How to Install WordPress on Red Hat Linux 9

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) in the world, powering millions of websites. Installing WordPress on Red Hat Linux 9 (RHEL 9) allows businesses and developers to build flexible, secure, and scalable websites on a robust dedicated Linux server environment.

In this guide, Go4hosting will walk you through the step-by-step process of installing WordPress on a fresh Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 server. We will cover all necessary prerequisites including setting up a web server, database, PHP, and configuring WordPress itself.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation, make sure you have:

• A Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 server instance (either bare metal or cloud VPS hosting).
  

• A user account with sudo privileges.
  

• An active internet connection to download required packages.
  

• A registered domain name (optional but recommended for production).
  

• Basic familiarity with the Linux command line.
  

Step 1: Update Your System

First, update your system packages to the latest versions:

bash

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sudo dnf update -y

This ensures all security patches and dependencies are current.

Step 2: Install Apache Web Server

WordPress requires a web server feature to serve the website files. Apache is a popular choice:

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sudo dnf install httpd -y

Start and enable Apache to run on boot:

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sudo systemctl start httpd

sudo systemctl enable httpd

Check the status to confirm it is running:

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sudo systemctl status httpd

You should also configure the firewall to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic:

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sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https

sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Step 3: Install MariaDB (MySQL Compatible Database)

WordPress stores content and configuration in a database. MariaDB is the default database server in RHEL:

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sudo dnf install mariadb-server mariadb -y

Start and enable MariaDB:

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sudo systemctl start mariadb

sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Secure your MariaDB installation by running:

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sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts to:

• Set root password
  

• Remove anonymous users
  

• Disallow root login remotely
  

• Remove test database
  

• Reload privilege tables
  

Step 4: Create a WordPress Database and User

Log in to the MariaDB shell:

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sudo mysql -u root -p

Create a database for WordPress (replace wp_database with your preferred name):

sql

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CREATE DATABASE wp_database DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Create a dedicated WordPress user and grant privileges (replace wp_user and strong_password):

sql

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CREATE USER 'wp_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strong_password';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wp_database.* TO 'wp_user'@'localhost';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

EXIT;

Step 5: Install PHP and Required Extensions

WordPress is written in PHP, so you need to install PHP and some extensions:

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sudo dnf install php php-mysqlnd php-fpm php-opcache php-gd php-xml php-mbstring php-json php-curl php-intl -y

Restart Apache to load PHP modules:

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sudo systemctl restart httpd

Check the installed PHP version:

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php -v

Step 6: Download and Configure WordPress

Navigate to the /var/www/html directory:

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cd /var/www/html

Download the latest WordPress package:

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sudo curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

Extract the contents:

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sudo tar -xzvf latest.tar.gz

This will create a wordpress directory. Move its contents to /var/www/html:

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sudo rsync -av wordpress/ .

Remove the now-empty wordpress folder and the archive:

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sudo rm -rf wordpress latest.tar.gz

Step 7: Set Correct Permissions

Set ownership of the WordPress files to the Apache user:

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sudo chown -R apache:apache /var/www/html/*

Set appropriate permissions:

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sudo find /var/www/html/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;

sudo find /var/www/html/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Step 8: Configure WordPress

Copy the sample configuration file:

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sudo cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

Edit wp-config.php with your database details:

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sudo nano wp-config.php

Modify the following lines with your database name, user, and password:

php

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define('DB_NAME', 'wp_database');

define('DB_USER', 'wp_user');

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'strong_password');

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

Optionally, generate new security keys for authentication. Visit the WordPress secret key generator and replace the key section in wp-config.php with the generated values.

Save and exit the editor.

Step 9: Adjust SELinux Settings (if enabled)

RHEL 9 enables SELinux by default, which can restrict Apache's ability to read and write files.

Allow Apache to serve files and write to the WordPress directory:

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sudo setsebool -P httpd_unified 1

sudo chcon -R -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t /var/www/html

Step 10: Complete WordPress Installation via Web Interface

Open your browser and navigate to:

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http://your-server-ip/

Or if you have a domain name pointing to your server:

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http://your-domain.com/

You will see the WordPress setup wizard:

1. Select your language.
   

2. Enter Site Title, Username, Password, and Email.
   

3. Click Install WordPress.
   

Once installation completes, log in with your admin credentials.

Step 11: Additional Recommendations

• Enable HTTPS: Secure your website by installing an SSL certificate via Let's Encrypt or another provider.
  

• Optimize PHP-FPM: If your setup uses PHP-FPM, ensure it is properly configured for performance.
  

• Backups: Schedule regular backups of your WordPress files and database.
  

• Updates: Keep WordPress core, plugins, and themes up-to-date for security and functionality.
  

Conclusion

Installing WordPress on Red Hat Linux 9 involves setting up a complete LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MariaDB, PHP), configuring WordPress files, and securing your environment.

At Go4hosting, we offer optimized Red Hat Linux 9 free cloud servers with ready-to-go LAMP stacks and expert support to help you deploy WordPress and other web applications quickly and securely.

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