Author: .

Resources
FYI: This page has affiliate links. It is still services that I recommend and use in my work.

The DIY Thesis framework

Since I do not want to spend time learning CSS and PHP I have used Thesis since 28. April 2010 for most of my WordPress work. The second reason for using Thesis is the personal support tickets I post frequently. The third reason for using Thesis is the support forum. I usually get help within 24 hours. In 2016 there wh was ere problems with Thesis and WP-CLI. After some months the issue was fixed in a newer version of Thesis. Thanks. Thesis is built on three features:
- Boxes
- Skins
- Site tools
With these features combined with use of forum and support ticket are you able to accomplish very much with WordPress without having programming skills. You should head over to their homepage to get all the details.

Studiopress and Genesis themes and hosting

Genesis framework from Studiopress is much the same as Thesis. Genesis is used by more people than Thesis. Genesis strictly follows the guidelines and recommendations from WordPress. I find Thesis to be easier to use. Genesis is used by more developers. Studiopress also provides hosting.

Themedy WordPress child themes for Thesis and Genesis

A large number of developer create attractive child themes for Thesis and Genesis WordPress framework. Both Chris Pearson, the creator of the Thesis framework and Brian Gardner the founder of Studiopress Genesis recommends the childthemes created by the Hodder brothers at Themedy.

UpdraftPlus Migrator for changing domain name or changing to SSL

This plugin is extremely useful for the following scenarios:
- - To avoid beeing penalized by Google, all websites should use SSL. Changing from http:// to httpS:// can sometimes be a struggle.
- - You should never use your bare domain. Allways put “www” or something else in front of the domain. Changing from https://WPJeOS.no to https://www.WPJeOS.no could sometimes be a struggle. For 20 years people has been unsure whether to use https://www. or not in a web site’s canonical name. The arguments found in the blog post from January 20, 2017 by Bjørn Johansen should make this obvious.
- More frequent than you would expect does people change their domain name. There are many reasons. In any case is the UpdraftPlus Migrator a very helpful tool.
WIX creates stunning websites for everyone

Chances are that you just get fed up with technology, plugins, themes, things that don´t work. Sometimes a relative, family member, friend, customer or acquaintance needs help getting a website up and running and you just don´t feel beeing able to assist. Sometimes a client presents you with a budget that just not fit a WordPress job. Then WIX comes to the rescue. WIX is fast, simple and easy. Get a good looking website running in just a few minutes. Sometimes with your help. Sometimes close to anybody can create good results with WIX.

Google Reviews plugin for WordPress plugin

Reviews are more and more important for anyone selling almost anything. Asking for reviews are not always the job you prefer, but you should do it nevertheless. This plugin displays your Google Reviews in WordPress.

VPS server with cPanel from Webhosting UK outside London

Not all of us enjoy using a SSH client. Some require GUI admin panel. When I closed down my datacenter in 2008, all the websites was migrated to Webhosting UK. After nine years I am still amazed about the 24-7-365 support with the “Getting Things Done” attitude of this company. They are remarkable and outstanding. Their VPS server and reseller hosting with cPanel is for some customers a better choice than a WPJeOS server at Amazon.

SSH clients for MAC, iPhone and iPad

SSH Client for MAC

SSH Client for iPhone

SSH Client for iPad

SSH Client for Windows

SSH Client for Android

vSSH is the client I have used for many years. It has a very nice key management feature. Easy to set up as a VPN client when using SOCKS Proxy when out of the office. This is a fast, userfriendly and trouble free SSH client.

BlueHost VPS servers and shared hosting

Bluehost is one of the larger providers of web hosting with a nice track record.

ConvertKit is the user friendly e-mail marketing solution

KonvertKit has many features but is yet easy to use.

OptinMonster makes it easier to to populate your e-mail lists

Use OptiMonster to get e-mail subscriptions to your ConvertKit lists. OpinMonster can be used to so much more than just getting e-mail subscribers.
20160612
Use SOCKS proxy for secure VPS connection to WordPress

You can use your SSH to create a SOCKS proxy VPS connection to WordPress. Its very simple to set up a dynamic port forwarding in a SSH client vSSH.

