Site Setup Process Guide

A repeatable framework for launching WordPress sites on my infrastructure

🧭 Overview

Setting up a new site should not feel like starting from scratch every time.

This guide defines a repeatable, structured process for launching new websites across the ecosystem — from idea → domain → infrastructure → live site.

The goal is simple:

• Reduce friction
• Capture decisions
• Enable reuse
• Prepare for future automation

🧱 High-Level Flow

0. Site Definition
1. Domain & DNS
2. Edge (Reverse Proxy)
3. Application (WordPress)
4. Cloudflare
5. Media Pipeline
6. Site Build
7. Security
8. Backup & Recovery
9. Monitoring
10. Automation Readiness

Each step builds on the previous.

⚡ Quick Start

For experienced setup:

1. Define site (name, purpose, WP vs Woo)
2. Allocate domain + DNS
3. Create reverse proxy + SSL
4. Deploy WordPress + DB
5. Enable Cloudflare
6. Configure media pipeline
7. Build site

Then return to sections below for detail.

🧠 Site Definition

Before touching infrastructure — define the site.

Purpose & Positioning

• What is the site for?
• Who is it for?
• Content type:
  • Blog
  • Store
  • Hybrid
  • Project hub

Monetisation Strategy

• Affiliate links
• Ads
• Products (WooCommerce?)
• Lead generation

Platform Decision

• WordPress only → content-first
• WordPress + WooCommerce → commerce-enabled

👉 Default to WordPress only, add Woo later.

Identity & Secrets

Record and store securely (KeePass):

• Domain registrar access
• Cloudflare credentials / API tokens
• DB credentials
• WordPress admin bootstrap
• SSH access

Environment Model (Optional but recommended)

• dev.site.com
• test.site.com
• www.site.com

Ecosystem Integration

• How does this site connect to:
  • at-the-bach
  • a-way
  • evalue-it
  • at-the-mall

Think in terms of:

• content reuse
• cross-linking
• funnels

🌐 Domain & DNS

Domain Allocation

• Register or assign domain
• Decide canonical URL:
  • www vs root

DNS Setup

• Route53 (or equivalent)
• Create records:
  • A / CNAME → reverse proxy
• Optional:
  • Delegate subdomain to Cloudflare

🌍 Edge Layer (Reverse Proxy)

Host Selection

• Choose target hosting infrastructure (AWS, Cloudflare, Azure, Home)
• Choose target host (e.g. wordpress-01)

AWS

Reverse Proxy Config

• Apache or …
• Define:
  • server_name
  • upstream target
  • logging

WIP Site

• Basic placeholder page

/etc/apache2/sites-available# cp 001-default.conf me.ensite.FOO.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName FOO.ensite.me
    DocumentRoot /var/www/in-the-making

    <Directory "/var/www/in-the-making">
        allow from all
        Options None
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

• Confirm routing works before proceeding

SSL Enablement

• Certbot

# sudo certbot --apache -d foo.ensite.me

• Validate HTTPS access

⚙️ Application Layer (WordPress)

Database Setup

DB Host

• Current: test-mariadb-01

Naming Convention

[p|t|d]_{4 chars}

Example:

p_foob → Foo Bah production

Create DB + User

MariaDB [(none)]>

create database p_foob;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.002 sec)

create user 'p_foob'@'%' identified by 'strongpassword';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.010 sec)

grant all privileges on p_foob.* to 'p_foob'@'%';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.005 sec)

flush privileges;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.001 sec)

Store in KeePass

• Host
• DB name
• Username
• Password

WordPress Deployment (guide …)

Obtain WordPress

• Download latest OR reuse stable version

Deploy Files

• Copy into:

/var/www/me.ensite.foo

Configure wp-config.php

• DB connection
• Keys / salts
• Debug settings (off for prod)

Connect to Reverse Proxy

Within the site configuration file for that site, eg. /etc/apache2/sites-available/com.evalue-it.www-le-ssl.conf replace:

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName foo.ensite.me
    DocumentRoot /var/www/in-the-making

    <Directory "/var/www/in-the-making">
        allow from all
        Options None
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/foo.ensite.me/fullchain.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/foo.ensite.me/privkey.pem
Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf
</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

… with:

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName foo.ensite.me

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/foo.ensite.me/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/foo.ensite.me/privkey.pem
    Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf

    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On

    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Port "443"

    ProxyPass        / http://10.3.6.210/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://10.3.6.210/

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/me.ensite.foo-error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/me.ensite.foo-access.log combined


</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

Restart apache2: # systemctl restart apache2.service

(Future)

• Ensure PHP handler works
• Validate routing

Run Installer

• /wp-admin/install.php

Set:

• Site name
• Admin user
• Password
• Email

Baseline Setup

• Permalinks → “Post name”
• Remove default plugins/themes
• Install essentials (minimal)

☁️ Cloudflare Setup

DNS Integration

• Proxy traffic via Cloudflare

SSL Mode

• Full (strict preferred)

Caching Rules

• Cache static assets
• Bypass admin paths

Basic WAF

• Enable protections
• Rate limiting (optional)

🖼️ Media / Asset Pipeline

R2 Bucket Setup

• Example: media-public

URL Strategy

• Avoid tight coupling to:/wp-content/uploads

Sync Process

• Use rclone / wget

Test Delivery

• Confirm assets served via:media.ensite.me

🎨 Site Build

Theme Selection

• Lightweight (e.g. GeneratePress)

Structure

• Pages
• Categories
• Navigation

Content

• Initial posts
• Images via pipeline

SEO & AI Readiness

• Sitemap
• OpenGraph
• Schema (where relevant)
• Internal linking

🔐 Security Hardening

• Disable XML-RPC (if unused)
• Strong admin credentials
• Limit login attempts
• File permissions
• Hide unnecessary endpoints

💾 Backup & Recovery

Database Backup

• Daily dump

File Backup

• WP files + uploads

Offsite Storage

• Prefer R2 or external disk

Restore Test

• Verify recovery works

📊 Monitoring & Ops

• HTTP uptime checks
• Log review:
  • nginx
  • php
• Error tracking

✅ Refrence Runbooks and Completion Checklist

🚀 Automation Readiness

This is where the system evolves.

Standardisation

• Naming conventions
• Directory structures
• Config templates

Script Opportunities

• DB creation
• WP deployment
• Apache config generation

Future State

• One-command site creation
• Internal hosting platform
• Potential external service