How to Deploy WordPress with Highly Available PostgreSQL?

Deploying WordPress with a highly available PostgreSQL setup is essential for ensuring that your website remains accessible and operational even in the event of hardware failures or high traffic loads.

WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) used for building websites and blogs. Typically, WordPress is paired with MySQL or MariaDB as its default database system. However, PostgreSQL is a robust alternative for those who prefer it or have specific requirements. To ensure high availability for both WordPress and PostgreSQL, a strategic setup is crucial. This involves setting up PostgreSQL in a high availability (HA) configuration and configuring WordPress to work seamlessly with it.

Several approaches can be employed to achieve a highly available PostgreSQL setup for WordPress:

Using Hevo Data to Connect MySQL to PostgreSQL

Hevo is a cloud-based data integration platform That allows to connect various data sources to target databases or data warehouses seamlessly. Hevo can integrate WordPress with PostgreSQL by setting up a data pipeline that transfers data from WordPress to PostgreSQL.

Steps to Set Up Hevo for WordPress and PostgreSQL Integration

Step 1: Create a Hevo Account and Setup Source

• Sign up for an account on Hevo.
• In the Hevo dashboard, create a new pipeline and select WordPress as the source.
• Provide necessary details like your WordPress site URL and authentication credentials.

Step 2: Configure Destination

• Select PostgreSQL as the destination database.
• Enter the connection details for your PostgreSQL database, including hostname, port, database name, username, and password.

Step 3: Data Mapping and Transformation

• Hevo provides options to map data fields between WordPress and PostgreSQL.
• Set up the necessary transformations, if required, to ensure data consistency and integrity.

Step 4: Activate and Monitor the Pipeline

• Activate the pipeline to start data integration.
• Use the Hevo dashboard to monitor data flows, errors, and performance.

Use Case: This approach is suitable for scenarios where you want to migrate from MySQL to PostgreSQL or integrate data from WordPress into PostgreSQL for analytics, reporting, or other data-driven applications.

WordPress PostgreSQL Integration Using a Fork Version of PG4WP

Integrating WordPress with PostgreSQL allows developers to take advantage of PostgreSQL's advanced features and performance benefits while maintaining the flexibility and ease of use provided by WordPress.

Steps to Set Up WordPress with PG4WP

Step 1: Download WordPress

# Point to your webserver root - typically 
$ cd /var/www/html
$ wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz

# Then untar
$ tar xzf latest.tar.gz
# There will a folder named wordpress

Step 2: Create a database in PostgreSQL and grant all privileges

$ sudo su - postgres
$ psql
$ create database wp1;
$ create user adminwp1 with password 'secret123';
$ grant all privileges on database wp1 to adminwp1;
$ q 

Step 3: Edit the config file with the database

# Using sed to edit the file
$ sed -e 's/database_name_here/wp1/g' -e 's/username_here/adminwp1/g' -e 's/password_here/secret123/g' -i ./wp-config.php

# that will make the following changes in wp-config.php
define( 'DB_NAME', 'wp1' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'adminwp1' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'secret123' );

Step 4: Download and Install PG4WP

• Download the PG4WP plugin from the repository.
• Upload the plugin to your WordPress installation via the WordPress admin dashboard or manually through FTP.

$ cd wp-content
$ git clone https://github.com/kevinoid/postgresql-for-wordpress.git
$ mv postgresql-for-wordpress/pg4wp Pg4wp
$ cp Pg4wp/db.php db.php

Step 5: Modify the wp-config.php File

• Edit the wp-config.php file in your WordPress installation.
• Replace MySQL-specific database connection details with PostgreSQL details.

define('DB_NAME', 'your_db_name');
define('DB_USER', 'your_db_user');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'your_db_password');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_TYPE', 'pgsql');

Step 4: Activate PG4WP Plugin

• Activate the PG4WP plugin through the WordPress admin dashboard.
• Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
• Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
• Find the PG4WP plugin in the list and click Activate.

Use Case: This method is ideal for developers who want to leverage PostgreSQL's advanced features and performance benefits while using WordPress. It requires a good understanding of both WordPress and PostgreSQL.