WordPress is the most popular blogging content management system software in use today with over 4 million downloads in its existence. It can be seen on hundreds of thousands of websites, most notably on Ebay.com, CNN.com, People.com and the NewYorkTimes.com. Millions of readers view WordPress -based websites every day and get near real-time RSS feeds from their favorite authors. Blogging is a great way to promote your company (hence your visit here), review your current obsessions or talk about your hobbies in a community-oriented fashion.

That being said, this article will show you how to do a quick WordPress installation in less than 10 minutes on GoGrid. You will be up and running, ready to post content about what you ate for lunch or the newest tech gadget you saw on the streets, all with the clean aesthetics and easy, feature-rich navigation of a WordPress website.

To start, simply deploy a GoGrid server through the http://my.gogrid.com customer portal. In this example, we’ll use a CentOS 4.5-based LAMP stack since it has all the software packages needed for a WordPress installation already installed.

1. Click on the “+” button once you’ve logged in, then select “Web/App Server”. Enter a friendly name for your server, such as “WordPress” or the domain name you’ll use once your server is configured. Enter a quick description of the server and select an IP address (our new IP suggest function will suggest one automatically for you).
2. Next, select the operating system to run your WordPress installation on. WordPress can run on either Windows or Linux machines, but in this example we’ll use a Linux-based CentOS 4.5 server image.
3. Select the amount of RAM dedicated to your server. Depending on the amount of traffic you’re expecting, you may want to allocate a good amount of RAM to your server. I’m choosing to go with a 2GB server.
4. Select the server image you want to deploy. In this case, I’ll be using a LAMP stack. (For Windows servers, you may want to select a Windows 2003-based operating systems with IIS and MSSQL Express installed on the server image.)
5. Click on “Save” and your server will be deployed within a matter of minutes.
6. Once your server’s light turns green, click on the new WordPress server and then select the “Passwords” button at the left. This will take you to the login information for your server.

Now that a server has been deployed, you can go ahead and connect to it remotely via SSH. If you work on a Windows machine, you can download the PuTTY client to connect to a Linux Server. If you’re on a Mac or a Linux machine, you can open your terminal and SSH directly to the IP address of the new GoGrid server.

1. SSH to the new server and log in using the username and password credentials located on the “Passwords” page in the GoGrid portal. In my examples, I will use the IP address 208.113.93.243. Replace this IP address throughout this document with the IP of the server you just deployed:

   ssh 208.113.93.243

   Enter your username and password to log in.

2. Navigate to the folder where you want the WordPress installation to live. In a Linux server, this is usually in /var/www/html.

   cd /var/www/html

3. Now you need to download the WordPress package from wordpress.org:

   wget http://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

4. Once the package has finished installing, you’ll need to unzip it:

   tar –xzf latest.tar.gz

5. A new directory called “WordPress” should appear when you enter the command “ls” to show the contents of your current directory. Now we’ll need to create the MySQL database associated with WordPress. Enter the MySQL prompt and create a new database and user for the WordPress installation. Note that you should create more securely named username, password and databases than I have below. These are just examples:

   mysql -u wordpressadmin -p

   Enter password:

   Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.

   Your MySQL connection id is 21

   Server version: 5.0.58 Source distribution

   Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

   mysql> CREATE DATABASE wordpress;

   Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

   mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO "wordpressadmin"@"localhost"

    -> IDENTIFIED BY "abcd1234";

   Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

   mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

   Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

   mysql> EXIT

   Bye

6. In the wordpress directory, change the name of the file wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php:

   mv wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

7. Open the wp-config.php file in a text editor and enter your database details. I’ll be using vi for this, but you may use something different:

   vi wp-config.php

   Under the ** MySQL settings ** section, enter in the appropriate information regarding your database that you just created. Again, these are examples taken from the steps above:

   // ** MySQL settings ** //

   define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress'); // The name of the database

   define('DB_USER', 'wordpressadmin'); // Your MySQL username

   define('DB_PASSWORD', 'abcd1234'); // ...and password

   define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');    // 99% chance you won't need to change this value

   define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');

   define('DB_COLLATE', '');

8. Move all of the WordPress files into the desired location on the server. Currently, they are one level below the root domain directory, so we’ll have to move all of the files up one level. If you wish to keep them where they are, you will have to access your WordPress installation via the web at your IP address/ wordpress, i.e. 208.113.93.243/wordpress. You can move the files to wherever you see fit dependent on where you want them to appear on your website. In this example, the WordPress files will be moved to the root domain directory, /var/www/html:

   cd ..

