I finally got fed up with shared web hosting service providers and was able to figure out how to host multiple wordpress sites on the cloud at just $5 a month. I have full control over the server,  my websites load faster, I have a dedicated IP address, SSL is also installed and renewed automatically. 

I am hosting 5 wordpress websites that get approximately 1500 to 2000 visitors everyday and this cloud server at just $5 a month is able to process the requests.

Before when I was hosting my wordpress websites on a shared web hosting server, I did not have root access to the server and I was not able to make any changes on the server. 

Why I Moved to VPS Cloud Server

Some of the web shared hosting companies charge you more than $5 a month and in every case you have to pay them in advance for a year or two.  and you barely get 1GB RAM and if you host more than two websites on a shared hosting server,  third, fourth and the fifth websites load way slower than the first and second websites; that is the only reason I decided to switch from shared hosting to VPS cloud  hosting server.

My Own Experiments

Initially I experimented with easyengine to host my wordpress websites but it was not easy to host more than one wordpress site with easy engine so I kept looking for an alternative and finally I found vestacp, which is a graphical interface and had more feature than a terminal base alternative like easyengine.

I also found out that I can host any other CMS as well like Drupal, Joomla, Magento or Moodle. In fact I am hosting four wordpress websites and one custom PHP website on the same server. This is just an experiment on a few other things that is possible with vestacp on the VPS cloud server.

Vestacp also keeps backup of your entire server

Now This Costs $1 Per Website 

I just pay $5 every month for this VPS cloud hosting server which gives me 1GB of RAM, 25 GB of SSD storage which is managed storage. It is supposed to run faster than the standard SSD drives. I also get one IP address and 24×7 chat support.

Deploy VPS Cloud Server First

In order to host multiple wordpress websites on a VPS server the first thing you need  is a running VPS cloud server. In my case I am using upcloud but you can use any  VPS cloud server. Once you have your cloud server instance deployed you should get the cloud server IP address and root password.

SSH Connect to Your Cloud Server Using Terminal

Simply launch the terminal and type ssh space root @ IP address hit enter and type in the root password. 

ssh [email protected]

Install Vestacp Apache/NGINX and MySQL server

Vestacp lets you choose from all the services and web servers available out there to install and sync on your VPS cloud server.

Once your server setup is done, Vestacp will give you a username and a password and a web IP address, which you can use to access your vestacp control panel to create a database and deploy Web Services.

Access Vestacp Web Directory to Download WordPress

To access vestacp web directory go ahead and launch your terminal type ssh space vestacp username at cloud server IP address,  hit enter and type in your vestacp password. 

Change directory to web folder and download the latest wordpress instance using wget, unzip the WordPress download and move it to the public_HTML folder of your domain name. 

Before you access your domain name in your web browser, please make sure you have updated nameservers  free domain name with the latest cloud server IP address.

Create MySQL Database 

As you might know that to install wordpress we need my SQL database,  you can create a MySQL database from the terminal or from the vestacp control panel. Go ahead and create the database, note down the database username in the database password.

Install WordPress on Your Domain Name

Launcher for browser and go to your domain, hit enter to start wordpress installation with the MySQL database that you have just created. 

Type in the database name database username  and run the installation type in your wordpress admin name password and other credentials. Finish the WordPress installation to access the wordpress dashboard area.

To Install Multiple WordPress

You just need to deploy  domain name from vestacp control panel and create a MySQL database,  access vestacp from terminal,  download WordPress, unzip it,  move it to domain specific public_html directory, and then finally update domain name server records and install your WordPress.

If you are looking for faster cloud hosting for WordPress or WooCommerce and also want to have full control over the server with root access at the affordable price then I would suggest you go with Upcloud.

They have managed cloud server for WordPress and WooCommerce and easy to use interface. This post will help you install WordPress instance on NGINX web server with Redis and CloudFlare as a free CDN provider.

At the same time; you’ll able to give write permission to your WordPress root directory that will let make any change you would like make on your WordPress theme and plugins from /wp-admin interface.