This procedure gives you a VPN connection. The SOCKS VPN setup enables you to access the Google PageSpeed admin page and WordPress through a secure tunnel. All you need is an SSH client on your PC. Nothing to install or configure on the server side.

Unfortunately, this does not work on iPad and iPhone.

20160611
Adding SSL certificate from CloudFlare
CloudFlare.com provides a free valid SSL certificate.
After installing this certificate, can you change the CloudFlare SSL settings from “Full” to “Strict.”

Create a .pem file for the server certificate
```
nano MyDomain-com-server.pem
```
Paste and copy the server certificate from CloudFlare.com into this file. Then save the file.
Move the server certificate to the correct folder:
```
sudo mv MyDomain-com-server.pem /etc/ssl/certs/MyDomain-com-server.pem
```
Then create the private certificate:
```
nano MyDomain-com-private.pem
```
Move the server certificate to the right folder:
```
sudo mv MyDomain-com-private.pem /etc/ssl/private/MyDomain-com-private.pem
```
Modify the Apache config file to use the certificates

The config files are located at:
```
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
```
Open the config file:
```
sudo nano 01-MyDomain1-com.conf
```
Find the lines:
```
SSLCertificateFile      /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
```
Change the lines to reflect your newly created credentials. It would the look like this:
```
SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/MyDomain-com-server.pem 
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/MyDomain-com-private.pem
```
Rights and ownership on certificates

Directory permissions should be 710 for the private keys.

File permissions on the certificates 644 for the private keys.

It is recommended that the directory and files should be owned by root

Change the owner and group:
```
sudo chown root:ssl-cert -R /etc/ssl/private
```
Change the permissions on files:
```
sudo find /etc/ssl/private -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
```
Change the permissions on folders:
```
sudo find /etc/ssl/private -type d -exec chmod 710 {} \;
```
All the files in the cert folders should be owned by root
```
sudo chown root:root -R /etc/ssl/certs/
```
Short version of adding the certs

Private cert
```
sudo mv MyDomain-com-private.pem /etc/ssl/MyDomain-com-private.pem

sudo chmod 644 /etc/ssl/private/MyDomain-com-private.pem

sudo chown root:ssl-cert /etc/ssl/private/MyDomain-com-private.pem
```
Server cert
```
sudo mv MyDomain-com-server.pem /etc/ssl/certs/MyDomain-com-server.pem

sudo chown root:root -R /etc/ssl/certs/MyDomain-com-server.pem

sudo chmod 644 /etc/ssl/certs/MyDomain-com-server.pem
```
Check the Apache config file
```
sudo apachectl configtest
```
Restart Apache web server
```
sudo service apache2 restart
```
Check the different Apache error logs

It is alway a good habit to have a look at the error logs.
```
cd /var/log/apache2/
```
```
sudo nano error.log
```
```
sudo nano 01-mydomain-com-error.log
```
20160611
Configure SSH for administration of remote VPS servers with WordShell
You can manage many EC2’s or VPS servers with WordShell. You need to configure the SSH config file to log in to remote VPS servers with SSH and SFTP. This is a requirement for WordShell.Here is how:

