Install WordPress on your Sitehost account

When you install software on Sitehost, make sure it follows the guidelines for installing software on IU central accounts and stays up to date.

UITS provides the following instructions to ensure secure use of this software, not promote its use. Once installed, the software must be monitored closely or else removed to prevent compromise. This software will be a target for hackers who seek to gain control of your account and use it for unauthorized purposes; to avoid this potential problem, use Indiana University's Web Content Management System (WCMS).

Follow the steps below to install WordPress on your account.

  1. Download WordPress and extract the zipped files to the desktop.
  2. Open WinSCP and log into your Sitehost account; for help, see Use WinSCP to connect to Sitehost.
  3. The left pane lists your local files; the right pane lists your server files. In the right (server) pane, within the web folder, navigate to the folder where you want to put WordPress (or simply select web if you're installing WordPress at the root level). In the left (local) pane, open the folder that contains WordPress. Select all the WordPress files (Ctrl-a) and press F5 to copy them to the server. Select Copy. It will take some time to copy the files.
    Important:

    Before continuing, make sure that you have already set up your MySQL for Sitehost account; see Create a MySQL for Sitehost account or reset a root user password.

    Once you have set up your account, continue following the steps below.

  4. Using the instructions in Use MySQL Workbench to connect to the Sitehost MySQL servers, connect to your account on either Test (mysql-test.uits.iu.edu) or Production (mysql.uits.iu.edu), and then:
    1. To create the WordPress database, enter:
      CALL api.createSchema('name_of_the_Schema');
    2. Remove the previous line after successfully running it; for every step, you will need to remove the previous command before running the next command.
    3. Select your schema (the Schemas tab is in the lower part of the Navigator pane, the left-most column of MySQL Workbench), and then call the createUser API to create your user (the username cannot include the word root):
      CALL api.createUser('SomeNameNotIncludingROOT', '129.79.123.%', 'pwdHere', true or false (pick one), true or false (pick one))
      • The first true or false is for whether you want SSL connections only.
      • The second true or false is for whether you want a password that expires. If this option is selected, new users will be required to update their passwords immediately after their first login. After doing anything, users will then receive an error message instructing them to change their password.
    4. The password must contain at least:
      • Nine characters
      • Two uppercase letters
      • Two lowercase letters
      • Two numbers
      • Two of the following allowed special characters:
        ‘ ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = { } [ ] / < > , . ; ? ' : | (space)
    5. Call the grant api in order to give your user the permissions needed to make edits to the database:
      CALL api.grant('groupacct_SomeNameNotIncludingROOT', '129.79.123.%','SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP','prefix_name_of_the_Schema', '*')
  5. In a browser, visit the wordpress directory on your Sitehost account (for example, https://account.sitehost.iu.edu/wordpress/; replace account with your Sitehost account name).

    You should see a page asking you to choose a language. If you don't see a page like this, check that you successfully uploaded the WordPress files to your Sitehost account in step 3.

  6. After choosing a language, a screen will eventually prompt you for database connection details.

    Your account name will be prepended to the schema name and username you created in step 4. The database host will be mysql-test.uits.iu.edu:3306 (Test) or mysql.uits.iu.edu:3306 (Production).

    Continue the setup process as prompted.

    Note:
    When creating your WordPress administrator account, the username and password should not match your Sitehost account credentials.
  7. View your WordPress site by visiting https://<account>.sitehost.iu.edu/path-to-wordpress/.

    Manage your WordPress site by logging into https://<account>.sitehost.iu.edu/path-to-wordpress/.

    In both URLs, replace account with your Sitehost account name and path-to-wordpress with the name of the folder where you installed WordPress.

  8. You should become familiar with WordPress security concerns; see WordPress security.