Sign up for Upcloud Account

If you have not yet signed up for then you can sign up using this button below. Sign up for UpCloud Promo Code

Deploy Your Upcloud Server

I am going to use Ubuntu 20.04 Server. If you are going to install multiple WordPress sites then choose at least 2GB of RAM and choose the closest location where your business is or clients are located. 

Don’t forget to check the box at the bottom for your personal IP address. 

Note down your root password for your Ubuntu server and IP address.

Upcloud also emails your root password. Start that email for quick access.

Login as root via SSH or Putty

Take your IP address 234.123.0.0 and login with root username and root password.

Run the following commands to configure your Ubuntu.

apt update && apt upgrade -y

apt install -y ufw

ufw allow http

ufw allow https

ufw allow ssh

ufw enable

Create User 

adduser name

Give new user sudo privileges

usermod -aG sudo name

Login with new user via SSH

Logout and log back in with your new username and password for Ubuntu 

Install EasyEngine

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

Add A records to your domain DNS

Before you install and configure WordPress on your server. Add your server IP address to your domain under A records

@   123.45.35.756  

www 123.45.35.756  

Install & configure WordPress

You would not need to install PHP, NGINX, Redis, and WordPress one by one manually. All the packages will downloaded, installed and configured automatically.

Alter the following command with your website domain name, email id, wp admin username, password, wp database name. For more ee commands look below..

sudo ee site create mySite.com --type=wp --ssl=le --cache --dbuser=aks84 --dbname=myblogname --admin-user=myAdminNema --admin-pass=adminPassword [email protected] 

Give Permission to WordPress Root Folder

Login as root user from putty or SSH and run the following commands. replace /site.com/ with your domain name

nano /opt/easyengine/sites/site.com/app/wp-config.php

Add the following code to wp-config.php

define(‘FS_METHOD’, ’direct’);

Overwrite and exit (ctrl+o and ctrl+x)

Write Permission to WP Root – EasyEngine

This command is specific to EasyEngine WordPress installs. Replace /site1.com/ with your domain name

chown -R www-data:www-data /opt/easyengine/sites/site1.com/

Replace /site1.com/ with your domain name

chown -R www-data:www-data /opt/easyengine/sites/site1.com/app/htdocs/

EasyEngine All Install Options

Here is EasyEngine all install options to Deploy WordPress with; you should have a look at these option, if you would like to customise it even more. This is strain from EasyEngine docs.

ee site info –type=wp [–cache] [–vip] [–mu=] [–mu=] [–title=] [–admin-user=<admin-user>] [–admin-pass=<admin-pass>] [–admin-email=<admin-email>] [–local-db] [–with-local-redis] [–php=<php-version>] [–dbname=<dbname>] [–dbuser=<dbuser>] [–dbpass=<dbpass>] [–dbhost=<dbhost>] [–dbprefix=<dbprefix>] [–dbcharset=<dbcharset>] [–dbcollate=<dbcollate>] [–skip-check] [–version=<version>] [–skip-content] [–skip-install] [–skip-status-check] [–ssl=<value>] [–wildcard] [–yes] [–force]

Adding CloudFlare CDN with EasyEngine

Go ahead and create your Cloudflare free account, add your domain and create API key. Replace email and CF API key

sudo ee config set le-mail [email protected]

Sudo ee config set cloudflare-api-key asdfa3453sdfsafdjas;lkjdf;ljsa

UpCloud Promo Coupon

This post will help install multiple WordPress sites, blogs and stores with EasyEngine on your choice of Cloud Hosting service provider. In the process, you will realize that installing and managing WordPress on the Cloud is much easier than you might have imagined of.

Your server does not need to have any package preinstalled and preconfigured. You just need to have barebone server instance running on your cloud disk. This is why people love using EasyEngine to install and manage WordPress sites.

Enough.. Let’s talk business now!

EasyEngine is available for Ubuntu and Debian Server and Desktops yet.. So don’t try on and waste your time installing it on other linux distros.

