Help Center/ Huawei Cloud Flexus_Huawei Cloud Flexus L Instance/ Best Practices/ Best Practices of Earlier Versions/ Setting Up a Website Using the WordPress Application Image (Historical Version)
Updated on 2026-08-27 GMT+08:00
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Setting Up a Website Using the WordPress Application Image (Historical Version)

Scenarios

WordPress is an enterprise-level open-source content management system. It is usually used for enterprise website setup, cross-border e-commerce, and personal blog building. FlexusL provides a WordPress application image running on Ubuntu 24.04 and deployed with Docker. The image comes pre-installed with Nginx, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, and Docker. You can use this application image to quickly set up a website.

This practice applies to FlexusL instances with a WordPress application image purchased before August 28, 2026. For best practices of the new image version, see Setting Up a Website Using the WordPress Application Image.

To update the image version, change the OS. This operation will clear the data on the original system disk. Back up the data in advance.

Prerequisites

You have purchased a FlexusL instance with a legacy WordPress application image.

Step 1: Configure Security Groups

Add inbound security group rules to ensure that the application preinstalled in the image can be accessed.

  1. Log in to the FlexusL console and click the target resource card or instance name to go to the instance details page.
  2. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Cloud Servers and click the target server name to view its details.

  3. On the Security Groups tab, click Add Rule to add the rules listed in the following table.

    The following only lists common rules. You can add more rules as needed.

    Table 1 Security group rules

    Priority

    Action

    Type

    Protocol & Port

    Source

    Description

    1

    Allow

    IPv4

    TCP: 3306

    0.0.0.0/0

    Allows access to MySQL databases.

    1

    Allow

    IPv4

    TCP: 80

    0.0.0.0/0

    Specifies the internal forwarding port of application images

    1

    Allow

    IPv4

    TCP: 443

    0.0.0.0/0

    Allows HTTPS access to the application dashboard.

    1

    Allow

    IPv4

    TCP: 9000

    0.0.0.0/0

    Allows external access to the application O&M page.

    1

    Allow

    IPv4

    TCP: 9001

    0.0.0.0/0

    Allows external access to the application dashboard.

Step 2: Reset the Password and Log In to the FlexusL Instance

This section describes how to log in to a FlexusL instance. A FlexusL instance does not have an initial password. After creating a FlexusL instance, set a password for the FlexusL instance before logging in to it.

  1. In the Image area on the Overview page of the FlexusL console, click Access to go to the application dashboard and check whether the application has been up and running. If yes, go to the next step.

    Wait for several minutes until the application is up and running. Then, you can perform operations such as restarting or stopping the instance, or resetting the password. Otherwise, the initial password may become invalid and you cannot log in to the application dashboard.

    Figure 1 Access to the application dashboard

    After the application is started, the initialization wizard page of the dashboard is displayed.

    Figure 2 Initialization wizard page of the WordPress dashboard

    If the dashboard is not properly displayed, check the following causes:

    • The port for accessing the dashboard is not enabled. Enable it as needed.
    • The dashboard is being started. Try again later.
  2. Locate the resource card and choose > Reset Password. Alternatively, in the list view, click Reset Password in the Operation column to reset the password for the FlexusL instance.

    A FlexusL instance does not have an initial password. Set a password for the FlexusL instance before logging in to it. For details, see Resetting the Password for a FlexusL Instance.

    Figure 3 Resetting a password
  3. Locate the resource card and click Remote Login. Alternatively, in the list view, click Remote Login in the Operation column. In the displayed dialog box, click VNC Login and enter the username and password as prompted to log in to the FlexusL instance. For more login methods, see Login Modes.

    The username is root, and the password is the one you set in the previous step.

Step 3: Initialize WordPress

Application images use code-based Ubuntu. They provide graphical user interfaces to make your operations easier. You need to initialize the application dashboard upon the first login. Then you can directly log in to the dashboard from the FlexusL console afterwards.

  1. On the Overview page, click Access in the Dashboard field in the Image area.

    If the dashboard is not properly displayed, check the following causes:

    • The port for accessing the dashboard is not enabled. Enable it as needed.
    • The dashboard is being started. Try again later.
  2. Select the WordPress language and click Continue.

  3. Set the website title, WordPress username, password, and email, and click Install WordPress.

    WordPress does not have an initial username or password. You can customize the username and password during initialization. Keep your website administrator username, password, and email secure. If you forgot the password, you can use this email to reset the password.

  4. Enter the username and password and click Log In.

After WordPress is initialized, you can operate the website on the application dashboard.

Step 4: Set Up a Website

Add and resolve a domain name for the website so that users can use the domain name to access the website.

  1. If the domain name is not registered with Huawei Cloud or not resolved on Huawei Cloud DNS, the domain name cannot be resolved. Use either of the following methods to resolve the issue:
    • Contact the DNS service provider to add an A record that maps the domain name to the EIP of the FlexusL instance.
    • Use Huawei Cloud DNS servers to resolve the domain name. For details, see Migrating DNS Settings to Huawei Cloud DNS.
  2. Add the domain name on the application O&M page.
    1. In the address bar of a local browser, enter http://EIP:9000 to log in to the application O&M page.

