New WordPress site

In ispmanager, you can create a website using WordPress without manual configuration.

WordPress requirements

To install WordPress, the minimum required versions of PHP and DBMS must be installed and enabled for the site owner.

The requirements are checked for the WordPress version that comes last in the webscripts.xml file from the official ispmanager repository.

When creating a site, the latest WordPress version is installed, if the built-in WordPress version is used, and a default version, if the panel administrator has added custom scripts.

Creating a site

Once a site on WordPress is created, the following will happen automatically:

• The latest WordPress version will be installed, if the built-in WordPress script is used, and a default version, if the panel administrator has added custom WordPress scripts.
• New database will be created (in the default DBMS).
• If possible, a Let's Encrypt certificate will be issued and HTTP requests will be redirected to HTTPS. If not, the site will be created without a certificate.
• The PHP version and handler which are set as default for the site owner will be selected for the site or another one that meets the requirements. 

The rest of the site parameters will be set to default values.

To create a site:

1. Navigate to the Sites section.

2. Hover over the Create a site button → select WordPress.

   

3. Select a theme for the site. Themes can be searched by name and filtered by subject.
   • click Details to be redirected to the Themes page on the official WordPress site or

   • Select to create a site with the selected theme. The theme will be available for selection if the software required for the theme is enabled for the user.

     

     Details

     The list of themes is based on the list from the official WordPress website, sorted by popularity. Themes are updated once a day. The list is stored in the wordpress_list_cache.json file in the /usr/local/mgr5/var/ directory.

4. Fill in the fields:
   • Domain name — specify the domain name for the site
   • Select a user (available for reseller-level accounts and above) — select the user that will be the owner of the site
5. Click Create and wait for the site creation process to complete.

If the site is created successfully, you will get a notification in the panel saying that WordPress is installed, with login credentials for the WordPress admin panel and the database.

Creating a WordPress site using the API

Creating a WordPress site using the API, in addition to choosing a theme, also allows you to install WordPress plugins.

1. Connect to the server with the ispmanager panel via SSH with a user-level account or above.
2. Make a request to the wordpress.site.edit endpoint and pass the following parameters:
   • theme_slug — name of the theme (required)
   • domain — name of the site (required)
   • owner (available for reseller-level accounts and above) — owner of the site (required)
   • plugin — list of the plugins (optional)

For example, the requests below will create a site called test.domain with the Twenty Twenty Five theme and the Ninja Forms and Content Slider Block plugins:

/usr/local/mgr5/sbin/mgrctl -m ispmgr wordpress.site.edit domain=test.domain theme_slug=twentytwentyfive plugin=ninja-forms,content-slider-block

curl -X POST "https://IP_OR_DOMAIN:1500/ispmgr?func=wordpress.site.edit&domain=test.domain&theme_slug=twentytwentyfive&owner=www-root&plugin=ninja-forms,content-slider-block"

Managing WordPress

Accessing the WordPress admin panel

1. Navigate to the Sites section.
2. Select a site and click .
3. Select WordPress in the context menu.

A form with login and password for the WordPress admin panel will open. If they were changed after WordPress was installed, the credentials in the form will no longer be valid.

Managing WordPress, theme and plugin versions

You can manage the installed versions of WordPress, themes and plugins from the ispmanager panel both for a particular website and for all the websites on the server.

For one websiteFor all websites

1. Log in to ispmanager with a user-level account or above.
2. Navigate to the Sites section.
3. Select a site and click .
4. Select WordPress in the context menu.
   In the form that opens you will see the installed CMS, themes and plugins, as well as the following actions with them:
   1. Update — updates the version to the latest one. The button is active if the version is outdated.

   2. Enable/Disable — activates/deactivates the version. The button is available only for plugins.

      

Managing is available: 

• under a user account — for all of the user's websites
• under a reseller account — for all websites of all the reseller's users
• under an administrator account — for all websites of all users

1. To manager WordPress:
2. Log in to ispmanager with a user-level account or above.
3. Navigate to the WordPress section. A table will open with a list of installed versions of WordPress, themes and plugins.

4. Select one or several entities in the list and click on the required action on the toolbar. Available actions:

   Update	Updates the version to the latest one.
   Enable	Activates the version. The action is available only for plugins.
   Disable	Deactivates the version. The action is available only for plugins.
   Install updates	Updates the list of installed versions. The button is available only for the administrator account with superuser permissions.

WordPress technical details

Selecting PHP handler and version for site

1. If the PHP version and handler set for the site owner as default meet the minimal requirements of WordPress, the selected theme and plugins, the default settings are selected.
2. If the default PHP version is below the requirement, a list of handlers available to the user is formed.
3. The panel checks the alternative PHP versions enabled for these handlers from the earliest to the latest. The handlers are checked in this order:
   • LSAPI (if CloudLinux, LiteSpeed or the ispmanager limiting module with lsphp is used)
   • Apache module
   • FastCGI (Apache)
   • FastCGI (Nginx)
   • CGI
4. The first suitable version is selected for the site.
5. If there are no suitable versions among the alternative ones, the native version is checked.
6. If this version doesn't meet the requirements, an error will occur.

WP CLI

Themes and plugins are installed using WP CLI. WP CLI is installed when you first create a WordPress site and is located in the /usr/local/bin/ directory.

WP CLI uses the same PHP version as the site. To ensure correct operation of WP CLI, the PHP version must be equal to or higher than the required one.

WordPress versions list synchronization

By default, the list of the installed versions of WordPress, themes and plugins in the WordPress section updates automatically once a day. To change this frequency, add the WordPressUpdateInfo parameter with a required value in minutes to the panel configuration file /usr/local/mgr5/etc/ispmgr.conf. For example, with the following parameter value, the list will update every 2 hours:

WordPressUpdateInfo 120

Databases

Installed themes and plugins are written to the ispmanager database in the wordpress_theme_assign and wordpress_plugin_assign tables, respectively.

Columns of the wordpress_theme_assign table:

• name — the name (slug) of the theme
• installed_version — the installed version of the theme
• available_version — the version of the theme available for installation
• status — the state of the theme, possible values:
  • active — enabled
  • inactive — disabled
• repo — the repository the theme is installed from
• webdomain — the site the theme is installed for

Columns of the wordpress_plugin_assign table:

• name — the name (slug) of the plugin
• installed_version — the installed version of the plugin
• available_version —  the version of the plugin available for installation
• status — the state of the plugin, possible values:
  • active — enabled
  • inactive — disabled
• repo — the repository the plugin is installed from
• webdomain — the site the plugin is installed for