Category: WordPress

WordPress

MaxCDN, CloudFlare, and WordPress together in harmony?

WordPress without a CDN is a bad idea. Google penalizes you for slowness. Customers abandon your site because they won’t wait for the site to load. Period. MaxCDN, CloudFlare and WordPress together in harmony? Lets find out! (more…)

20170430
How to backup the Apache config file
UpdraftPlus and other WP backup solution’s safeguards the work you have performed in WordPress. The Apache configuration files are left out. When disaster strikes, access to the Apache config files is invaluable. This might save you hours and perhaps days of downtime and frustration.

Automate the process

Below is the command listed one by one.
A shell script that runs once a month from Cron would automate this.
With TextExpander could you run this command sequence from your PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad as a snippet. To distinguish and automatically sort the backups the folders and filenames start with today’s date in the form: year-month-day

Save the backup files in a single folder

Create a folder you can access with SFTP and SCP. Then it’s easier to move the backup offsite. Either to your PC or another server or service. If you also choose to keep a local backup on the WP-JeOS server remember to change permissions on the file and folders. The bad guys would just love access to your SSL-certificates!
```
cd /home/ubuntu/
```
```
mkdir 20160627-backup-wp-jeos
```
```
cd 20160627-backup-wp-jeos
```
Now we are ready to start the work creating a backup of the Apache config files.

Backing up SSL certificates

Create a backup of the certificates
```
sudo zip -r 20160627-etc-ssl-certs-.zip /etc/ssl/certs/*.*
```
Create a backup of the private certificates
First become root
```
sudo su
```
Then create the zip file:
```
sudo zip -r 20160627-etc-ssl-private-.zip /etc/ssl/private/*.*
```
Go back to the user ubuntu
```
exit
```
Backing up Apache main config file

You have appropriately modified the main Apache config file to make the .htacces file work correctly.
```
sudo zip 20160627-etc-apache2-apache2-conf.zip /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
```
Backing up the virtual hosts config files

The virtual hosts configuration files for each and every WordPress site might take much work to re-create when disaster strikes. A backup is a real time saver. The .conf file contains the path to your SSL-certificates, specifies the filename of your error logs and access logs and info about the root folder of WordPress.
```
sudo zip -r 20160627-etc-apache2-sites-available-.zip /etc/apache2/sites-available/*.*
```
Backup of the Apache config files completed. Now create a TextExpander snippet and perhaps a batch job to perform this fast next time you modify them. A cron job based on the bash script would further automate.

Manually backing up WP-JeOS

When you are at it, backing up the rest of WP-JeOs is easy. Sometimes backups are un-restorable. It could be many reasons for that. Having backups created with different solutions could be wise.

Backing up the file structure

When you have many websites creating a zip-file of the structure is done with this command. Beware. The zip-file could end up to being massive.
```
sudo zip -r 20160627-var-www-.zip /var/www/
```
A real timesaver when you need to migrate the whole server. It would usually take less time than restoring one site at a time with UpdraftPlus. Keep in mind that WP-CLI and WordShell are great tools when migrating, creating backups and restoring. WordShell has an excellent integrated backup solution.

Backing up databases

Since we run Amazon RDS MySQL, backup of the databases is less critical. Amazon automatically creates database backups for you. Use the RDS control panel to configures database backups. Modify to fit your needs. Eventually, the RDS backups are overwritten. If it takes months to the problem, corruption or whatever goes wrong is detected. Then a local offsite backup is the only thing that can come to your rescue. Creating backups with free software is easy. Try these:
- MySQL Workbench
- Sequel Pro
- Navicat
Move the backup offsite

Backup files on a server that you can not access are worthless. Copy or move the backup offsite to another server or service like DropBox, Google Drive or Amazon S3. You never know what’s ahead.

Verify the backup

Download the backup to your PC. Unzip the files to verify that the zip files contains the intended content.

Restore to a local VPS

VmWare is a great tool. Test that you can regenerate the server to a new VPS running on your PC. VmWare is a user-friendly tool for running Ubuntu on you local workstation. Restoring backups requires practice. It could occur that you are unable to restore a backup. The backup might be incomplete or corrupt. You could run into unforeseen problems when restoring backups. There might be a 3. party plugins or locked software that requires a particular IP to work. Certificates that is locked to a certain environment. It could be many obstacles occurring that you could not foresee or has forgotten. Usually, disaster recovery is a very stressful situation that in the long term is damaging to your health. Practice enables you to perform migration faster and with less wear and tear on your health.