      The username and password for logging in to the dashboard are the root user and password of the FlexusL instance. A FlexusL instance does not have an initial password. Reset the password and use it to log in to the dashboard.

    2. Choose My Apps and click the App icon.
    3. Choose Access and click Add Domain.

  3. Apply for ICP licensing for the domain name.

    To successfully access the server using a domain name, you must license the domain name. Domain name licensing provided by the ICP License Service is free of charge. For details, see ICP Filing Process.

    After the domain name is licensed, you can use it to visit the website.

If the website is only used for personal development or testing, you can apply for a free SSL certificate (provided by Let's Encrypt) whose validity period is 90 days. If your website is for commercial use, you are advised to install a commercial SSL certificate. After an SSL certificate is installed, HTTPS is used when you access the website using the domain name. The following describes the two methods for installing an SSL certificate for your website.

Preparations

Before installing an SSL certificate, initialize the application on the management page and configure the domain name on the application O&M page.

Procedure

  • Apply for a free SSL certificate on the application O&M page.
    1. In the address bar of a local browser, enter http://EIP:9000 to log in to the application O&M page.

      The username and password for logging in to the dashboard are the root user and password of the FlexusL instance. A FlexusL instance does not have an initial password. Reset the password and use it to log in to the dashboard.

    2. Choose Gateway > Hosts > Proxy Hosts, click the icon next to the domain name, and click Edit.

    3. Select SSL, configure the parameters as instructed in the following figure, and click Save.

  • Install a commercial SSL certificate.

    If you have purchased and issued an SSL certificate, perform the following steps to install the certificate for the website. If you have not purchased and issued an SSL certificate, purchase and issue one on Huawei Cloud by referring to About SCM and SSL Certificate Usage, and then perform the following steps to install a certificate for the website.

    1. In the address bar of a local browser, enter http://EIP:9000 to log in to the application O&M page.

      The username and password for logging in to the dashboard are the root user and password of the FlexusL instance. A FlexusL instance does not have an initial password. Reset the password and use it to log in to the dashboard.

    2. Choose Gateway > SSL Certificates, click Add SSL Certificate, and select Custom.

    3. Enter a name for the certificate, upload the certificate key and certificate, and click Save.

WordPress provides a wide range of themes. You can select an appropriate one for your WordPress website. You can change the WordPress theme of your website without changing the website content and structure.

  1. Choose Appearance > Themes on the WordPress dashboard.
    You can use the default and active themes, or add new themes.
    • Select a theme from the theme collection provided by WordPress.
    • Click Upload Theme and upload third-party themes.

  2. After installing a theme, click Activate.
  3. Choose Pages > Add New Page and use the fusion builder provided by the theme to flexibly set up a web page.

WordPress provides many plugins that add more capabilities, choices, and options to your WordPress website.

  • Choose Plugins > Installed Plugins.

    You can view all the plugins that have been installed and their details, such as the developer and functions.

  • Choose Plugins > Add New Plugin and add plugins.
    • In the upper right corner, select a filter and search for plugins from the WordPress plugin library.
    • Click Upload Plugin and select a third-party plugin for installation.

The following uses the 163 email as an example to show how to use the WP Mail SMTP plugin to configure SMTP.

  1. Choose Settings > General and set the administration email address.

  2. Install the WP Mail SMTP plugin.
    1. On the WordPress dashboard, choose Plugins > Add New Plugin.
    2. Search for the keyword WP Mail SMTP. In the displayed result, click Install Now. After the installation is complete, click Activate.

  3. Go back to the dashboard, configure SMTP, and click Save Settings.

    The following uses the 163 mailbox as an example to show how to configure a mailbox. If you use another mailbox, specify corresponding parameters.

    Parameter

    Description

    From Email

    The email address that emails are sent from, which is the email address that you specify during WordPress installation by default. In this example, the value is example@163.com. You can change the value as needed.

    NOTE:

    SMTP must be configured for the email address.

    From Name

    The name that emails are sent from, which can be your website name. The default value is the website title that you specify during WordPress installation. In this example, the value is WordPress-example. You can change the value as needed.

    Mailer

    Select Other SMTP.

    SMTP Host

    SMTP host IP address. Enter smtp.163.com in this example.

    Encryption

    Select SSL.

    SMTP Port

    Enter 465 in this example.

    Auto TLS

    Enable this function.

    Authentication

    Enable this function.

    SMTP Username

    Keep it the same as the From Email parameter value: example@163.com.

    SMTP Password

    Enter the authorization code obtained when configuring SMTP for the email example@163.com. This is not the password of the email example@163.com.

If you forgot the WordPress administrator password, you can reset the password via email (SMTP must have been configured for WordPress).

  • Resetting a password via email
    1. On the WordPress login page, click Lost your password.

    2. Enter the username or email address and click Get New Password.

      Then a new password will be sent to your email.

    3. On the dashboard, choose Users > Profile.On the displayed page, set a new password and click Update Profile.

Parent Topic: Best Practices of Earlier Versions