   mv wordpress/* /var/www/html

9. Run the WordPress installation script by accessing the file wp-admin/install.php in a web browser. This will be the IP address/wp-admin/install.php or your hostname/wp-admin/install.php. If you installed WordPress in the root directory as I did above, go to http://208.113.93.243/wp-admin/install.php, but replace my IP address with yours. If you installed WordPress in a sub-directory, go that URL in your browser. You should see the following login prompt page:

Once your WordPress installation is configured properly, you can join the ranks of the thousands of bloggers out there in the blogosphere. Remember to set up your RSS feeds so that people can get notified when you update your site. The only problem you should have now is deciding what to post. What is going to make your blog stand out in the crowd? Hmm, sounds like a good topic for a blog entry…

The dust is still settling from Structure08 put on by GigaOM but the general vibe is that it was a solid event. With well over 600 people in attendance, Structure08 lived up to its promise of delivering timely information to businesses on how they could plan their future computing infrastructure needs.

Here’s a quick round up of GoGrid at Structure08.

GoGrid in Webware

Rafe Needleman, editor for Webware.com,  spoke at length with GoGrid CEO, John Keagy, and within hours posted the results of his interview this article titled “Tiny (comparatively) GoGrid takes on Amazon Web Services“. Rafe actually summarized GoGrid as compared to Amazon’s EC2 into something that could even be written multiple time in a single Twitter message (within the 140 character limit): “The GoGrid pitch: We’re cheaper. And easier.”

Rafe writes:

“I can’t do a hands-on with these two cloud services, but there are a few other points that I found interesting. First, GoGrid offers virtual Windows services, as well as Linux, and about 50 percent of its installations are for Windows processes. Some popular Web 2.0 services, like CommunityServer, are still Windows-only.

Also, GoGrid has never had a system-wide outage, as Amazon has. Keagy is realistic, though: “We’re in beta. It will happen to us too.” But, he says, with well-designed systems, recovery can be swift.”

Be sure to give Rafe’s article a read.

John Keagy Structure08 Interview

Our CEO John spent a few minute in front of the camera discussing what was important about Structure08 and how GoGrid fit perfectly into the mix.

This video and others from Structure08 are also available at the Mogulus Structure08 channel.

Photos from Structure08

More photos from this event can be found on the ServePath Flickr account.

Following Structure08 on Twitter (via Hashtags)

For those interested in reading the “real-time” stream coming from people who use Twitter and flag their Tweets with Hashtags, you can see the Structure08 Hashtag stream here. (Follow me on Twitter here.)

This insightful post on the RightScale blog recently got me thinking. The term “Cloud Computing” is much too vague. People want and need “slots” or “segments” where they can group things. This is how the mind operates through categorization and ordering. So, to possibly help with this, I would like to propose a “Cloud Pyramid” to help differentiate the various Cloud offerings out there.

There are other ways to display this hierarchy, however I elected to show it as a pyramid. For example, if one were to weight the graphic by the number of providers within each segment, the pyramid would be upside-down. The point here though is to show how these cloud segments build upon and are somewhat dependent upon each other. While they are directly related, they don’t require interdependence (e.g., a Cloud Application does not necessarily have to be built upon a Cloud Platform or Cloud Infrastructure). I would propose, however, that Cloud trends indicate that they will become more entwined over time.

Cloud Application

Within this part of the pyramid, users are truly restricted to only what the application is and can do. Some of the notable companies here are the public email providers (Gmail, Hotmail, Quicken Online, etc.). Almost any Software as a Service (SaaS) provider can be lumped into this group. Most retail consumers use the services within this Cloud. You get pre-defined functionality and you cannot much further than that. Applications are designed for ease of use and GTD (getting things done). SalesForce, a huge Cloud Application/SaaS provider that has led the way for hosted software, falls into this category as well, however, their force.com product does not. Even online banking offerings could be lumped into this group.