Configure SSH

Upload all your .pem files that contain your SSH keys with FTP to:
```
/home/ubuntu/
```
Then move them to the SSH config folder
```
mv *.pem /home/ubuntu/.ssh/
```
You receive an error message unless you change the permission to 600
```
chmod 600 /home/ubuntu/.ssh/*.pem
```
Now it is time to create the configuration file.
```
nano /home/ubuntu/.ssh/config
```
Change the IP addresses and domain name to suit your settings. Replace “MyServer1.com” and 888.888.888.888 with your domain and your IP. In this config file, there are 3 EC2 servers.
```
Host MyServer1.com
Hostname 888.888.888.888
User ubuntu
IdentityFile /home/ubuntu/.ssh/MyServer1.com.pem

Host MyServer2.com
Hostname 888.888.888.888
User ubuntu
IdentityFile /home/ubuntu/.ssh/MyServer2.com.pem

Host MyServer3.com
Hostname 888.888.888.888
User ubuntu
IdentityFile /home/ubuntu/.ssh/MyServer3.com.pem
```
Save the config file.
Protect the data:
```
chmod 600 /home/ubuntu/.ssh/config
```
Verify that you can log onto the servers
Test that you can connect to the 3 EC2 servers by typing
```
ssh MyServer1.com
```
```
ssh MyServer2.com
```
```
ssh MyServer3.com
```
Set the correct permissions for the Apache and the user ubuntu

To avoid error messages make sure that the files and folders on the remote VPS servers have the right access rights. The user that logs on to the remote VPS server must have permissions to manage the files and folders that make WordPress.

This post has all the details:

[themedy_button url=”https://www.wpjeos.no/give-user-ubuntu-server-apache-rights-run/” icon=”” font_awesome_att=”” label=”Set the right permissions for Apache and the ubuntu user” colour=”blue” colour_custom=”” size=”large” edge=”rounded” target=”_self”]
20160609
How to install WordPress through command-line with WP-CLI
Setting up WordPress using the command line is fast.
You can even use a script to automate the process.

Home » Archives for . » Page 10
Table of contents
Prerequisites and preparations

Before you begin. Create a MySQL database in Amazon RDS. You also need a working website. Then start creating a list with the following information:
- Name of your Amazon RDS MySQL database server
- Database name
- Database username
- Database user password
- The WordPress admin username you intend to use
- The WordPress admin password you intend to use
- The WordPress admin e-mail address you plan to use
If some points are unclear these how-tos should point you in the right direction:
How to install WP-CLI

How to set up a virtual host

How to activate .htaccess

How to create a MySQL database in Amazon RDS

Verify the root folder

Your root folder is beneath
```
/var/www/
```
In this tutorial are we going to install WordPress in the folder
```
/var/www/MyDomain1.com
```
Start with going to the root folder:
```
cd /var/www/MyDomain1.com
```
Verify that there are no files in this folder
```
sudo ls
```
If here is index.html or another start page file there you should delete this file to avoid problems later on.
```
sudo -u www-data rm index.html
```
Change ownership and delegate permissions

The Apache web server needs permission to run WordPress.
```
sudo chown -R www-data /var/www/MyDomain1.com
```
Download the installations files

Downloading all the WordPress files is done in a matter of seconds by issuing this command:
```
wp core download
```
Create wp-config.php, the main configuration file

Sometimes WP-CLI is unable to connect to Amazon RDS MySQL database. Then you can skip the database test by adding the following statement:
```
 --skip-check
```
Creating the configuration file in WordPress. Fill in the values from the list you created previously:
```
wp core config --dbname=wordpress --dbuser=user --dbpass=password --dbhost=dcfgvr.1bagob.0002.euw1.cache.amazonaws.com --dbprefix=wp_ --skip-check
```
Install WordPress
```
wp core install --url="https://www.example.com" --title="Blog Title" --admin_user="adminuser" --admin_password="password" --admin_email="email@domain.com"
```
Check the server error logs

It’s a good practice to examine the error logs. They are here:
```
cd /var/log/apache2/
```
```
sudo nano error.log
```
```
sudo nano 01-mydomain1-com-error.log
```
Set correct permissions so Apache can access the files and folders

Basic permission:
```
sudo chown -R www-data /var/www/MyDomain1.com
```
More thorogh guide on setting permissions is available her:
20160606
How to run WordPress on your OS X Mac and Windows
Running WordPress on your Mac OS X or Windows computer has many advantages. There are two different concepts for doing this:
- Running a virtual private server – VPS – on your Mac or Windows
- Running Apache, PHP and MySQL on your Mac or Windows
Both solutions have its advantages and downsides.

