WordPress

WordPress is a popular CMS (content management system) on the Web.

OCF's web hosting supports local WordPress installations, and groups using WordPress are eligible for virtual hosting (mygroup.berkeley.edu names).

Instructions for using WordPress are provided below; you can also drop by during staff hours for in-person assistance.

Installing WordPress

The easiest way to set up WordPress is via SSH. Some simple instructions:

1. Go to our web-based SSH client and sign in with your username and password.

2. Create your web root by entering makehttp and hitting enter.

3. Create your MySQL database by entering makemysql. Copy the password it gives you -- you'll need it later.

4. Go to your web directory and download WordPress by entering these lines individually:

   cd ~/public_html
   wp core download

   This will download the latest version of WordPress into your web directory using wp-cli.

5. Visit your web admin dashboard and complete the installation process. Your website will be https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~username and the dashboard https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~username/wp-admin.

   You can choose whatever you want for most options, but you'll need to use:

   • Database Name: Your user name
   • Database User Name: Your user name
   • Database Password: Your MySQL password (the one you copied from step 3 above)
   • Database Host: mysql
   • Table Prefix: Anything you want (the default wp_ is fine)

Your WordPress installation is now ready! You can log in using the username and password you created and start configuring your site.

Migrating from WordPress.com to OCF

If you already have a site hosted at WordPress.com and you'd like to move it to OCF web hosting, for example, to become eligible for virtual hosting, you can move most of your website's functionality and content to the OCF's servers. Generally, the process is simple and sites migrated from WordPress.com hosting to the OCF function quite well, apart from possible minor differences in the appearance of themes. However, if you're looking to create your website from scratch, in most cases it will be much easier to just install WordPress on your OCF account and start editing it here, rather than creating it locally or on another provider like WordPress.com and transferring things over.

If you have an old WordPress installation lying around -- if you are replacing an old student group website, for example -- you should archive it before proceeding. See the example on our backup page to easily make a backup over SSH.

The basic steps to migration are as follows:

1. Follow the steps above to install WordPress on your OCF account.

2. Use the web admin dashboard to install all the themes and plugins you were using at WordPress.com

3. Log into your WordPress.com dashboard and go to Settings > Export to download a zipped XML file with all your site's posts and content. Note that this export usually will not include all of your media content.

4. Unzip this file and change the file extension of all .xml files to .wxr

5. Log into the dashboard at your OCF WordPress installation and go to Tools > Import > WordPress, then upload the .wxr file with all your content.

6. You will have to re-upload most of your media files to your OCF WordPress installation. Additionally, you should try and go through most of your posts and pages with images, as you may need to relink things again.

Further details can be found at the support page by WordPress.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

I forgot my admin password and can't log in

First, try using the "Forgot Password" feature on your site. You can find a link from the login page.

If you're not able to recover your password via email, you can use wp-cli instead, using the instructions below. (If you're not comfortable following these instructions, consider coming in to staff hours instead.

1. Go to our web-based SSH client and sign in with your username and password.

2. Change directory to your WordPress installation (probably ~/public_html, unless you changed it):

   cd ~/public_html

3. Figure out your username using the command wp user list. You should see output like the below:

   $ wp user list
   +----+------------+--------------+---------------+
   | ID | user_login | display_name | roles         |
   +----+------------+--------------+---------------+
   | 1  | admin      | Your Name    | administrator |
   +----+------------+--------------+---------------+

4. Reset your password using the username given above.

   $ wp user update admin --user_pass=new_password

   (Replace admin in the command above with your real username, and new_password with your new password.)

I forgot my MySQL (database) password

The database password used by WordPress is recorded in the WordPress configuration file wp-config.php on the line that looks like

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password_here');

If you ever need your password back, you can always find where WordPress is installed (usually ~/public_html or ~/public_html/wordpress) and open wp-config.php in an editor or get the password over SSH like so:

cat ~/path/to/wordpress/wp-config.php | grep DB_PASSWORD

My site URL is configured incorrectly

If your site URL is configured incorrectly, you may have issues such as being unable to log in or being caught in a redirect loop.

If that's the case, you can fix it by:

1. Go to our web-based SSH client and sign in with your username and password.

2. Change directory to your WordPress installation (probably ~/public_html, unless you changed it):

   cd ~/public_html

3. Run the following commands, substituting the correct URL for example.com:

   $ wp option update home 'https://example.com'
   $ wp option update siteurl 'https://example.com'

If you've just received virtual hosting and you're changing your site URL from https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~yourgroup to https://yourgroup.berkeley.edu, you may additionally need to edit the .htaccess file in the root of your WordPress installation. Specifically, you should replace /~yourgroup/ with / whenever it occurs in that file.