Where to find pre-installed virtual machines for local WordPress testing under Virtualbox?

Hello friends,

If you remember our post about virtual machines running under Virtualbox then you are probably wondering if it is possible to find pre-installed solutions that you can import and start using for local WordPress tests.

The great news is that this is possible. In this post I will show you where you can find pre-installed virtual machines for local WordPress testing under Virtualbox.

If such solutions exist, should I use them instead of configuring an Ubuntu (or other) server under Virtualbox by myself?

In terms of local testing – yes. But if you are aiming to use them for other purposes, I’d advise to either start installing or configuring the server by yourself or at least to check the configuration of the pre-installed solution and improve it if necessary. For production servers, based on virtual machines, I’d advise to seek for assistance from an experienced system administrator. Let’s not forget to mention that there are far more advanced solutions than Virtualbox for this purpose (for example Open Stack).

The reason that I am giving you this advice is because the pre-installed solutions are meant to save you time and effort. This may be enough for local testing in most cases, however for other purposes these virtual machines might lack in security. Also even for local WordPress testing you may need to configure them additionally in order to make all of your plugins function correctly.

OK, where can I find these pre-installed virtual machines?

Some of the machines contain only a Linux distribution without any additional configuration. These machines are meant to remove the need to make a new installation and basic configuration. Once you download them and import them in Virtualbox you can install and configure LAMP so that you can run WordPress locally.

Such machines can be found from OSBoxes (click to visit). There you can find images for both Virtualbox and VMware. Select the distribution that you desire to use and then follow the instructions provided on the website. You will find out the username and the password that were created for the virtual machine.

Here is what you need to do in order to use the machine: Add a new virtual machine in Virtualbox. Select the appropriate distribution and then follow the wizard until you reach the section that asks you to either create a new virtual disk or to use an existing one. Simply point the VDI or VMDK file that you have downloaded from OSBoxes and complete the virtual machine configuration. Once you run it you will get a pre-installed Linux with graphical interface. For additional configurations you need to update the distribution and also install VirtualBox Guest Add-Ons. Then you need to install and configure LAMP.

Other solutions provide LAMP Stack in a pre-installed virtual machine. Once you import/add them in Virtualbox you need to follow additional steps and apply a few settings and then you will be able to configure your databases and run WordPress locally. Turnkey Linux provides such machine. You can download it from here.

Finally there are solutions that even contain WordPress within them and you can start adjusting the sample local site right away. Turnkey Linux has such a machine which can be downloaded from here.

Another option is to use a Bitnami virtual machine. You can grab one from here.

From this website you can download another pre-installed WordPress virtual machine.

So there you have it friends. Will you use pre-installed virtual machines or will you try to configure your own one? Share any thoughts on this topic in the comment section below. If you have any questions – we will be happy to assist you.

See you soon, friends!

What should you use for your local WordPress tests and development? XAMPP or Virtualbox? Find out now from this post:

Hello friends,

In this post I will present to you two of the most popular solutions for local WordPress tests and development. They are suitable for beginners and medium-skilled users.

The solutions that I am about to review in details are called XAMPP and Virtualbox.

But first things first! Why would you even consider using a solution for your local WordPress tests and development?

Because this may save you valuable time and effort as well as it may prevent some potential problems when creating a WordPress website directly on the production server with the real domain name.

Let’s imagine that you can build a simple WordPress website for a couple of days or a week at most. If you begin this process directly on your production server this means that you will have to purchase it in advance. This is also related to the purchase of a new domain name if you do not have an older one for test purposes that you can use to the production server.  So in most situations you will have to spend money and then start building your website from scratch.

If you are a complete beginner you may allow search engines to index your website when it is under development. In some cases this might cause potential problems with re-indexation later on. And if you are preventing the bots from indexing your project then you are wasting a week with a paid domain and hosting without getting any initial SEO results. And if something goes wrong you will have to start from scratch once again (in case you do not have backups) or start from a backup. But this will slow things even more.

Now imagine if you need to build an advanced website using WordPress. You can guess that you will need more time and the risks of breaking something are increased as well.

While the time and effort might still be the same when developing locally, you are saving time, effort and money for yourselves or for your clients for the SEO and digital marketing for the website. Why? Because it is better to upload and set up a complete WordPress installation that may launch immediately and start getting visits.

All of the above reasons were related to the creation of new websites. But what about your existing one when you need to try a new plugin? Doing this directly on the production server comes with a risk of breaking the theme or the functionality of the website due to incompatibilities. The latter might be PHP related, plugin related, theme related and etc.

Once again it is better to do tests locally and when the results are as expected to apply the changes on the production server.

OK, I am convinced! What is the difference between XAMPP and Virtualbox and what do I need to start developing or testing WordPress locally with them?