Running PHP, MySQL and Apache on your PC is the easiest and best solution if you are aiming at creating websites. Running a VPS would be the choice if you are developing or programming.

Do you prefer using WP-CLI and WordShell? Then you should choose a VPS based solution.

In TBT we currently use MAMP Pro. In the future, we might also be using VMware Fusion for individual projects. In general, we find MAMP Pro faster because we can use the file manager “Finder” in Mac when moving files and folders between the local disk and WordPress.

Solutions that runs PHP, MySQL, and Apache on your computers OS:
- Manually installing Apache, MySQL, and PHP
- MAMP
- AMPPS Stack
- VirtualHostX version 6
Solutions for running VPS on your computer:
- VirtualHostX version 7
- Primary Vagrant
- Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants
- Oracle VM VirtualBox
- VMware Fusion for MAC
- VMware Workstation for Windows
- Parallels Desktop for Mac
- Microsoft Hyper-V
Manually installing Apache, MySQL, and PHP on Mac and Windows

On both Mac and Windows, you can download Apache, MySQL and PHP and then configure your computer. Mac OS X comes pre-installed natively with Apache and PHP so you only need to install MySQL.

MAMP

Apache, MySQL, and PHP for OS X and Windows

Find the details here:

https://www.mamp.info/en/

AMPPS Stack

AMPPS is a software stack containing Apache, Mysql, PHP. Consist of the Softaculous auto-installer. AMPPS should be used on Desktops and office servers.

http://www.ampps.com

VirtualHostX

VirtualHostX 7.0 lets you host and share as many websites as you like with your Mac. This is a suitable solution when you are creating more than one website simultaneously. With VirtualHostX, you can manage many Apache sites at the same time with just a few clicks.

https://clickontyler.com/virtualhostx/

Primary Vagrant

This is an Apache-based Vagrant configuration for WordPress development.

Primary Vagrant is a tool for WorPress plugin, theme, and core development. You can also use PV as a general PHP development environment. Primary Vagrant is a replacement for MAMP and XAMPP.

Varying Vagrant Vagrants usesNGINX webserver. Primary Vagrant uses Apache. PV uses Puppet instead of Bash. PV uses VVV and Puppet as a base and is more focused on WordPress development.

https://github.com/ChrisWiegman/Primary-Vagrant

Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants/VVV

Vagrant is a VPS server that runs on top of VirtualBox of VMWare on your local machine.

https://varyingvagrantvagrants.org

Oracle VM VirtualBox

https://www.virtualbox.org

VMware Fusion

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion

VMware Workstation for Windows

https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation

Parallels Desktop for Mac

http://www.parallels.com/eu/products/business/

Microsoft Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V is a part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. You can activate Hyper-V in the Windows 10 Control panel. Choose between creating your own or download prebuilt VPS images with WordPres installed and ready to run.
20160606
How to create WordPress posts local on your PC and offline

20160606

Author: .

SSH clients for MAC, iPhone and iPad

Rights and ownership on certificates

Short version of adding the certs

Private cert

Server cert

Check the Apache config file

Restart Apache web server

Check the different Apache error logs

Configure SSH

Set the correct permissions for the Apache and the user ubuntu

Table of contents

Prerequisites and preparations

Verify the root folder

Change ownership and delegate permissions

Download the installations files

Create wp-config.php, the main configuration file

Install WordPress

Check the server error logs

Set correct permissions so Apache can access the files and folders

Solutions that runs PHP, MySQL, and Apache on your computers OS:

Solutions for running VPS on your computer:

Manually installing Apache, MySQL, and PHP on Mac and Windows

MAMP

Apache, MySQL, and PHP for OS X and Windows

AMPPS Stack

VirtualHostX

Primary Vagrant

Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants/VVV

Oracle VM VirtualBox

VMware Fusion

VMware Workstation for Windows

Parallels Desktop for Mac

Microsoft Hyper-V