Protect the backup

If you keep backups on the WP-JeOs, then you should change the permissions to the files and folders. The backup contains your passwords, SSL-certs and lots of valuable stuff that the bad guys just would love to access.
20160627
Update WordPress, plugins and themes using WP-CLI and Cron

Using CRON to automatically update themes, plugins and WordPress core saves you a lot of time and will keep your sites and server secure.

Learn how to use cron to update WordPress

20160625
How to add Google Tag Manager code to the Thesis 2.1 WordPress framework and theme
Tidy up your code and gather all your stats and conversions tags in one place. Manage tags for all your websites in one place.
- Google Analytics
- Google AdWords remarketing
- Google Adwords conversion
- Facebook ads tracking
- Twitter ads tracking
- Microsoft Bing Ad Center ads tracking
- Linked In ads tracking
- – and much more
Adding tags without efficient management would potentially cause trouble. All that code bogs down your site. Redundant or incorrectly applied tags can distort your measurement and result in duplicate costs or missing data. And it can be time-consuming for the IT department or webmaster team to add new tags, which means important marketing and measurement programs could suffer from delay. With Google Tag Manager, you eliminate these problems—and run your campaigns when you need them.

Google Tag Manager
http://www.Google.com/tagmanager/

WordPress plugin to add extra functionality to Tag Manager, Google Analytics, AdWords and more:
https://WordPress.org/plugins/duracelltomi-google-tag-manager/

Tips on how to use the plugin
http://DuracellTomi.com/

Thesis is the ultimate design and template manager for WordPress
http://DIYthemes.com

You need to add the PHP code below in the file named
```
custom.php
```
This PHP-file is available in the folder:
```
/wp-content/thesis/skins/YOUR-THEME-NAME/custom.php
```
I use a theme from http://Themedy.com called Junction 2

The path to my custom.php is:
```
/wp-content/thesis/skins/junction-t2/custom.php
```
This is the PHP code to add to your custom.php file in Thesis:
```
// Google TagManager START
function injectTagManager() {
?>

<?php if ( function_exists( 'gtm4wp_the_gtm_tag' ) ) { gtm4wp_the_gtm_tag(); } ?>


<?php
}

add_action('hook_before_html','injectTagManager');


function injectDataLayer() {
?>
<script>
var dataLayer = [];
</script>
<?php
}


add_action('wp_head','injectDataLayer');

// Google TagManager STOPP
```
If you don’t want to use the WordPress plugin, and instead place the full Google Tag Manager code, please use this code:
```
// Google TagManager START
function injectTagManager() {
?>


<noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-XXXXX"
height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>
<script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
'//www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-XXXXX');</script>





<?php
}

add_action('hook_before_html','injectTagManager');


function injectDataLayer() {
?>
<script>
var dataLayer = [];
</script>
<?php
}



add_action('wp_head','injectDataLayer');


// Google TagManager STOPP
```
20160620
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 » WordPress » Page 2
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
Tune apache performance using Apache MPM prefork module
There could be many reasons why your Apache web server is slow. One of them can be that Apache needs tuning. Tuning the Apache performance using the Apache MPM prefork module is one of them.

Tune Apache performance using MPM Prefork module

StartServers: 30% of MaxClients
MinSpareServers: 5% of MaxClients
MaxSpareServers: 10% of MaxClients
MaxRequestWorkers = MaxClients
MaxConnectionsPerChild= 10000 (To avoid problem with memory leaks in WordPress plugin themes and apps)

Edit the file with this command:
```
sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/mpm_prefork.conf
```
Try these values if Apache uses 70 MB under heavy load and the server has 1 GB RAM.
```
<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
 StartServers 8
 MinSpareServers 8
 MaxSpareServers 9
 MaxRequestWorkers 9
 MaxConnectionsPerChild 100
</IfModule>
```
Save the changes
```
Ctrl+X - Y
```
Restart Apache
```
sudo service apache2 restart
```
It might make the server a bit slower, but there will be the most available memory, and you will not hit the roof. Hitting the limit will almost stop the server.

How to calculate the values

The initial Ubuntu OS install uses 350 MB RAM – memory – and the server has 1 GB with memory.

Then there is half a gigabyte to run Apache clients.