XAMPP for local WordPress tests and development

XAMPP is a project that provides you with a local server powerful enough to launch your WordPress website and easy enough to be the most suitable solution for beginners. All you need to do is download it from apachefriends.com and install it. You will find builds for Windows, Linux and OS X. After you are done installing you need to create a new directory under htdocs. In this directory place your WordPress installation. Lets assume that you call it localwp.

Start the XAMPP control panel and launch PHP and MySQL.

Then create a database using the built-in PHPMyadmin and edit wp-config.php with the needed information. After this you can access your local website in your browser by typing localhost/localwp (the name of the directory that you created).

Now you may begin developing a new website or testing your current one by transferring a backup copy to the local website.

In some situations you will need to adjust some settings but there are lots of tutorials online on how to achieve this. Also XAMPP makes it super easy to do this.

For more information, please view the following video:

Virtualbox can be used for Ubuntu server installation in order to develop and test WordPress locally

Virtualbox is an open source solution that will allow you to run virtual machines on your computer. Download it from here: www.virtualbox.org

In our case you might want to install Ubuntu server (or similar) and configure it locally. In this virtual server you can begin developing or testing your WordPress website.

Virtualbox can be useful for your local WordPress website creation and testing.

VirtualBox 5.0 for Windows. Within VirtualBox Ubuntu 14.04 is running. The image is embedded from the official Virtualbox’s website.

There are many guides on how to achieve this and it is not that hard. However I’d recommend this for medium and advanced users as beginners might face some problems and difficulties.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these solutions?

I will make the comparison based on the following criteria:

  1. Speed and resource usage – in my opinion a virtual machine using Virtualbox and Ubuntu server is running faster and is saving more resources than XAMPP. However this might be different for you as it depends on your hardware configuration.
  2. Ease of usage – XAMPP is easier for beginners.
  3. Flexibility – XAMPP is limited to the PHP and MySQL versions that come with the current build. On the other hand the virtual server under Virtualbox will provide you with enough flexibility to choose exactly the tools that you need for your website.
  4. Possibility to add control panels – this is not a problem for the virtual server running under Virtualbox. A control panel provides more options and makes you feel like you are working on the real production server.
  5. Access from clients and other users – both solutions can do this. For XAMPP you will need to add your IP address as WordPress address in the admin panel of your website and save the permalink structure. Then instead of using localhost you can use your IP address and thus the local site can be accessed.
    Virtualbox however makes this easier and the website can be accessed by IP by default. You do not need to make changes to your WordPress admin panel. But what is more important is that Virtualbox and Ubuntu server can allow you to create multiple virtual hosts. For each of them you can have a stand-alone website that can be access by your clients and other users. All you need to do is to set the local domain names under your hosts file and by pointing your IP to each of them. Then you need to instruct your clients and users to do the same and the local websites can be accessed. For these cases I like to use .loc domain names. They are not real but for the purpose of local tests they are great. You can use whatever domain names you want. For example – .dev, .test and so on. When the website is completed and transferred to the production server the only change in the database for the domain name will be the end part. For example from .loc to .com.

So these are my criteria for comparing the two solutions. What do you think friends? Which one is the most suitable for you?

Before I end this post, I’d like to share some useful links with you:

See you soon, friends!

Final migration touches for the WordPress database with Search & Replace. Find out how to place things in order:

Hello friends,

In a previous post I have described the possible ways of migrating WordPress. For the manual ways of moving your website to another hosting and domain there might be some potential problems with the database entries. In other words – something might go wrong due to the fact that the URL structure and domain information that is stored in the database will be different than the actual situation.

In this post I will show you how to place things in order in case of such problem. You will learn how to achieve the final migration touches for the WordPress database with the plugin Search&Replace.

What does Search & Replace do?

The name gives a tremendous hint – you can search your database tables for the old domain name and replace it correctly with the new one.

But that is just one of the things that Search&Replace can provide for you.  When you download, install and activate it you can go to Tools -> Search&Replace and then you will see 5 tabs. Let’s review all of them individually:

The first tab is called Backup Database.

Create a manual backup of your WordPress database by using the plugin Search&Replace

There is a single button called “Create SQL File”. Click on it and you will get a SQL export of your WordPress database which you can keep for backup purposes. This file will be available for download via a newly created button with text “Download SQL File” which will be under a message that informs you of the successful export of the database.

The second tab is called Search & Replace.

Replace the domain name in all database tables by using the WordPress plugin Search&Replace

Here is the actual reason why you’d want to have this plugin installed and activated in the first place. In order to make the magic happen you have to enter the old domain name exactly as it was with http:// in front and www if you have used it. Below this field you have to enter the new domain in the same matter.