Characteristics:

• Strengths
  • Sometimes free; easy to use; lots of different offerings; easy to access; good consumer adoption; proven business models
• Weaknesses
  • You can only use the application as far as what it is designed for; no control or knowledge of underlying technology

Cloud Platforms

As you move further down the pyramid, you gain increased flexibility and control but your a still fairly restricted to what you can and cannot do. Within this Category things get more complicated to achieve. Products and companies like Google App Engine, Heroku, Mosso, Engine Yard, Joyent or force.com (SalesForce platform) fall into this segment. This category is becoming more congested with competitors, many of whom are trying to leverage the Cloud Infrastructure.

Characteristics:

• Strengths
  • Great for developers with a particular niche target, upload a tightly configured applications and it simply “runs”; more control than a Cloud Application
• Weaknesses
  • Restricted to the platform’s ability only; hard to work “outside the box”; sometimes dependant on Cloud Infrastructure providers

Cloud Infrastructure

At the bottom of the pyramid are the infrastructure providers like Amazon’s EC2, GoGrid, RightScale and Linode. Companies providing infrastructure enable Cloud Platforms and Cloud Applications. Most companies within this segment operate their own infrastructure, allowing them to provide more features, services and control than others within the pyramid. And at this foundation level, GoGrid offers infrastructure in the form of both Linux and Windows, load-balancing, and storage. Some Infrastructure providers may leverage others within the space in order to provide competitive viability as well.

Characteristics:

• Strengths
  • Offers full control of server infrastructure; not confined to “containers” or “applications” or restrictive instances
• Weaknesses
  • Sometimes comes with a price premium; infrastructure offerings still being built out

This post is open to discussion! My questions, what do YOU consider to be good examples of each Cloud Category? Can Cloud Computing be broken down into the ones listed above? What segment has been omitted and why do you think it is that way?

Lastly, for a humorous analysis of all of this, take a look a John M Willis’ post “Is Everyone an aaS?” which, in a tongue-in-cheek way, puts it all into perspective.

Today, InfoWorld’s Tech Writer, Bill Snyder, brought GoGrid solidly into the race with Amazon’s EC2 with his article titled “Red Hat the latest proof that cloud computing is serious business.” Snyder, who has been following technology and the business of technology for 25 years, discusses GoGrid’s “point-and-click infrastructure” and its ease of use in this article.

While Bill mentions that cloud computing may not be ready for large-scale business or the enterprise, he does point out that it is a force to be reckoned with and that the services of GoGrid and Amazon’s EC now “will give a lot of users a chance to take cloud computing for a low-risk, real-world test drive.” I personally predict that the adoption of cloud computing and cloud infrastructure by the enterprise will be a slow uptake at first, most likely rolling out into skunkwork divisions, short-term projects or IT evaluation scenarios, but that within a few years, business not seriously considering “the cloud” will be behind in their technical and competitive advantages.

Snyder highlights a real-world GoGrid success (that I covered here) about how ScribbleLive was able to handle multiple million page view requests in a short amount of time during the Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference. He emphasized the importance of easy and quick scalability coupled with cost-effectiveness provided by GoGrid:

“ScribbleLive, a two-person operation, quickly scaled up using GoGrid, and was able to keep running with little or no loss of throughput. The price: $15 for a day of server time, plus bandwidth charges. Hmm. Maybe the folks at Mozilla, who tried to set a world’s record for downloads of the new Firefox browser but wound up crashing their site, could have done something similar.”

Simplicity is another key factor that Snyder outlines in his review, stating:

“In theory, at least, setting up servers on GoGrid seems almost too easy. Once a client signs up for the service, an IT staffer can point a browser to GoGrid’s site and choose a configuration from a variety of pull down menus. GoGrid supports Windows Server 2003, CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.”

His article also comments on pricing, the GoGrid infrastructure and plans for the future. Definitely give Snyder’s article a read as it successfully boils GoGrid down to a few nicely-crafted paragraphs of analysis.

Note: The matrix below will be updated shortly in a new post to reflect changes in both EC2 and GoGrid features. (11.11.08)

As GoGrid continues its record breaking sign-ups, we get asked repeatedly how we compare against Amazon’s EC2. While not exactly an apples to apples comparison, there are enough similarities to warrant a few matrices to illustrate the differences.

Feature Comparison Matrix

While not officially sanctioned by our Product Management team, I added this for good measure.

Deployment Time Comparison

**** A bit of humor after watching a long video showing how to deploy EC2 images.

If there is another GoGrid comparison that you would like to see, just leave a comment and we will do our best to post in the future.