SIGN up for cloud hosting server

This blogpost instruction is going to work on any native cloud service providers like DigitalOcean, Linode, Upcloud and other similar cloud hosting providers.

If you have not yet signed up for any cloud hosting then I have $100 coupon for DigitalOcean for 6 months.

If you do not like DigitalOcean for whatever reason you can sign up for which is another managed cloud hosting for wordpress and other CMSes too.

I personally use many Cloud Hosting service providers, DigitalOcean, Linode, and Upcloud too.

All are just fine, a lot depends on how you have installed and configured your server and WordPress.

Create your server instance

Once you have sighed up for your favorite cloud hosting company. Now, its time to create server instance and install Linux distro (Ubuntu or Debian) and finally choose where you want host your server; host your server where you think your audience is.

Login as root via SSH or Putty

Take your IP address 234.123.0.0 and login with root username and root password with SSh or putty.

Run the following commands to configure your Ubuntu.

apt update && apt upgrade -y

apt install -y ufw

ufw allow ssh

ufw allow http

ufw allow https

ufw enable

Create a New User 

Run the following commands to create a new user with sudo privilege.

Replace name with your preferred user name

adduser name

usermod -aG sudo name

Login with new user via SSH ro Putty

Logout and log back in with your new username and password for Ubuntu 

Install easyengine

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

Add A records to your domain DNS

Copy ip4 address of your server and add A records

@   123.45.35.756  

www   123.45.35.756 

Install & configure WordPress

Run the following command to install and configure php, database, NGNIX, WordPress, Letsencrypt, Radis and all that in just few minutes.

ahhahaa… peace of mind 🙂

Replace domain name and other credentials with your own ones.

sudo ee site create tubemint.com --type=wp --ssl=le --cache --dbuser=dbUserName --dbname=MyBlogName --admin-user=adminUserName --admin-pass=wpAdminPassword [email protected]

Install Another WordPress site with ee

To install and manage multiple WordPress sites, blogs and Stores; you just need to run this following command with your new WordPress site info. That’s it..

You can check other installation options available with ee 4 below and also can install CloudFlare CDN. To configure CF CND just scroll down for instruction.

sudo ee site create otherwp.com --type=wp --ssl=le --cache --dbuser=dbUserName --dbname=MyBlogName --admin-user=adminUserName --admin-pass=wpAdminPassword [email protected]

EasyEngine Install Options

Here are some other installation options for EasyEngine for WordPress on Ubuntu and Debian. That you can try. For more you can visit easyengine.io documentation page.

ee site info --type=wp <site-name> [--cache] [--vip] [--mu=<subdir>] [--mu=<subdom>] [--title=<title>] [--admin-user=<admin-user>] [--admin-pass=<admin-pass>] [--admin-email=<admin-email>] [--local-db] [--with-local-redis] [--php=<php-version>] [--dbname=<dbname>] [--dbuser=<dbuser>] [--dbpass=<dbpass>] [--dbhost=<dbhost>] [--dbprefix=<dbprefix>] [--dbcharset=<dbcharset>] [--dbcollate=<dbcollate>] [--skip-check] [--version=<version>] [--skip-content] [--skip-install] [--skip-status-check] [--ssl=<value>] [--wildcard] [--yes] [--force]

Adding CloudFlare CDN

If you want to add CloudFlare CDN with EasyEngine and then you need to add your domain to CloudFlare first and take cloudflare api key. .

sudo ee config set le-mail [email protected]

sudo ee config set cloudflare-api-key a;jskjd;23423412;ljdf

Replace email address and cloudflare api key with yours’.

Install Multiple WordPress Sites on Digital Ocean

I have installed 6 WordPress sites on Digital Ocean and all of them run faster than any shared web hosting servers out there. I have tried all the best shared linux web hosting services like SiteGround, inMotion, A2Hostin and etc.

