UberNoob Questions - domains, console reeeally basic how to stuff

July 8, 2013 2k views
gcam77
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gcam77
So I'm liking the speed of these servers but getting stuck due to my lack of tech knowledge. Let me start by saying that what I really want to do is resell hosting for a number of my clients and I really like the SSDrives and the speed that DO is offering. So..... I created a droplet for Wordpress on Ubuntu - Yay Should I be hosting this on Ubuntu? Usually Apache is what I see used. Got my domains pointing successfully to this site. Now how do I get them connected to WP which is running by only seen when I go to my IP address. I see lots of user instructions for things that are assuming a basic skill level that I don't currently possess. Where do I go to learn this stuff. e.g. Typing line commands into that black box thing. That's new to me. There are tons of tutorials but no obvious place to go for absolute beginners. Further to that last question. Have I revealed a technical inexperience that reveals that I should be somewhere else. As in "dude you should really go look at x" What I want to do is to be able to host multiple WP sites for my clients on these really nice fast servers. I'm willing to hit the learning curve a bit if someone could point me in the right direction. For the moment I'm just swimming in a sea of tutorials most of which are beyond me. help?
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2 Answers
etel July 8, 2013
Hi Gcam,

I would recommend starting from this tutorial on a new droplet, just to familiarize yourself. (https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-launch-your-site-on-a-new-ubuntu-12-04-server-with-lamp-sftp-and-dns)

Once you get the hang of it, you can return to your wordpress server and configure what you need.

Additionally, if you're interested in some helpful reading material, I would recommend check out this book: http://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php

It's a really friendly introduction and is available online.

Additionally, I would recommend access your server from outside the console (the black box you are currently using). The console doesn't allow copy and paste. If you are on a mac, you can connect to your server with "Terminal"; if you are on a PC, you can access your server with "PuTTy" (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html). We have a tutorial on putty here:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-log-into-your-droplet-with-putty-for-windows-users
How To Log Into Your Droplet with PuTTY (for windows users)
by Etel Sverdlov
PuTTY is an open-source SSH and Telnet client for Windows. It allows you to securely connect to remote servers from a local Windows computer. This tutorial will cover how to connect to your Droplet from your local Windows computer using PuTTY.
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pablo July 8, 2013
Being a recent UberNoob myself, I would highly recommend 64-bit Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS.

With WordPress, Nginx (instead of Apache) with caching are the way to go. See The Importance of Caching WordPress.

Also, after you log into your droplet through 'the little black box,' follow this tutorial: How to Install Wordpress, Nginx, PHP, and Varnish on Ubuntu 12.04.

Lastly, I recently learned the hard way of the benefits of having a local development environment--instead of tinkering with new features on the live, production sites. On that note, I would also recommend NetBeans IDE. It's among the most popular Integrated Development Environments and (the best part) it's open source.
How To Install Wordpress, Nginx, PHP, and Varnish on Ubuntu 12.04
by Etel Sverdlov
Varnish is an HTTP accelerator and a useful tool for speeding up a server, especially during a times when there is high traffic to a site. It works by redirecting visitors to static pages whenever possible and only drawing on the server itself if there is a need for an active process. This tutorial covers installing wordpress on a LEMP stack (with nginx instead of apache), and then installing varnish.
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