Install Multiple WordPress Sites in DigitalOcean – Easy Way

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Installing and managing single/multiple WordPress sites in DigitalOcean can be a little tricky for non-techies. Unlike shared hosting, VPS like DigitalOcean doesn’t provide any cPanel where you can manage everything.

In this, I’ll guide you through installing high-performance, multiple WordPress sites in DigitalOcean without any pain, a guide for non-techies!

Why DigitalOcean?

DigitalOcean is a high-performance cloud hosting company that competes with Amazon AWS and Google Cloud. Unlike shared hosting providers like GoDaddy or Bluehost, DigitalOcean provides raw VPS servers.

Advantages:

  • Super fast WordPress sites
  • No resource sharing
  • Unlimited websites
  • Cheaper than shared hosting if you’ve multiple sites
  • Hourly pricing
  • More choice on location
  • Full control over the server
  • Server level backups
  • Server level caching with Redis, Varnish etc

VPS vs Shared hosting?

In shared hosting, a single server will hold multiple accounts and their resources are shared. So even you get 1GB of RAM, others might be using it. High traffic to other sites will cause your server to slow down E.g.: GoDaddy, Bluehost Pros: Cheap Cons: Poor performance
As the name suggests, it’s a private server allocated just for you. No one will be sharing its resources. You’ll get full control and have access to 100% of the resources. Super fast! E.g.: DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr Pros: High performance, unlimited websites, full control Cons: Price will be higher than shared hosting. Usually starts at $5/month

Create a Server in DigitalOcean

Login to your DigitalOcean dashboard and create a new Droplet (Droplet means VPS server).

create new server in digitalocean

Set the configuration as follows:

  • OS: Ubuntu 16.04 x64
  • Plan: Standard – $5/month
  • Backups: Yes (recommended, only extra $1/month)
  • Datacenter Region: Choose the one nearest to your audience

Once you’ve created the droplet, a username and password will be emailed to you. Note it down, we’ll use it in the next steps.

Install EasyEngine

EasyEngine is a tool that helps to install and manage high-performance WordPress in any VPS server easily! It will automatically install necessary packages like latest PHP, MySQL, Nginx, Letsencrypt (free SSL) etc. We’ll install our WordPress sites through EasyEngine in DigitalOcean.

Login to your droplet by clicking ‘Access Console’. You’ll be presented with a terminal. Enter the username and password you got in the email. You’ll be asked to reset the password on the first login.

access console digitalocean

Now install EasyEngine by entering the command:

wget -qO ee rt.cx/ee4 && sudo bash ee

It will take a few mins to install.

Install WordPress Site via EasyEngine

Once you’ve completed the installation of EasyEngine, let’s install WordPress. It’s just a single command:

ee site create your-site.com --type=wp --admin-user=USERNAME --admin-pass=PASSWORD --ssl=le

Wait for a couple of seconds/mins and your WordPress site will be live!

Connect your Domain

Once you’ve completed installing WordPress, to connect your domain copy the IP address of the droplet.

ip address digitalocean

Open your DNS provider’s setting (I recommend Cloudflare) and paste the IP address in the ‘A record’.

If you’re using Cloudflare’s here is the screenshot:

connect domain cloudflare

Installing Multiple WordPress Sites

Since it’s a VPS there are no restrictions on the number of WordPress sites you can install. I usually have around 5-10 WordPress sites in a single $5 server.

To install another site, log in to the console as above and execute the same command with the new domain.

Useful EasyEngine Commands

Delete the existing WordPress site:

ee site delete your-site.com

List the existing WordPress site:

ee site list

Restart a site:

ee site restart your-site.com

cPanel for DigitalOcean?

Unlike Shared hosting or Managed WP hosting, DigitalOcean (or any other VPS provider) doesn’t come with a cPanel installed by default.

With EasyEngine 95% of the time, you won’t need a control panel like cPanel. Also, these control panels will add extra 300-500MB RAM usage.

But, if you’re not comfortable with these terminals and commands, and need more advanced features like staging URL, daily backups, UI, etc, check out Cloudways. Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that allows you to host WordPress in different cloud providers like DigitalOcean.

Conclusion

With DigitalOcean, EasyEngine and Cloudflare you’re going to get a super-fast WordPress site. If you’ve multiple WP sites, you can install all of them in a single $5 droplet which will be even cheaper than shared hosting! This is what I do.

Comment below if you’ve any queries or feedback. I read and reply to each of them within 8 hours!

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