Simple Application Server:Build a WordPress blog

Step 1: Create a simple application server

1. Log on to the Simple Application Server console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, click Servers.

3. In the upper-left corner of the page, click Create Server.

4. On the Simple Application Server page, configure parameters based on your business requirements.

   The following table describes the parameters.

   Parameter	Example	Description
   Region	China (Hong Kong)	Select a region based on the geographical location of your business. The region cannot be changed after the server is created. Proceed with caution. Important Simple application servers deployed in regions outside the Chinese mainland, such as the China (Hong Kong) and Singapore regions, use international bandwidth. High network latency may occur when you access these servers from regions inside the Chinese mainland. We recommend that you select a region that is closest to the geographical location of your end users for higher access speeds of your users. For more information, see Regions and network connectivity.
   Image	Type: Apps Image Application: WordPress Version: 5.8	Select a tab and then select an image based on your business requirements. Apps Image: displays application images. Application images contain application environments and allow you to deploy development environments or build websites with ease. OS Image: displays OS images. OS images contain only base OSs. You can install applications based on your business requirements. Custom Images: displays custom images. Custom images are created based on snapshots of simple application servers. You can use a custom image to create simple application servers that have the same configurations. For more information, see Overview of custom images.
   Instance Plan	$3.5/mo	Select a plan based on your business requirements. You are charged additional fees for outbound data transfers over the Internet beyond the plan. For more information about billing, see Billing overview.
   Data Disk	0GB	This parameter is optional. To have more storage space on the simple application server, you can create and attach a data disk of a specific size.
   Subscription Time	1 Month	Select a subscription period for the simple application server. You can select Auto-renewal based on your business requirements.
   Quantity	1	Specify the number of simple application servers that you want to create. The default value is 1. You can create up to 20 simple application servers.

5. Click Buy Now.

6. On the Confirm Order page, check the order information.

7. In the Terms of Service section, read and select I have read and agree to General Terms and End User License.

8. Click Pay and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the payment.

   After you complete the payment, go back to the Simple Application Server console. On the Servers page, find the server that you created. After the status of the server changes from Initializing to Running, you can click the server card to view the details.

9. (Conditionally required) If you attach a data disk when you create the simple application server, you must create partitions and file systems on the disk before you can use the disk. For more information, see Partition and format the data disk.

Step 2: Deploy the WordPress application

1. Log on to WordPress and configure user information.

   1. Find the WordPress server that you created and click the server ID in the WordPress server card.

   2. Click the Application Details tab. In the WordPress Information section, click the URL next to Home Address.

      

   3. Select an installation language and click Continue.

      In this example, select English (United States) as the installation language.

   4. On the Welcome page, configure the Site Title, Username, Password, and Your Email parameters, and then click Install WordPress to initialize WordPress.

      

   5. On the page that appears, click Log In.

   6. Specify a username and password on the logon page, and then click Log In.

      

Step 3: (Optional) Bind and resolve a domain name

The security of your server is compromised if you use the public IP address of the server to access the WordPress blog site deployed on the server. To ensure server security, we recommend that you access the blog site by using a domain name. If you have registered a domain name or want to register a domain name for the blog site, perform the following operations to bind and resolve the domain name.

1. Register a domain name.

   For more information, see Register a domain name on Alibaba Cloud. If you have registered a domain name, skip this step.

   Sample domain name: example.com.

2. If the website to which the domain name points is hosted on a simple application server inside the Chinese mainland, you must apply for an Internet Content Provider (ICP) filing for the domain name.

3. Resolve the domain name and make it point to the public IP address of the server.

   • If your domain name is registered with Alibaba Cloud, see Manage domain names.

   • If your domain name is not registered with Alibaba Cloud or resolved by Alibaba Cloud DNS, you can add the domain name in the Alibaba Cloud DNS console to resolve the domain name. For more information, see Manage domain names. You can also contact the service provider of the domain name, create an A record for the domain name that points to the IP address of the server, and then bind the domain name.

Step 4: Test the access to the WordPress blog site

1. (Optional) Configure the domain name on WordPress.

   If you have bound a domain name of the WordPress blog site to the WordPress server and resolved the domain name, you must configure the domain name on WordPress. If you have not bound a domain name to the WordPress server, you can skip this step and use the public IP address of the server to access the WordPress blog site.

   1. Enter http://<Public IP address of the simple application server>/wp-login.php in your browser to log on to WordPress.

   2. In the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) fields, enter the domain name that you have bound and resolved. In this example, enter http://example.com.

      You can also enable HTTPS access to the domain name and use encrypted transmission and identity authentication to ensure the security of data transmission. For more information, see Install an SSL certificate. After HTTPS access is enabled, you must change http in the URL of the WordPress blog site to https.

      

   3. Click Save Changes.

2. Use one of the following methods to check whether the WordPress blog site can be accessed:

   • Access by using a domain name

     Enter the domain name that you have bound and resolved in the browser. In this example, enter http://example.com.

   • Access by using a public IP address

     Enter http://<Public IP address of the simple application server> in your browser.

Step 5: (Optional) Build a mobile blog based on WordPress

After you build a WordPress blog by using a WordPress application image or a different image, you can use the WPtouch Mobile Plugin for WordPress to build a mobile WordPress blog.

1. Install WPtouch.

   1. Log on to WordPress. In the left-side navigation pane, click Plugins. On the plugins page, click Add New Plugin.

      

   2. In the upper-right corner of the Add Plugins page, enter WPtouch in the search box.

   3. In the search results, click Install Now in the WPtouch section to install WPtouch.

      

   4. After the installation is completed, click Activate in the WPtouch card.

      

2. Access your WordPress blog from your mobile phone.

   Access the http://<Public IP address of the simple application server> from your mobile phone. The Mobile and Desktop buttons appear.