Install Ghost CMS on Ubuntu 20.04

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Introduction

Ghost is a lightweight, open-source Content Management System (CMS) and blogging platform built with Node.js. It is customizable and has many pre-built themes available. In this article, you'll learn how to install Ghost CMS on Ubuntu 20.04.

Prerequisites

• Deploy a fully updated Vultr Ubuntu 20.04.
• Create a non-root user with sudo access.
• Create a DNS "A" record, such as ghost.example.com, that resolves to the IP address for your server.
• Install MySQL on your Ubuntu server.

1. Create the Ghost Database

1. SSH to the server as your non-root user with sudo access.

2. Login to mysql.

   $ sudo mysql -u root -p
   

3. Create a database named ghost.

   CREATE DATABASE ghost;
   

4. Create a database user named ghost.

   CREATE USER 'ghost'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'StrongPassword';
   

5. Grant all privileges of the ghost database to the user ghost.

   GRANT ALL ON ghost.* TO 'ghost'@'localhost';
   

6. Flush privileges for the changes to take effect.

   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   

7. Exit MySQL.

   exit

2. Install Nginx

1. Install Nginx.

   $ sudo apt-get install nginx -y
   

2. Enable Nginx server to start on boot.

   $ sudo systemctl enable nginx
   

3. Allow firewall for both HTTP and HTTPS connections.

   $ sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
   

3. Install Node.js

1. Add the NodeSource APT repository for Node 14.

   $ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash
   

2. Install Node.js.

   $ sudo apt-get install nodejs -y
   

4. Install Ghost

1. Install Ghost-CLI.

   $ sudo npm install ghost-cli@latest -g
   

2. Create a directory /var/www/ghost/.

   $ sudo mkdir -p /var/www/ghost/
   

3. Set ownership of the directory to the current user account.

   $ sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/ghost/
   $ sudo chmod 775 /var/www/ghost
   

4. Go to /var/www/ghost/ directory.

   $ cd /var/www/ghost/
   

5. Install Ghost.

   $ ghost install
   

6. Answer the prompts as shown.

   ? Enter your blog URL: https://ghost.example.com
   ? Enter your MySQL hostname: localhost
   ? Enter your MySQL username: ghost
   ? Enter your MySQL password: [hidden]
   ? Enter your Ghost database name: ghost
   ? Configuring Ghost
   ? Setting up instance
   ? Do you wish to set up Nginx? Yes
   ? Do you wish to set up Systemd? Yes
   ? Do you want to start Ghost? (Y/n) Y
   

7. Navigate to your Ghost admin portal. For example:

   https://ghost.example.com/ghost/
   

More Information

• Ghost documentation