Installing WordPress On UW Servers : Part 2

But before we can install WordPress (part 3), we need to create a database that WordPress can access. We are going to do this with a web-based interface, phpMyAdmin. [Or go back to part one, installing MySQL.]

In this step, we install phpMyAdmin to administer the server and create a database for WordPress. We are still using our terminal client from Part 1, Installing MySQL.

Part 2.1: Installing phpMyAdmin

1. We need to navigate to the public_html directory.If you are continuing from part 1, issue an <ls> command to determine where you are in your directory structure. You should be in the mysql directory, which means you need to to “up” one level to access public_html. See a list of Unix commands per MacOX or the screenshot below.
   

   ls

   

   

   If you don’t know how to move up the directory tree, open a new terminal window and log in to your Homer or Dante account, select “O” and then “W”, which drops you into your home directory (first steps of part one). Then cd into your web directory:

   cd public_html

2. Once you are in public_html, download the latest version of phpMyAdmin with wget.
   

   wget http://washington.edu/itconnect/web/publishing/phpMyAdmin-3.2.1-english.tar.bz2

3. Unzip the file you just downloaded:
   

   tar -xjvf phpMyAdmin-3.2.1-english.tar.bz2

4. Create a symbolic link to the phpMyAdmin directory:
   

   ln -s phpMyAdmin-3.2.1-english phpmyadmin

5. Since phpMyAdmin is typically used with MySQL root privileges for administration purposes, you should password-protect the phpMyAdmin directory:
   

   cd phpmyadmin
   pico .htaccess

   Enter the following lines to password-protect the phpMyAdmin directory with your account’s UW NetID, replacing ‘unnetid’ with the UW NetID of your account*:

   AuthType UWNetID
   require user uwnetid

   * You can list up to 20 accounts here, space separated, which is useful for course accounts with multiple administrators.

   Press ^X to save the file and press return to exit.

6. PhpMyAdmin has a web-based interface. The UW has a script that is supposed to create the config file; however, it does not usually work, so we’ll create it manually.
   

   pico config.inc.php

   Enter the following lines to create the file. Substitute the appropriate values from part 1 of the installation process; values that you need to replace are highlighted in yellow. TIP: copy and paste this template into a plain text editor; change the highlighted phrases; then copy and paste the text into your terminal window.

   <?php
   /* Configuration file * /

   /* Server configuration */
   $i = 0;

   /* Server ovid.u.washington.edu (config:root) [1] */
   /* ovid is for staff/faculty/depts/courses accounts. */
   /* Use vergil.u.washington.edu for student accounts. */

   $i++;
   $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘host’] = ‘ovid.u.washington.edu’;
   $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘extension’] = ‘mysqli’;
   $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘port’] = ‘your port‘;
   $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘connect_type’] = ‘tcp’;
   $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘auth_type’] = ‘config’;
   $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘user’] = ‘root’;
   $cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘password’] = ‘your password‘;

   /* End of server configuration */

   $cfg[‘ForceSSL’] = true;
   $cfg[‘LoginCookieValidity’] = 1800;
   $cfg[‘GD2Available’] = ‘yes’;
   ?>

Assuming your MySQL server is running (which it is if you are doing this in one session), you are now ready to connect to it and administer it with phpMyAdmin.

Open a web browser and enter the following URL, replacing account_type and uwnetid with the base URL to your Web site. Replace account_type with staff, faculty, depts, courses, or students. Replace uwnetid with your UW NetID.

NOTE: your web browser must be logged into an account that has permission to administer this account; you set up those permissions when you created the .htaccess file in part one. If you are setting up a course account, you probably want your personal UW NetID to also be an administrator.

https://account_type.washington.edu/uwnetid/phpmyadmin/

Part 2.2: Creating A Database For WordPress

1. Create a new database, wordpress, by typing that into the text-box and clicking “create.”

Now proceed to part three, installing WordPress. Or go back to part one, installing MySQL.