Then you need to select the database tables that you want to be searched and replaced with the new domain name. You may choose some of them but for migration purposes you need to use all of them. So instead of selecting them one by one you can simply click on the checkbox “Select all tables”.

Next you can make a Dry Run and this option is enabled by default. This is to ensure that the plugin works. For actual Search and Replace of the domain name you need to disable this. By doing so two radio buttons will become active. One of them allows you to make the changes and then export a SQL file. The other option is to make direct changes to the database. In case you choose the first option you will need to re-import this file in the database for your WordPress website in order to make the needed changes.

You can also use GZ compression for the database if needed.

When you make up your mind you need to click on the button “Do Search & Replace”. You will be presented with the results of the operation and in most cases it should be successful. At least I did not have any problems for now when using this method.

The next tab of the plugin is called Replace Domain URL.

Here you can replace the domain name in general and you can also change the database prefix if needed. For our purposes you might not need to use this tab at all.

The next one is called SQL Import.

In it you can import a SQL File and thus apply changes to the database. In our current situation I’d advise you to use PHPMyAdmin or other tool just to be on the safe side.

The last tab is called Credits.

Here you will be able to see information about the plugin.

How to achieve the final migration touches for the WordPress database?

First make sure that your website is accessible after the migration. You will need access to the WordPress admin panel. If this is not possible you will need to open PHPMyAdmin  or other tool that is provided by your hosting provider and make some changes in the wp_options table. Change the domain name for siteurl and home.

Then edit your wp-config.php and add the following two lines at its end:

define(‘WP_HOME’, ‘http://new domain name’);
define(‘WP_SITEURL’, ‘http://new domain name’);

Make sure that you add your new domain name in by replacing http://new domain name. Save the file and then try to access the login page of your WordPress website. You should be successful. If not – check the PHP version of the new hosting and change it to a version that you know is supported by your website.

Now you should be able to access the admin panel. Install and activate the Search&Replace plugin and then make the needed changes by using the Search & Replace tab. You are done and in most of the cases you will be successful!

Another way is to have the plugin installed and activated on the old hosting and domain name so that it will be instantly available for the new ones. You can also download the plugin ZIP file manually and extract it to wp-contents/plugins. By doing this you will be able to instantly activate it when you get access to the admin panel after the migration.

What else should you do in order to prevent potential problems?

First of all make sure that you have a backup of your database before using Search&Replace. This is extremely important! You may not encounter any problems but a backup needs to be present in case you are not so lucky. So to be on the safe side – make sure you have one!

What if Search&Replace does not replace everything 100% correctly?

Contact the plugin developers and ask for support.

That’s all folks! What do you think of this plugin? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon, friends!

Shared Hosting or VPS?

The answer of this question is rather easy. First, we have to know what shared Hosting and VPS is and what are their positive and negative sides.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most popular service offered by the hosting companies. Your website is being hosted on a dedicated server with hundreds other websites. You have access to your website through Control Panel – usually CPanel or Plesk and you have some sort of limitations regarding the services you use (disc space, bandwidth, inodes etc.)

The Shared hosting is suitable for people who are just starting their websites or don’t have the knowledge to run a VPS or afford a managed one. Shared hosting is suitable for entry level websites with low traffic .The reason behind this is that your website is hosted with many others and they are all fighting for the same resources. Also, if you require custom server environment shared hosting is not for you. One of the pros for using it is that Hosting companies provide support for their clients through tickets and telephone calls. As for the VPS this is only available for the managed versions.

VPS (Virtual private server)

A VPS is a standalone instance with its own dedicated resources which you don’t have to share with no one. The two most popular and used pieces of Software for virtualization are OpenVZ and Xen.

The Hosting providers are offering two kinds of VPS – unmanaged and managed ones. In the unmanaged version you get only the VPS with the installed Operating System. Some of the providers are also offering prebuild solutions like LAMP and LEMP. It’s your own duty to support and manage your VPS instance. In order for you to be able to manage the unmanaged version you’re going to need extensive knowledge in Linux LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) or LEMP (Linux, Nginx, MySQL and PHP).

When you order a managed VPS you get a working instance of your virtual server and the support that comes along with it. You receive a Control Panel so as to be able to administrate your VPS and to manage your websites. This makes the managed VPS a better option for users who need the added power and convenience of a VPS and who don’t have the knowledge to administrate a VPS on their own. The managed version of VPS costs double and triple the price of a unmanaged version but it saves your time and allows you to devote it on your website.

To sum up, when you choose between Shared Hosting and VPS you have to evaluate several factors:

1.       Whether you are experienced enough in the field of hosting.

2.       What kind of resources you need.

3.       What budget you have.

4.       Whether you are willing to invest your time in managing your own VPS.