• Table of contents
• Prepare the Environment
• Install Nginx
• Install MySQL Server
  • Create MySQL Databases and Users
• Install PHP
• Install WordPress

This is a guide on setting up WordPress with Nginx on FreeBSD 9.

Prepare the Environment¶

• Before installation of the components, make sure everything is up to date using the following command:
  

  pkg update -f && pkg upgrade
  

• Create the wordpress user:
  

  pw user add -n wordpress -m -s /sbin/nologin -c "WordPress" 
  

---

Install Nginx¶

• Install Nginx
  

  pkg install nginx
  

• Start and enable nginx at boot:
  

  echo 'nginx_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  service nginx start
  

• Create a configuration directory to make managing individual server blocks easier
  

  mkdir /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d
  

• Edit the main nginx config file:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
  

  • And strip down the config file and add the include statement at the end to make it easier to handle various server blocks:
    

    worker_processes  1;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx-error.log;
    
    events {
        worker_connections  1024;
    }
    
    http {
        include       mime.types;
        default_type  application/octet-stream;
        sendfile        on;
        keepalive_timeout  65;
    
        # Load config files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory
        include /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
    }
    

---

Install MySQL Server¶

• Start by installing the mysql56-server and mysql56-client packages:
  

  pkg install mysql56-{server,client}
  

• Copy a base MySQL configuration to use:
  

  cp /usr/local/share/mysql/my-default.cnf /var/db/mysql/my.cnf
  

• Enable and start mysql at boot:
  

  echo 'mysql_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  service mysql-server start
  

• Prepare the database for use by running the secure installation:
  

  mysql_secure_installation
  

  • NOTE: Choose a strong root password and answer yes to all questions.

Create MySQL Databases and Users¶

• Login to MySQL and create appropriate databases and users.
  

  mysql -u root -p
  

  • and run the following SQL queries to create the wordpressdb database and wordpressuser user:
    

    CREATE DATABASE wordpressdb CHARACTER SET utf8;
    
    CREATE USER 'wordpressuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'SuperSecretPassword';
    
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpressdb.* TO 'wordpressuser'@'localhost';
    
    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
    
    quit
    

---

Install PHP¶

• Install PHP 5.6 and a few extensions:
  

  pkg install php56
  

• Configure the default PHP settings
  

  cp /usr/local/etc/php.ini-production /usr/local/etc/php.ini
  

• Create a directory for the php-fpm configs:
  

  mkdir /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d
  

• Edit /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.conf:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.conf
  

  • Make the following changes:
    

    include=/usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/*.conf
    

• Enable PHP-FPM at boot:
  

  echo 'php_fpm_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  

---

Install WordPress¶

• Install wordpress:
  

  pkg install wordpress
  

• Create a temporary directory for wordpress:
  

  mkdir /usr/local/www/wordpress/tmp
  

• Create an wordpress.example.com server block config file:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/nginx/conf.d/wordpress.example.com.conf
  

  • Add the following:
    

    upstream wordpress-handler {
      server unix:/var/run/wordpress.example.com-php-fpm.sock;
    }
    
    server {
      listen 80;
      server_name wordpress.example.com;
      root /usr/local/www/wordpress/;
      index index.php;
    
      location = /robots.txt {
        allow all;
        log_not_found off;
        access_log off;
      }
    
      location ~ ^/(?:CHANGELOG\.md|config|README.md|tmp/){
        deny all;
      }
    
      location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
      }
    
      location ~ \.php(?:$|/) {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
        fastcgi_pass wordpress-handler;
        fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
      }
    }
    

• Create the wordpress php-fpm pool config file:
  

  vi /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/wordpress.example.com.conf
  

  • And add the following:
    

    [wordpress.example.com]
    user = wordpress
    group = www
    listen = /var/run/wordpress.example.com-php-fpm.sock
    listen.owner = wordpress
    listen.group = www
    pm = dynamic
    pm.max_children = 5
    pm.start_servers = 2
    pm.min_spare_servers = 1
    pm.max_spare_servers = 3
    php_admin_value[session.save_path] = "/usr/local/www/wordpress/tmp" 
    

• Change the ownership of the wordpress directory:
  

  chown -R wordpress:www /usr/local/www/wordpress
  

• Restart nginx and start php-fpm:
  

  service nginx restart
  service php-fpm start
  

• Now open up a web browser and go to http://wordpress.example.com to finish the setup process.