Best Server Configuration for WordPress

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install Nginx
sudo apt install nginx -y

# Install MariaDB
sudo apt install mariadb-server mariadb-client -y

# Install PHP and required extensions
sudo apt install php8.2-fpm php8.2-mysql php8.2-xml php8.2-gd \
  php8.2-curl php8.2-mbstring php8.2-zip php8.2-intl \
  php8.2-bcmath php8.2-imagick php8.2-redis -y

sudo nano /etc/php/8.2/fpm/pool.d/wordpress.conf

[wordpress]
user = www-data
group = www-data
listen = /run/php/php8.2-fpm-wordpress.sock

; Dynamic process management
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 50
pm.start_servers = 5
pm.min_spare_servers = 5
pm.max_spare_servers = 35
pm.max_requests = 500

; PHP settings
php_admin_value[memory_limit] = 256M
php_admin_value[upload_max_filesize] = 64M
php_admin_value[post_max_size] = 64M
php_admin_value[max_execution_time] = 300
php_admin_value[max_input_vars] = 3000

# Define FastCGI cache zone
fastcgi_cache_path /var/cache/nginx/wordpress
    levels=1:2
    keys_zone=WORDPRESS:100m
    inactive=60m
    max_size=1g;

fastcgi_cache_key "$scheme$request_method$host$request_uri";

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;
    root /var/www/wordpress;

    set $skip_cache 0;

    # Don't cache POST requests and query strings
    if ($request_method = POST) { set $skip_cache 1; }
    if ($query_string != "") { set $skip_cache 1; }

    # Don't cache WordPress admin and special URLs
    if ($request_uri ~* "/wp-admin/|/xmlrpc.php|wp-.*.php|/feed/") {
        set $skip_cache 1;
    }

    # Don't cache logged-in users
    if ($http_cookie ~* "comment_author|wordpress_[a-f0-9]+|wordpress_logged_in") {
        set $skip_cache 1;
    }

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm-wordpress.sock;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;

        fastcgi_cache WORDPRESS;
        fastcgi_cache_valid 200 60m;
        fastcgi_cache_bypass $skip_cache;
        fastcgi_no_cache $skip_cache;
        add_header X-FastCGI-Cache $upstream_cache_status;
    }

    # Long cache for static files
    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js|woff|woff2)$ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }

    location ~ /\.ht { deny all; }
    location = /xmlrpc.php { deny all; }
}

# Install Redis
sudo apt install redis-server -y

# Redis configuration
maxmemory 256mb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru
save ""
unixsocket /var/run/redis/redis-server.sock
unixsocketperm 770

// Add to wp-config.php
define('WP_REDIS_HOST', '/var/run/redis/redis-server.sock');
define('WP_REDIS_PORT', 0);
define('WP_REDIS_DATABASE', 0);

[mysqld]
# InnoDB settings
innodb_buffer_pool_size = 1G          # 50-70% of RAM
innodb_buffer_pool_instances = 4
innodb_log_file_size = 256M
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit = 2
innodb_flush_method = O_DIRECT

# Query cache
query_cache_type = 1
query_cache_size = 64M
query_cache_limit = 2M

# Connection settings
max_connections = 150
wait_timeout = 60

# Temporary tables
tmp_table_size = 64M
max_heap_table_size = 64M

# Slow query log
slow_query_log = 1
long_query_time = 2

opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=16
opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
opcache.validate_timestamps=1
opcache.revalidate_freq=2
opcache.jit=1255
opcache.jit_buffer_size=128M

// Add to wp-config.php (behind Cloudflare)
if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO']) && 
    $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] === 'https') {
    $_SERVER['HTTPS'] = 'on';
}

// wp-config.php security settings
define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);      // Disable theme/plugin editor
define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);         // Force HTTPS for admin
define('WP_DEBUG', false);               // Debug off (production)
define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED', false); // Auto updates on

#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/wordpress"

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup database
mysqldump -u wpuser -pwppassword wordpress | \
  gzip > $BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.sql.gz

# Backup files
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/files_$DATE.tar.gz \
  --exclude=/var/www/wordpress/wp-content/cache \
  /var/www/wordpress

# Delete backups older than 30 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -mtime +30 -delete