There are mainly two ways you can create a WordPress site in DirectAdmin control panel: the automatic way and manual way. DirectAdmin does not come with the WordPress installer. Paid options, such as Softaculous, have the one-click installers for many web applications. They can simplify the WordPress installation and allow you to execute from DirectAdmin with one click. If your web hosting service provider such service however you can still setup a WordPress site in DirectAdmin manually in about 15 minutes.
In this article, we explain how to manually install WordPress on a NVMe SSD based VPS with DirectAdmin. My hosting service, Rose Hosting, provides Softaculous as an add-on which costs $1/month.However we assume that you do not want to incur additional costs, or want to install very clean WordPress. Follow below steps to install WordPress using the official WordPress installation package and the built-in options in DirectAdmin itself.
Step 1. Add domain to DirectAdmin
If you have already added the domain to your server, you can skip this steps. If not yet, just follow this tutorial to add a domain to DirectAdmin. It is very straightforward and takes you just couple of minutes.
Step 2. Create a database in DirectAdmin
WordPress requires a MySQL database and DirectAdmin has the built-in tools in it to help users create, backup, manage databases. Again, we have this issue covered in an earlier post, so we will not discuss into the details here. Check out these steps to create a database in DirectAdmin.
Step 3. Download WordPress installation package
Visit WordPress official website and download the WordPress installer onto your computer. Here is the direct link to WordPress download page. The installer will be saved as a zip file on your PC or Mac. As the time of writing, the most recent version is 5.2.1. It is a 11.5MB zip file.
Step 4. Upload WordPress installer to server
As we mentioned above, the WordPress installer is about 11MB. The default max file upload size in DirectAdmin is set to 10MB by default. Log in to DirectAdmin, open the File Manager to find out the max file upload size limit on your server. If it is set to 10MB, you can’t directly upload WordPress installer to server via the online File Manager in DirectAdmin. Connect your server via FTP to upload the WordPress installer instead. If need, you can go to create an FTP account in DirectAdmin for that.
Where should I upload the WordPress files to?
In general, you should upload all WordPress files to the root directory of your domain. If your domain is demo.com, its root folder is /domains/demo.com/public_html/.
DirectAdmin has the built-in tool to allow users directly extract zip file in the File Manger. You will then get a WordPress folder with all files included. As a result, you need to move all the WordPress files up a level to the root directory of your domain. Hit the Select above the file and folder checkboxes to quickly select all files and folders. Then hit the Add to Clipboard button below the files list to copy all selected files and folders. Go to the directory where you wish to move the files, then click Move Clipboard Files here.
Step 5. Edit WordPress configuration file
There is a file you need to edit before you can start the installation. Find the wp-config-sample.php file in the domain root directory. Rename it to wp-config.php in File Manager. Click Edit to open it in File Manager. Here you will need to:
- Replace database_name_here with your database name;
- Replace username_here with your database username;
- Replace password_here with your password for the database user.
Click Save As button to save the change to the configuration file.
Delete any other home page file in the domain root directory if any, such as index.html, default.html, home.html, etc. Leave only the home page file for WordPress, the index.php.
Step 6. Install WordPress from web
Now visit your domain from a desktop browser to start the installation. You will be prompted to choose language on the first screen. After that, WordPress installer will ask you to provide the following information: Site Title, Username, Password, Your Email, Search Engine Visibility. Finally hit the Install WordPress button to create your WordPress site. You will then be able log in WordPress dashboard with the username and password you have set in the setup process above.
