How to Host Multiple WordPress and WooCommerce Sites on Contabo VPS with Ubuntu 22.04

Here is your step-by-step guide to deploy multiple WordPress + WooCommerce sites on your Contabo VPS (Ubuntu 22.04, NGINX, PHP 8.2, MariaDB, Redis, SSL):

Step-by-Step Deployment Guide (LEMP Stack)

1. Initial VPS Setup

# Update packages
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Set correct timezone
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Kolkata

# Install basic tools
sudo apt install curl wget git unzip htop ufw -y

2. Install NGINX

sudo apt install nginx -y

# Start and enable
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx

3. Install PHP 8.2 + Extensions

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
sudo apt update

sudo apt install php8.2 php8.2-fpm php8.2-mysql php8.2-curl php8.2-xml php8.2-mbstring php8.2-zip php8.2-gd php8.2-bcmath php8.2-intl php8.2-cli php8.2-soap -y

# Configure PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl enable php8.2-fpm
sudo systemctl start php8.2-fpm

4. Install MariaDB (MySQL Alternative)

sudo apt install mariadb-server -y

sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadb

# Secure MariaDB
sudo mysql_secure_installation

Example settings:

• Set root password: Yes

• Remove anonymous users: Yes

• Disallow remote root login: Yes

• Remove test DB: Yes

5. Create Database for Each WordPress Site

# Login to MySQL
sudo mysql -u root -p

# Example for 1st site
CREATE DATABASE wp1_db;
CREATE USER 'wp1_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPasswordHere';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wp1_db.* TO 'wp1_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Repeat for multiple sites (wp2_db, wp3_db, etc.)

6. Install Redis (Object Cache)

sudo apt install redis-server -y
sudo systemctl enable redis
sudo systemctl start redis

Install Redis PHP extension:

sudo apt install php8.2-redis -y
sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm

7. Download & Configure WordPress (Multiple Sites)

Example for site1.com:

cd /var/www/
sudo mkdir site1.com && cd site1.com

sudo wget https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
sudo unzip latest.zip
sudo mv wordpress/* .
sudo rm -rf wordpress latest.zip

# Set permissions
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/site1.com
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/site1.com

Repeat for site2.com, etc.

8. Configure NGINX Virtual Host

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/site1.com

Paste config:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name site1.com www.site1.com;

    root /var/www/site1.com;
    index index.php index.html;

    access_log /var/log/nginx/site1.access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/site1.error.log;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
    }

    location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg)$ {
        expires max;
        log_not_found off;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Enable it:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/site1.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Repeat for site2.com, etc.

9. Install SSL with Let’s Encrypt

Install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Generate SSL for each domain:

sudo certbot --nginx -d site1.com -d www.site1.com

Repeat for all domains.

Enable auto-renewal:

sudo systemctl enable certbot.timer

10. Final WordPress Setup

Visit:
http://site1.com or https://site1.com
Follow the UI to complete installation. Use the database, user, and password created earlier.

Install these essential plugins:

• Redis Object Cache

• LiteSpeed Cache (if using OpenLiteSpeed)

• WooCommerce

• UpdraftPlus (backups)

• WordFence (security)

• Query Monitor (debugging)

11. Repeat for Multiple Sites

• Clone the same setup for each site (site2.com, etc.)

• Separate databases and folders (/var/www/site2.com)

• Separate NGINX config

• Separate SSL setup

• Optional: Use panel like CloudPanel if you want UI-based management

Optional: Install CloudPanel (if you want GUI)

If you prefer managing WordPress from a panel, install:

curl -sS https://installer.cloudpanel.io/ce/v2/install.sh | sudo bash