here:

Setting up WordPress on DigitalOcean should be straightforward if you follow the right steps, especially if you’re using the One-Click WordPress installation from the Marketplace:

https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/wordpress

If you did not use the 1-Click installation, it might be easier to spin up a new Droplet based on the 1-Click installation and follow this step by step guide on how to use that 1-Click installation image:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-the-wordpress-one-click-install-on-digitalocean-2

Alternatively, if you prefer to keep your existing server, here’s a checklist to help you troubleshoot the issue:

1. Domain Name System (DNS):

   • Ensure your domain’s DNS settings are correctly pointing to your DigitalOcean droplet.
   • If you recently updated the DNS settings, it might take some time (anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours) for changes to propagate throughout the Internet.
   • Use tools like DNS Checker to verify that your domain is resolving to the correct IP address.

2. Firewall Rules:

   • Ensure that the droplet’s firewall settings allow traffic on ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS). You can manage this using the ufw tool or via the DigitalOcean dashboard.

3. Web Server Configuration:

   • If you used the One-Click WordPress installation, the server configuration should be correct. However, if you set things up manually, ensure that the web server (e.g., Apache or Nginx) is correctly configured to serve your WordPress site.

4. WordPress Configuration:

   • Ensure the wp-config.php file is correctly set up, especially the database connection details.

5. Check the Apache Status:

   • SSH into your droplet and check if Apache is running:

     sudo service apache2 status
     

   • If the Apache service are not running, you can restart it with sudo service apache2 restart.

6. Error Messages:

   • When you try to access www.mydomain.com, are there any error messages displayed in the browser? This can give clues about what’s wrong.

   • Additionally, check the error logs:

     sudo tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log
     

7. Correct WordPress URL:

   • Typically, the WordPress admin can be accessed via www.mydomain.com/wp-admin, but ensure there’s no custom directory or URL change that might be causing the issue.

8. SSL Configuration:

   • If you’ve set up SSL (HTTPS) for your site, ensure it’s correctly configured. Misconfigurations can lead to inaccessible sites.
   • You can use tools like SSL Labs’ SSL Test to check your SSL setup.

Let me know how it goes!

Best,

Bobby