I have heard about how many people would like to setup their own servers running WordPress with NGINX. The main reason to do this, instead of using the default Apache setup, is to serve static files much faster. You could also utilize it for serving up cached pages much faster as well. This would reduce server costs and allow for more visitors to the website. This could also reduce server load.

Some things to point out, is that I have my own opinion on things, due to my own tests and findings. I recommend everyone to do their own tests.

Below, I will be listing what the setup will have, I will also try to explain my recommendations, however, you may choose a different path, but I hope this information helps you! Here is the configuration.

• Ubuntu v16.04
• PHP-FPM v7.2.x
• Percona Server v5.7
• NGINX v1.10.x
• Let’s Encrypt

There are some funny acronyms you can use for this setup. For example, NUPP Stack or PPUN Stack. Before I get started, I want to let you know that I will be using Digital Ocean for the servers. You can click on my referral link to get a $10 credit https://m.do.co/c/3a0636a1b60a

In part 2, I will describe how to setup a server on Digital Ocean and some basic configuration to get things going. I am going to keep these articles short and sweet so we don’t get lost.

~Joshua