Zunicore

We have a lot of web developers taking advantage of the Zunicore flexibility while building and hosting their sites on the Zunicore Cloud. Some of their design and site integration with Content Management Systems (CMS) is truly remarkable. Their ability to create, customize, configure, backup, and even create the server as a customized template really showcases how incredibly advanced these users are and how easy it is for CMS developers to maximize efficiency using the Zunicore Cloud.

However, not all of our users are familiar with building a Content Management Server and web developing using Php or MySQL. So, to provide further insight into how simple it can be to set up a CMS using our Zunicore Cloud, we wanted to show how quick and easy it can be.

You will first need to install the basic packages:

apache
MySQL
Php53
Php53-mysql
unzip
wget

These packages will allow you to build the CMS as a Linux web server and wget will retrieve the latest WordPress software.

#yum -y install mysql-server httpd php53  php53-mysql unzip wget

 

Make sure to turn on MySQL and Apache:

#service mysqld start; service httpd start

You will then need to make sure Apache and MySQL will start at run time:

#chkconfig httpd on; chkconfig mysqld on

Now, you will need to create a database for your WordPress server:

#mysql -u root -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE wordpressblog;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpressblog.* TO “wordpress”@”localhost” IDENTIFIED BY “zunicore” ;
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> Exit;

We use the below values for the configuration:

DATABASE name = wordpressblog

Username = wordpress

Password = zunicore

After you have created the database, change directories to /var/www/html. You will now download the latest WordPress package and unzip it in your directory:

#wget http://wordpress.org/latest.zip
#unzip latest.zip

Once this extracts, you can remove the download .zip and the unnecessary directory:

#rm latest.zip ; mv wordpress/* ./ ; rmdir wordpress

Now, you will need to make wp-content/uploads and wp-content/cache writable by your web server:

#mkdir wp-content/uploads wp-content/cache

#chown apache:apache wp-content/uploads wp-content/cache

Next, you will need to edit the WordPress configuration file. First, copy wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php:

#cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

Then, edit /var/www/html/wp-config.php :

#vim /var/www/html/wp-config.php

Change the WordPress values correctly to match the database name, user, and password that was created earlier:

DB_NAME = the database name (wordpressblog)

DB_USER = user name (wordpress)

DB_HOST = localhost

DB_PASSWORD = PASSWORD (zunicore)

You can now complete the set up your of WordPress CMS. Open up your web browser and enter your IP address/wp-admin/install.php in the url field. You should see the WordPress Welcome message on your browser.  This will start the process of creating a WordPress admin, adding the site name, and a description to your site:

Once you are done, you will then be forwarded to your first ever CMS!

At any point of the installation you are not comfortable with setting up the CMS or you would prefer an even easier experience, Standing Cloud provides you with a  CMS of your choice and an incredibly easy, point and click install process all while using the Zunicore Cloud.

We offer a number of awesome features  our users can take advantage of so they can experience the true flexibility and control we believe they deserve. However, sometimes , we have some server administrators that would really prefer to do some tasks only on the command line  and call it a day. And although we offer a number of simple to use, intuitive features to  make server administrating as easy as possible, they have become hard wired with preferring to  run a command or two to find the solution they need.

We recently added new backup features in our portal that would allow users to make on-demand backups, scheduled backups, restore the server from a backup created, and even make a customized template from a backup. And despite how incredibly easy  these features are, a handful of  our Linux users still prefer to run their run backups through cron or SSH to another server. So for example, if they had a server in the UK and wanted to make sure they had access to their files at any time regardless of the status of their server, they would backup the server through SSH to a server in Toronto.

Occasionally, Support will receive a ticket from a client curious on how to backup the server through ssh. And all though we recommend to all clients that they take advantage of our backup utility in the Zunicore User portal, we offer our users the following command for backing up a server over ssh :

tar -cvpzf backup.tar.gz --exclude=/backup.tar.gz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/sys
 --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/media --exclude=/dev / | ssh username@IPADDRESS "(cat >filename.tar.gz)"
 

• tar    command to create the archive
• -c    create a new backup
• -v    verbose mode
• -p    preserves the permissions of the files
• -z    compress the backup file with gzip
• -f    the  file name
• -exclude=    which directories to exclude from the backup.  This can change depending what you would like to achieve and what directories you need backed up.
• |    pipe the output of tar through ssh  which will then run the cat command on Server B
• ssh    remotely execute cat on the remote server to create the file name
• username    the account on the remote server with root priviledges
• IP   Address    the remote server you are backing up  to
• filename    the destination file name you wish to give to the new backup on the remote server

In the above example, we have backed up the entire ServerA (excluding mounted directories, lost and found, proc, and media) to ServerB. We provide the back up a distinguishable name we can easily search for when we need to find the file for quick reference.

Once the command has finished, you can log in to the backup server (ServerB) and check if the backup was copied over.

Pod location vs. Physical location

Cloud computing is a multibillion dollar global industry with growing monopolistic competition. Every hosting company has their own unique attributes that set them apart from the others. Like any smart consumer, you want to do your research and determine which features will best suit you and/or your company’s needs. And by research I mean beyond the first page that shows up on your search engine. As you’re exploring, you will recognize that most cloud hosting companies have local and international pod locations. You may become overwhelmed at all the options, but don’t worry! Options are good! Understanding your options is the first step to success. The main question is determining which pod location you should dedicate your server to. As a potential client you may wonder, “Does my physical location have any relevance to where the pod is located?” A common myth with web proximity is that if you dedicate your server to the closest pod location based on city, state or country, the speed may be faster. This is false. Pod locations do not affect speed performance. It all boils down to your personal needs and what the hosting company has to offer.

Things to consider:

• Support: managed, unmanaged
• Pricing
• Flexible security settings
• Supports a variety of Operating Systems
• Scalability for resources
• Usage

The only downside when selecting an international pod location is that some companies may include an international tax fee when you order your services. Zunicore currently has pod locations in Portsmouth, UK, Toronto, Canada and Fremont, California. If you would like to know more about our current pod locations and our plans for future launches, open a chat or submit a ticket and do not hesitate to ask a lot of questions!  :)