To install multiple WordPress sites on your Digital Ocean server follow this post

1. Host Multiple WordPress on VPS Server

For whatever reason you are moving your WordPress sites to the cloud infrastructure from the traditional web hosting servers. Or maybe, you just decided to launch your wordpress site on cloud and have never tried traditional web hosting then you are on the right track because cloud  powered WordPress sites are going to be super fast when it comes to loading pages on your clients’ computer, laptop, smart devices and also your online business will be easily scalable across the globe on the fly.

And as we all know that faster page load is good for all; search engines, visitors, and site owners as well. Everybody is going to be happy about it. 

Let’s do it.. 

Or hire me to make this process less painful and save your time. 

Please Note: EasyEngine works well with Ubuntu and Debian Servers

Sign up for Linode Account

If you have not yet signed up for Linode then you can sign up using this button below.

Create Your Linode Server

I am going to use Ubuntu 20.04 Server. If you are going to install multiple WordPress sites then choose at least 2GB of RAM and choose the closest location where your business is or clients are located. 

Don’t forget to check the box at the bottom for your personal IP address. 

Note down your root password for your Ubuntu server and IP address.

Login as root via SSH or Putty

Take your IP address 234.123.0.0 and login with root username and root password with SSh or putty.

Run the following commands to configure your Ubuntu.

apt update && apt upgrade -y

apt install -y ufw

ufw allow ssh

ufw allow http

ufw allow https

ufw enable

Create a New User 

Run the following commands to create a new user with sudo privilege.

Replace name with your preferred user name

adduser name

usermod -aG sudo name

Login with new user via SSH ro Putty

Logout and log back in with your new username and password for Ubuntu 

Install easyengine

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

Add A records to your domain DNS

Copy ip4 address of your server and add A records

@   123.45.35.756  

www   123.45.35.756 

Install & configure WordPress

Run the following command to install and configure php, database, NGNIX, WordPress, Letsencrypt, Radis and all that in just few minutes.

ahhahaa… peace of mind 🙂

Replace domain name and other credentials with your own ones.

sudo ee site create tubemint.com --type=wp --ssl=le --cache --dbuser=dbUserName --dbname=MyBlogName --admin-user=adminUserName --admin-pass=wpAdminPassword [email protected]

EasyEngine Install Options

Here are some other installation options for EasyEngine for WordPress on Ubuntu and Debian. That you can try. For more you can visit easyengine.io documentation page.

ee site info --type=wp <site-name> [--cache] [--vip] [--mu=<subdir>] [--mu=<subdom>] [--title=<title>] [--admin-user=<admin-user>] [--admin-pass=<admin-pass>] [--admin-email=<admin-email>] [--local-db] [--with-local-redis] [--php=<php-version>] [--dbname=<dbname>] [--dbuser=<dbuser>] [--dbpass=<dbpass>] [--dbhost=<dbhost>] [--dbprefix=<dbprefix>] [--dbcharset=<dbcharset>] [--dbcollate=<dbcollate>] [--skip-check] [--version=<version>] [--skip-content] [--skip-install] [--skip-status-check] [--ssl=<value>] [--wildcard] [--yes] [--force]

Adding CloudFlare CDN

If you want to add CloudFlare CDN with EasyEngine and then you need to add your domain to CloudFlare first and take cloudflare api key. .

sudo ee config set le-mail [email protected]

sudo ee config set cloudflare-api-key a;jskjd;23423412;ljdf

Replace email address and cloudflare api key with yours’.

Install WordPress on Ubuntu 20.04

Install Multiple WordPress Sites on Linode

If you would like to install more than one WordPress on your Linode server and don’t know how to process then let me shared my experience with you. Few months back my shared web hosting plan was about to expire and I was looking for a faster web server within the save price range $5 a month.

So I signed up for Linode VPS server, deployed Ubuntu server instance and set up Apache, and MySQL and installed 5 WordPress sites on 5 domain names and also installed SSL and open source analytical tools that gives more in depth data than Google console and Google analytics.

You can follow the same instruction at this post –

1. Install Multiple WordPress on VPS Server