How to Connect a PHP Server to Your WordPress Website

I was beginning to think that my Google-fu was going to fail me and I wasn’t going to find an answer to this question. I came across a post on the Internet Queries forum that answered my question. The post’s author, Ben Webster, said:

“I’ve just set up a fresh WordPress install on my server. How do I connect it to my old MySQL database?”

The post goes on to describe how to configure WordPress to use a MySQL database and how to create one in PHPMyAdmin. I found this information very useful and wanted to share it with you.

How to Install WordPress on a PHP Server

If you’re reading this, I assume that you’re either already running WordPress or that you know exactly what it is and why you want to install it on your server.

WordPress is free and open-source software written in PHP that provides bloggers with a quick and easy way to create a website. Installing WordPress on a PHP server is pretty straightforward. You can do it using either the Ubuntu or the Debian package managers. Here are the steps.

• Open your terminal and switch to the directory where you installed WordPress. In my case, it’s /opt/wordpress.
• Type the following command and hit enter: yum install wordpress
• If you’re using the Ubuntu package manager, you’ll need to restart your server after the installation is complete.
• Visit your WordPress dashboard by entering http://yourdomain.com/wp in your browser.
• Click on the Settings tab and set the MySQL database password if asked.
• On the left menu, select the Plugins tab and click on the Install button next to MySQL.
• Follow the instructions and your WordPress database should now be connected to your MySQL server.
• Open up a new tab in your browser and enter http://yourdomain.com/ to view your new WordPress-powered website.

How to Create a MySQL Database

You can create a MySQL database on your local computer to store your WordPress tables in or you can use an existing database from another installation of WordPress. You’ll need to import the tables from the other database into the new one. To keep things simple, let’s use a database that we’ve already created on our local computer.

In my case, I have a local MySQL database named wpdb that I use to test out various WordPress features. I could have used another database named wpdb2 or wpdb3 to create the new database. When we connect to the database using the MySQL command line, it’ll be as if we never deleted it. So, let’s use that existing database.

Connecting to a MySQL database in PHPMyAdmin is pretty straightforward. You can find the connection information under the Preferences tab in the Database section.

Navigate to the directory where you installed MySQL and open up the PhpMyAdmin interface. You’ll see a list of databases on the left side of the page. Select wpdb from the drop-down menu.

The next page will ask you to confirm that you want to import the WordPress tables from the wpdb database. Hit the Import button.

• Navigate to the directory where you installed WordPress again and this time, open up the wp-config.php file.
• In the MySQL import wizard, choose the tables that you want to import and then click on the Finish button.
• You’ll now have a fully functional WordPress-powered website. Congratulations!

With just a few lines of code and an internet connection, you can have a functioning WordPress website in no time. The hardest part of the process is remembering all of the steps so you don’t end up installing WordPress multiple times from different sources without using a tool to keep track of all of the installations.

Installing WordPress from a deb package or using a pre-compiled binary from WordPress.org is a simple matter of typing the installation command followed by hitting enter. Updating a WordPress installation is just as simple. You just have to follow the on-screen instructions.

To keep things short and sweet, here’s a one-page guide that’ll get you up and running with a basic WordPress installation in no time. Remember to visit the WordPress forums if you have any further questions. Good luck out there.