How to Connect a Domain and Install WordPress on Heficed

Gwen Rodgers

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Founded in 2008 and recently rebranded from Host1Plus to Heficed, this is a specialist host for developers and advanced website owners. Unless you’re prepared to pay, the support is nonexistent, so you better know what you’re doing.

If you’ve created an account with Heficed and you’re ready to take the plunge into your WordPress website setup, this is the guide for you. It takes you step-by-step through the process to do it.

This article is actually an invaluable resource, as Heficed doesn’t provide any tutorials or customer service along the way—unless you pay them a hefty hourly rate for the privilege. But that’s a whole other story, which you can read about here.

Step One: Confirm Your Operating System Template

The exact steps required to connect a domain and install WordPress will depend on the choice of operating system template. If you want to follow this tutorial, your first step is to head to Templates and install Ubuntu 18.04, if it’s not already done.

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Step Two: Log into the Virtual Console

When you’re inside the dashboard, enter your virtual machine. From there, you can select Virtual Console. Open this up in a new window and log in (if this is new to you, your username is “root” and your password can be found in the overview section of your virtual machine).

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Step Three: Update Your Server

This step is relatively simple, to make sure that your server is up to date. Do this by running the following commands:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Step Four: Apache Web Server Installation

To install the Apache web server, run the following command:

apt-get install apache2

After the installation is complete, you should enable Apache to start automatically upon server boot with:

systemctl enable apache2

Step Five: Install PHP

The next step is to install PHP. You can do this using the following command:

apt install php php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-xmlrpc
php-soap php-intl php-zip

Step Six: Install MySQL Server

Next, you need to install the MySQL server. Do this with the following command:

apt install mysql-server

Step Seven: Create Database for WordPress and User

Create the database using the following command:

mysql admin create your_database_name

Create a user and password for the database:

grant all privileges on your_database_name.* to
your_database_name@localhost identified by ‘yourpassword’ ;

Flush privileges:

flush privileges;

And exit the MySQL database:

cntrl+D

Important: Make a note of the database name, username, and password created in this step. You will need them for the final step in the process.

Step Eight: Create a Virtual Host File for Your Website

First, create a virtual host for your new website:

vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain_name.conf

Then add the following contents to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>

ServerName domain_name
ServerAlias www.domain_name
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/domain_name

<Directory /var/www/html/domain_name>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/your_domain.com_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/your_domain.com_access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Step Nine: Enable the Website

Next, you need to enable the website by inputting the following command:

a2ensite domain_name.conf

And restart Apache:

systemctl restart apache2

Step Ten: Download WordPress

You can download the latest WordPress version as follows:

cd /var/www/html/
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar xf latest.tar.gz
mv wordpress domain_name
chown -R www-data:www-data domain_name/

Step 11: Point the Domain Name to the Server IP

Now, you need to head over to your domain registrar and point the domain name to the server IP. Basically, update your A record to the server IP address. It can take up to 48 hours for this to propagate, but usually, it’s much quicker.

Step 12: Finish WordPress Installation

Open a web browser and go to your domain name. Follow the on-screen WordPress instructions to proceed with setup, inputting the database credentials that were created in step seven.

Finally, run the installation. Give yourself a pat on the back, grab a beer, and bask in the glory of your newly installed website.

Definitely Not for the Beginner

Heficed is not for those new to website hosting. It’s a serious company offering serious hosting for serious developers. If you’re in need of any hand-holding or even just an easy-to-reach customer service agent, this isn’t the company for you.

If you’re looking for a vendor that’s more beginner-friendly, try SiteGround, or if you want a vendor that specializes in managed WordPress hosting (one that will handle your updates and server configuration), click here to read about Liquid Web. Alternatively, if you’re a developer and not put off by the manual setup process, head over to the in-depth review to learn the pros and cons of Heficed.

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Gwen Rodgers

Gwen is a web developer and software engineer who loves to get lost in JavaScript (and a good book). She spends her free time teaching girls how to be coders, and doing yoga on her balcony in the sunshine.

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