Wordpress stands out as one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) enabling users to easily create and manage websites. For WordPress to run, a web server is required, and one of the most favored platforms for hosting WordPress is the LAMP stack on Ubuntu 18.04. LAMP is an acronym for Linux (operating system), Apache (web server), MySQL (database system), and PHP (programming language). In this article, we'll guide you through the step-by-step process of installing WordPress on Ubuntu 18.04 using the LAMP stack.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, ensure that you have:

• A clean installation of Ubuntu 18.04.
• Terminal access as a user with sudo privileges.

Step 1: Installing the LAMP Stack

The first step involves installing the LAMP stack on your Ubuntu server. Open the terminal and input the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2 mysql-server php php-mysql libapache2-mod-php

These commands will install Apache web server, MySQL database server, and PHP.

Step 2: Configuring MySQL

After installing MySQL, you need to secure your database and create a database for WordPress. First, run the security script:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the on-screen instructions to set a strong password for the MySQL root user and remove anonymous users.

Then, log in to MySQL:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Create a database for WordPress:

CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;

Create a MySQL user and grant it permissions to the database:

GRANT ALL ON wordpress.* TO 'wordpressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Make sure to change 'password' to a strong password. Then, flush privileges and exit MySQL:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 3: Installing WordPress

Download the latest version of WordPress:

cd /tmp
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

Extract the downloaded archive:

tar xzvf latest.tar.gz

Copy the extracted files to the Apache directory:

sudo cp -a /tmp/wordpress/. /var/www/HTML

Set the correct permissions:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html
sudo find /var/www/html -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/html -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \;

Step 4: Configuring Apache

Create a new configuration file for your WordPress site:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf

Insert the following configuration (don't forget to change 'example.com' to your domain):

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html
    <Directory /var/www/html>
        AllowOverride All
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Enable the new site and rewrite module:

sudo a2ensite wordpress
sudo a2enmod rewrite

Restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

 

Step 5: Completing WordPress Installation

Open a web browser and navigate to your website (http://example.com). You should see the WordPress installation wizard. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Now, you should have a fully functional WordPress installation on your Ubuntu 18.04 server with the LAMP stack. Make sure to regularly update your WordPress, theme, and plugins to keep your site secure.