In this tutorial series, we are setting up a highly available WordPress web site from scratch.

Part 1 – Introduction, Considerations, and Architecture
Part 2 – Setting Up the VPSes
Part 3 – Setting Up MariaDB Multi-Master Replication
Part 4 – File Replication and Setting Up DRBD
Part 5 – Setting Up OCFS2
Part 6 – Round-Robin DNS, Let’s Encrypt, & Conclusion

Configuring Round-Robin DNS

Our final step is to setup round-robin DNS.  This should be straightforward with whatever DNS provider you’re using.  If your DNS provider’s interface doesn’t specifically have a RRDNS setting, you can usually just enter multiple A records.  In this case, I entered the following records:

www.lowend.party  in A   1.1.1.1
www.lowend.party  in A   2.2.2.2

Configuring Let’s Encrypt

We’re going to exploit our shared storage to make setting up Let’s Encrypt with certbot a snap.  First install these packages on both nodes:

apt-get install certbot python-certbot-nginx

Now we’ll move our nginx and letsencrypt configurations to the shared storage.  Stop nginx on both nodes:

# systemctl stop nginx

On web1, move the config directories to /web:

mv /etc/nginx /web
mv /etc/letsencrypt /web

And link on web1:

ln -s /web/nginx /etc/nginx
ln -s /web/letsencrypt /etc/letsencrypt

On web2, replace the existing configs with links:

rm -rf /etc/letsencrypt
rm -rf /etc/nginx
ln -s /web/nginx /etc/nginx
ln -s /web/letsencrypt /etc/letsencrypt

And then start nginx on both nodes:

systemctl start nginx

Now we can run Let’s Encrypt’s certbot as usual.  On web1:

# certbot --authenticator webroot --installer nginx
Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
Plugins selected: Authenticator webroot, Installer nginx
Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices) (Enter 'c' to
cancel): raindog308@raindog308.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please read the Terms of Service at
https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.2-November-15-2017.pdf. You must
agree in order to register with the ACME server at
https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(A)gree/(C)ancel: a

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Would you be willing to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit
organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about our work
encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(Y)es/(N)o: n

Which names would you like to activate HTTPS for?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1: www.lowend.party
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Select the appropriate numbers separated by commas and/or spaces, or leave input
blank to select all options shown (Enter 'c' to cancel): 1
Obtaining a new certificate
Performing the following challenges:
http-01 challenge for www.lowend.party
Input the webroot for www.lowend.party: (Enter 'c' to cancel): /web/www.lowend.party
Waiting for verification...
Cleaning up challenges
Deploying Certificate to VirtualHost /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/www.lowend.party

Please choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, removing HTTP access.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1: No redirect - Make no further changes to the webserver configuration.
2: Redirect - Make all requests redirect to secure HTTPS access. Choose this for
new sites, or if you're confident your site works on HTTPS. You can undo this
change by editing your web server's configuration.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press 'c' to cancel): 2
Redirecting all traffic on port 80 to ssl in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/www.lowend.party

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Congratulations! You have successfully enabled https://www.lowend.party
<snip>

And you’re done!  Because both /etc/letsencrypt and /etc/nginx are immediately visible on both nodes, you’ve setup Let’s Encrypt on both nodes.

You can play with shutting down nginx on one node and loading the site in your browser, then restarting it and shutting down the other node and reloading.  When the browser can’t connect to the IP it was using previously, you may see a 2-3 second pause and then the site will load from the other node.

When the certbot renew job fires (run systemctl show certbot.timer to see details), Let’s Encrypt can talk to either nodes to validate because they’re both serving the same filesystem for web content.

Adding More Sites

This configuration is fully enabled for more WordPress sites if you want to add more domains.  All you need to do is use /web as your web root.  Nginx configuration will be identical on both nodes (since it’s on shared storage).  We’ve configured MariaDB to replicate all databases, so any new databases will be automatically picked up and replicated.

Wrapping Up

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial, which has taken you from bare metal nodes to a highly-available, fully-replicated WordPress web site.

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raindog308

Dread Lord of LowEnd Content at LowEndBox

I'm raindog308, techno polymath and long-time LowEndTalk community Administrator. My technical interests include all things Unix, perl, python, golang, shell scripting, vintage operating systems such as MVS, and relational database systems such as Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

I also enjoy using LEBs! I have an empire of little guys for VPNs, larger guys for apps, and big guys for databases and storage. When I'm not in front a screen I'm into German Shepherd dogs, quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop roleplaying games, and forest hiking.

I enjoy writing technical articles here on LowEndBox to help people get more out of their systems. You can find me on LowEndTalk @raindog308

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