I’ve been getting around to setting up a blog for ages…
One of the things that’s put me off is making a decision on what software to go with, what account type to buy etc. etc.
I was pointed towards WordPress by another PlusNet user in the discussion forum and so I thought I’d have a go at setting it up in my webspace using my PlusNet account.
I’ve put together a brief step-by-step set up guide which hopefully might save other folks a little time…
- In order to install the software, which runs using PHP and mySQL, you’ll need to activate your CGI webspace. Do this by logging in to the Member’s Centre on the PlusNet portal, then click on Website settings under My Account. Here you’ll find the option for CGI where you can click through and activate. It’s worth doing this as the first step as it can take up to 24 hours to kick in.
- Activate your mySQL database using the PlusNet members’ portal. This also takes 24 hours to kick in, and your username, password and host information will be emailed to you at the address you’ve registered on the portal
- Download WordPress and unzip it locally
- Follow the step-by-step installation instructions on the WordPress website – this is where you specify the database user name, password and host
[16 Feb 2005: See also comments from Chris re: name of database and where to upload to in your webspace] - It’s a good idea to copy and paste the Admin password you get upon installation of your WordPress site in to a text file for safe keeping. You can log in to your blog and change it to something more memorable.
- View and edit your blog, you can start writing immediately… the homepage will be in the directory where you FTPed your files to on your CGI webspace. In my case this is http://cgi.priceswainson.plus.com/ (the homepage is index.php)
Tip: If you’ve registered a domain name with PlusNet you can serve your blog via this domain name. First you’ll need to configure your domain information in the PlusNet portal. You’ll then need to raise a Help ticket on the site and once it’s picked up it will take about 24 hours to kick in. I’ve done this so that https://www.beatnic.co.uk/ resolves http://cgi.priceswainson.plus.com
I hope this is of some use to other people. From time to time I’ll post up on what it’s been like to use and tips on how to change templates, stylesheets etc.
So far the whole experience has been very positive 🙂
Thanks very much for this information. I just wanted you to know that it did help me. I would only add two things. When you activate MySQL you are given a single word as a hostname, and that single word is what you should put as the DB_NAME in wp-config.php. The second thing is that the blog files should be uploaded into the top-level directory of the cgi.<yourname>.plus.com web-site, and not the cgi-bin directory of that site, nor the htdocs directory of the http://www.<yourname>.plus.com site. I tried both of those first, and only got it right after a bit of experimentation. I’m still getting my content sorted out, which is why I haven’t given a URI, but the blog is definitely there. It was reading your article that gave me the confidence to carry on trying new things. Thank you.
Chris.
Chris,
I’m glad you found the article helpful and thanks for feeding back, very useful points.
I’ll edit a link in to the article pointing to your comment to help anyone else thinking of setting up a blog.
Happy blogging!
Hi I have just installed wordpress on plusnet. I have run into an access problem, apparently I have to reset the admin permissions. I can see the files and folders through my FTP but as a newbee I do not know where to start to reset the permissions. You sound as though you know what you are doing, any ideas?
Thanks
Alistair
Alistair, apologies for not replying sooner
If you’re still looking for an answer (I can’t think of one immediately) I’d recommend posting in the excellent WordPress support forum. It’s a great community forum where people are very helpful.
Hi. This was very useful in setting up my wordpress in my PN CGI space. Thanks!
I just wondered if you have managed to work out the best/easiest way to back up everything on the CGI server. I have previously had awful problems with a messageboard which was regularly deleted by a hacker. (the same hacker damaged hundreds of users PN CGI applications). I just need a quick backup I can do. It doesn’t even need to be automatic. Appreciate any help.
Howard, thanks for the positive feedback, I’m glad this was useful.
As for backing up…
As virtually all content is contained in the MySQL database I back that up more often than my files.
There’s a really clear guide for backing up your database in the WordPress Codex site here.
Then, depending on how much bespoking you’re doing to the core files there’s not much to back up.
If you’ve created your own theme it’s worth making copies of any changed files (CSS stylesheet in particular in my case).
I then password protect a zipped up version of the SQL and files, keeping a copy on a USB key-ring drive and occasionally emailing myself a copy too. It all packs up pretty small.
Thanks Nic. It looks like I have to go on a bit of a learning curve here! But thanks for the pointers.
I forgot to ask you..
Did you manage to get quicktags to work? I’ve tried my blog in both IE and Opera – but they don’t load on either. I have to manually type-in the html refs. Damned annoying!
Hi Howard, I’m using Firefox (which I can recommend for all sorts of reasons) as my browser and quicktags are working fine.
I haven’t tried it in IE or Opera. There may be something helpful in the WordPress support forum. If I find anything I’ll let you know.
Thanks again Nic.
Actually, I searched the forums and support on wordpress for ages. Then I noticed that one user had just re-uploaded the quicktags.js file from the installation onto the CGI server. It worked, but I’v no idea why!!!
You know, the thing about SQL is, that there is virtually nothing that can replace it.
Does anyone know if a substitute exists for sql? I mean besides MS SQL and Oracle and all that jazz. Thanks.