You measure that each Apache instance uses 33 MB of memory. Then you would be able to run 18 servers with 650 MB available RAM. 650 MB RAM allows ten customers to download content from your site simultaneously. Often the browser uses several simultaneous instances so one user could use several Apache instances. Upgrade to 4 GB of RAM then you would have 3.5 GB available to serve your customers with Apache. 3,5 GB of available memory would suggest a “MaxClients” settings increased from ten clients to 106.

Tool nr 1 to help you determine a useful configuration

Check Apache Httpd MPM Config Limits

This Perl script compares the size of running Apache HTTP processes. This consist of the configured Prefork, worker and event MPM limits. Measured towards the server’s available memory. You might get an error message if the setting limits exceed the server’s available memory.

Check the website for the newest release.
```
https://code.google.com/archive/p/check-httpd-limits/downloads
```
Go to the user home folder
```
cd ~
```
Create a folder
```
mkdir apache-memory-test
```
Go to the newly created folder
```
cd apache-memory-test
```
Download the latest version. This is for version 2.5:
```
wget https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-archive-downloads/v2/code.google.com/check-httpd-limits/check_httpd_limits-2.5.zip
```
Unzip the file
```
unzip check_httpd_limits-2.5.zip
```
Make the script executable:
```
chmod u+x check_httpd_limits.pl
```
Run the script as root
```
sudo ./check_httpd_limits.pl
```
Open a bunch of web pages while you run the script many times to get an impression of the average memory consumed.

Tool number 2

Please read this tutorial about oApache” performance using optimizing MPM Prefork module

Create a folder and download and unzip the script as you did with “Tool 1”

Make the script executable
```
chmod u+x ap.sh
```
Run the script
```
./ap.sh
```
Sources for this article
20150530
How to activate SSL with a free valid certificate
How to allow multiple SSL hosts on a single IP in Ubuntu

Open the file:
```
sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf
```
Find the following line:
```
<IfModule ssl_module>
Listen 443
```
and change it to:
```
<IfModule ssl_module>
Listen 443
SSLStrictSNIVHostCheck off
```
Then restart Apache
```
service apache2 restart
```
To activate and de-activate SSL

Activate SSL by typing the command
```
sudo a2enmod ssl
```
Then restart Apache to publish the change
```
service apache2 restart
```
[themedy_button url=”https://www.wpjeos.no/how-to-add-a-websites-to-ec2-ubuntu-lts-instances/” icon=”wrench” font_awesome_att=”” label=”How to set up virtual websites and domains with SSL” colour=”blue” colour_custom=”” size=”large” edge=”rounded” target=”_self”]

How to get free SSL certificates

Claim your free SSL certificate on CloudFlare.com by choosing “Full SSL” in the menu.

You can use the free not valid SSL certificate in Ubuntu together with the free valid certificate you get from CloudFlare. SSL will give you better SEO ranking on Google. This is the fastest and easiest way to get a valid SSL on your VPS. By leaving most of the process to the cloud in the spirit of JeOS. The easiest is to choose the “Full SSL” option. The you can use the native not valid Ubuntu certificates.

Strict mode full SSL

If you generate certificates in the CloudFlare admin panel and install them in Ubuntu, then you should use the Full SSL (Strict) choice. Your site is encrypted in either choice.

The Let’s Encrypt project

An alternative to CloudFlare is to acquire your free SSL certificate from the Let’s Encrypt project. Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority.

[themedy_button url=”https://www.wpjeos.no/how-to-add-a-websites-to-ec2-ubuntu-lts-instances/” icon=”wrench” font_awesome_att=”” label=”How to set up virtual websites and domains with SSL” colour=”blue” colour_custom=”” size=”large” edge=”rounded” target=”_self”]
20150421

Category: WordPress

Automate the process

Save the backup files in a single folder

Backing up SSL certificates

Backing up Apache main config file

Backing up the virtual hosts config files

Manually backing up WP-JeOS

Backing up the file structure

Backing up databases

Move the backup offsite

Verify the backup

Restore to a local VPS

Protect the backup

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

How to calculate the values

Tool nr 1 to help you determine a useful configuration

Tool number 2

Sources for this article

How to allow multiple SSL hosts on a single IP in Ubuntu

To activate and de-activate SSL

Activate SSL by typing the command

How to get free SSL certificates

Strict mode full SSL

The Let’s Encrypt project