Alright, I am going to start it off checking into the HTTPS settings. I setup a Cloudfare account and that end looks good to go.

Not sure if a need a public domain name to get the WordPress site setup on the Tunnels section or simply make one up for local use. Going to setup cloudflare on the VM for starters.

# Add cloudflare gpg key
sudo mkdir -p --mode=0755 /usr/share/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://pkg.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-main.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/cloudflare-main.gpg >/dev/null

# Add this repo to your apt repositories
echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloudflare-main.gpg] https://pkg.cloudflare.com/cloudflared jammy main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cloudflared.list

# install cloudflared
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cloudflared

I’m going to start it up investigating Apache2 settings.

systemctl status apache2

DONT CHANGE THE URL IN THE WORDPRESS GUI!

I was investigating the Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate generator and thought I needed to add a domain name in the WordPress settings. Little did I know, I would make it inaccessible!

Luckily, I had a backup of my posts in XML and a VM backup. I rolled back the Ubuntu server to a previous version from 00:01 and then imported my WordPress XML from earlier at 3:53. Whew! I am beginning to understand the true joy of backups. Once, I get back from my holiday trip I will enhance the server.

Need M.2 drives in each cluster for dedicated CEPH storage, RAM upgrades to 32GB, and a few Seagate EXOS 20TB drives- need to upgrade to an UNRAID or a enterprise server (2U) while I’m at it.

I have ran out of time to execute the Cloudfare tunnel project before departure. I also accidentally purchased the domain I wanted on Bluehost, lol.

So yeah, a few errors were made. But the goal of getting the WordPress live in some ways went better. Bluehost is actually quite cheap for 12 months of site hosting. The domain changeinmotion.tech only cost about $8 on bluehost. I did look on Cloudfare for a similar domain but I didn’t like the other options – and a transfer seemed to complicated to execute. Have to return to the Tunnel operation later.

Domain Purchase

Going through this process was surprisingly simple.

To set up an account click on Domains – Buy a domain.

Simply type in a name you want to use for your site domain.

Then select from the list of available domains.

To upload my WordPress site I ended up using a plugin called UpdraftPlus Backup/Restore. I did try and use the WordPress Importer tool but it did not pull a 100% copy of my localhost site.

This plugin worked flawlessy. Site is live! Probably better that it’s hosted externally from my local network. Additionally, Bluehost offered a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate from Really Simple Security. To many wins for so little investment up front.

I am still curious about the Cloudfare Tunnel – will likely investigate upon return. Having the site up is going to free up time for me to get back to important homelab work.

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