Make WordPress Hosting Easy with Plesk on DigitalOcean

Sign up for a DigitalOcean account, verify via email and a $1 card charge, enter billing details, create a new project, select goals, specify tools, and explore the control panel.

Generate an RSA ssh key pair on macOS or Linux with ssh-keygen and add the public key to Digital Ocean for secure droplet access.

Create and secure a Windows SSH key pair using PuTTYgen, save public key (.pub) and private key (.ppk), and add the key to Digital Ocean for use with Plesk.

Deploy a Digital Ocean droplet with Plesk on Ubuntu from the marketplace, select a 1gb ram, 1 cpu plan, and attach an SSH key to set the hostname.

Access the droplet via ssh with a private key to generate a one-time Plesk Onyx login URL, address the self-signed certificate warning, and create the administrator account.

Explore the Plesk platform, create and manage websites with the Web Admin edition, and explore extensions like Git, WordPress Toolkit, and Docker for WordPress hosting on DigitalOcean.

Point your domain to your Plesk droplet on Digital Ocean using Domain Connect, an open standard that configures DNS with your registrar and helps you obtain a valid SSL certificate.

Connect Plesk to Digital Ocean DNS to manage DNS for mail and subdomains in a multi-site setup. Activate the DNS extension and update your registrar to ns1 and ns2.

Apply Advisor recommendations to harden your plesk server, then issue a valid ssl certificate with let's encrypt for the plesk domain and your sites, ensuring automatic renewals.

Upgrade the web pro license in Plesk on DigitalOcean to unlock the full WordPress toolkit, enabling one-click deployment, plugin installation, automatic security, and support for up to 30 websites.

Explore how the WordPress toolkit simplifies deployment, security, staging, and updates. Manage WordPress sites on DigitalOcean with Plesk more efficiently.

Deploy a WordPress website quickly with the WordPress toolkit to configure domain, site title, and admin credentials, while it handles download, database, initialization, and security, plus Jetpack and Google Analytics.

Install the site import extension, connect via ftp or ssh, import the detected WordPress site with the WordPress toolkit, or scan manually uploaded files to add the instance.

Connect to remote WordPress sites by entering the website URL and admin credentials with the WordPress toolkit to install a remote management plugin and manage multiple installations from one screen.

Learn to assess WordPress security status, run or rerun checks, and apply all critical and recommended measures (or customized choices) to secure each site, with the option to revert changes.

Update WordPress easily with the WordPress toolkit, updating core, plugins, and themes, then safely compare and apply changes to the production website using smart update and the restore point.

Learn how WordPress toolkit automatically handles minor updates every 24 hours using smart updates to run safe changes, and how to enable automatic updates for plugins, themes, and major releases.

Clone your site to a subdomain to create a staging environment with the WordPress toolkit. The toolkit copies files and database, adjusts configuration, and enables password protection for safe testing.

Copy changes from staging to production by selecting production site and choosing to copy files, database, or both, while table options exclude pages, posts, and users; restore point enables rollback.

Configure email for your WordPress site on DigitalOcean with Plesk, enabling plugins to send from your domain and using the built-in email server while reducing spam risk.

Configure mail DNS records (MX, SPF, DMARC, DKIM) in the domain’s DNS zone via the hosting panel, enable DKIM, and ensure synchronization with your registrar if needed.

Create a domain mailbox in plesk and configure WordPress to send mail through the wp mail plugin via an smtp relay on the plus gmail server.

Chase Raz wraps up the course on making WordPress hosting easy with Plesk, inviting learners to explore Plesk University and extensions, plus free registration to all courses and exams.