Hosting WordPress in the App Engine flexible environment

This tutorial shows how to deploy a small WordPress site to the App Engine flexible environment.

Creating and configuring a Cloud SQL Second Generation instance

1. Create a Cloud SQL Second Generation instance:

   gcloud sql instances create tutorial-sql-instance \
       --activation-policy=ALWAYS \
       --tier=db-n1-standard-1 \
       --region=us-central1
   

2. Set the root password for your instance:

   gcloud sql users set-password root --instance tutorial-sql-instance \
       --password [YOUR_SQL_ROOT_PASSWORD] \
       --host %
   

   where [YOUR_SQL_ROOT_PASSWORD] is a secure password of your choice.

3. Download and run the Cloud SQL Proxy:

   ./cloud-sql-proxy \
       -dir /tmp/cloudsql \
       -instances=[YOUR_PROJECT_ID]:us-central1:tutorial-sql-instance \
       -credential_file=[PATH_TO_YOUR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON]

   where

   • [YOUR_PROJECT_ID] is your Google Cloud project ID.

   • [PATH_TO_YOUR_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON] is the path to the service account JSON file that you downloaded previously.

   The following output indicates that the proxy is ready for new connections:

   Listening on 127.0.0.1:3306 for [YOUR_PROJECT_ID]:us-central1:tutorial-sql-instance
   Ready for new connections
   

4. In another terminal window, create a new database and a user:

   mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u root --password=[YOUR_SQL_ROOT_PASSWORD]
   mysql> create database tutorialdb;
   mysql> create user 'tutorial-user'@'%' identified by '[YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD]';
   mysql> grant all on tutorialdb.* to 'tutorial-user'@'%';
   mysql> exit

   where:

   • [YOUR_SQL_ROOT_PASSWORD] is the root password for your Cloud SQL instance.
   • [YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD] is a secure password of your choice.

Setting up the WordPress project

1. Clone the sample repository:

   git clone https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/php-docs-samples.git
   

2. Go to the directory that contains the sample code:

   cd php-docs-samples/appengine/flexible/wordpress
   

3. Install dependencies:

   composer install
   

4. Run the helper script:

   php wordpress.php setup -n \
       --dir=./wordpress-project \
       --db_instance=tutorial-sql-instance \
       --db_name=tutorialdb \
       --db_user=tutorial-user \
       --project_id=[YOUR_PROJECT_ID] \
       --db_password=[YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD]

   where:

   • [YOUR_PROJECT_ID] is your project ID.
   • [YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD] is your database password.

   The -dir parameter specifies the location of your WordPress project.

5. The helper script writes information to wordpress-project/wordpress/wp-config.php. Inspect the content of wp-config.php to verify that your names, project ID, and database password are correct.

   if ($onGae) {
       /** Production environment */
       define('DB_HOST', ':/cloudsql/[YOUR_PROJECT_ID]:us-central1:tutorial-sql-instance');
       /** The name of the database for WordPress */
       define('DB_NAME', 'tutorialdb');
       /** MySQL database username */
       define('DB_USER', 'tutorial-user');
       /** MySQL database password */
       define('DB_PASSWORD', '[YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD]');
   } else {
       /** Local environment */
       define('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');
       /** The name of the database for WordPress */
       define('DB_NAME', 'tutorialdb');
       /** MySQL database username */
       define('DB_USER', 'tutorial-user');
       /** MySQL database password */
       define('DB_PASSWORD', '[YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD]');
   }

Deploying the WordPress project to the App Engine flexible environment

1. Go to your WordPress project directory:

   cd wordpress-project
   

2. Deploy the WordPress project:

   gcloud app deploy \
       --promote --stop-previous-version app.yaml cron.yaml
   

3. In your browser, enter the following URL:

   https://PROJECT_ID.REGION_ID.r.appspot.com

   Replace the following:

   • PROJECT_ID: Your Google Cloud project ID
   • REGION_ID: A code that App Engine assigns to your app

Updating WordPress, plugins, and themes

It's important to keep WordPress, plugins, and themes up to date. You can keep these items updated by using the wp tool. After an update, you need to re- deploy the WordPress project.

1. Update WordPress itself:

   vendor/bin/wp core update --path=wordpress
   

2. Update plugins:

   vendor/bin/wp plugin update --all --path=wordpress
   # Just in case it updates any of the dropins, copy the files:
   cp wordpress/wp-content/plugins/batcache/advanced-cache.php \
       wordpress/wp-content/plugins/memcached/object-cache.php \
       wordpress/wp-content
   

3. Update themes:

   vendor/bin/wp theme update --all --path=wordpress
   

4. Deploy the project again:

   gcloud app deploy \
       --promote --stop-previous-version app.yaml cron.yaml