Linode is one of the popular and reputable cloud computing providers. In this post, we are going to look into the process of creating a Linode account and setting up a WordPress blog. We are going to get it up and running in less than 30 minutes.

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Create a new Linode Account

Step 1: Go to Linode website

At the time of this writing, there was a $50 promotion for new users which I took advantage of.

Linode front page

Click the signup method. I like using individual accounts so I’d recommend signing up by email.

Step 2: Enter your email and pick a strong password

Create a Linode account Step 1 - Enter email, username and password

Step 3: Enter your billing information.

Create a Linode application Step 2 - Enter billing details

Unfortunately, they don’t have PayPal support so you’ll need to have a valid credit or debit card ready to proceed.

Step 4: Submit the application

Message saying account is being reviewed

At this point, you have to wait for a confirmation email from Linode. In my experience, it took about 10 minutes to receive the email.

After you’ve received the email, log in again or just refresh the page if you’re still on it. You should be able to see the dashboard:

Linode dashboard

So far, it’s empty and we’re about to change that!

Set up WordPress

Linode has a marketplace full of applications that you can easily install.

Step 1: First, click Create then Marketplace.

Linode marketplace

Step 2: WordPress is probably the world’s most popular CMS so it’s not a surprise to see it on the top of the list. Click on WordPress in the list:

Wordpress in Linode marketplace

Step 3: Next you provide some basic WordPress settings such as admin password, MySQL DB passwords etc:

WordPress options

Step 4: Select an OS image the WordPress installation will be built on:

Image selection

Step 5: Next select the region. Ideally, this should be closest to your target audience to reduce network latency:

Image selection

Step 6: The next step is to choose the plan. This is important as it has a direct impact on the performance of your blog.

Plan selection
Even though it’s an important decision, you can resize your Linode later on so you don’t have to worry about it too much at this point. To resize, go to the dashboard. Click the … button next to your Linode and select Resize.

Step 7: Complete the remaining optional settings and click Create Linode button at the bottom of the page.

It takes about 2-5 minutes for the WordPress installation to complete.

DNS Setup

After the setup has been completed, you will be able to see the IP address allocated for your blog:

WordPress on dashboard

Go to your DNS provider and add an A record pointing to that IP address. If you provided a subdomain during the setup then you will have to add the A record for that subdomain. In my case, I use Route53 so my setup looked like this:

A record in DNS settings

Test Your Blog

After you’ve updated your DNS. you can test your WordPress blog. Just visit your domain/subdomain and you should be able to see a vanilla WordPress installation:

Wordpress default output

And to manage your blog, go to /wp-admin page and it should look like this:

WordPress admin page

Credit Expiry Warning

One quick warning regarding the credits: Even if you receive a $50 credit, don’t assume that you can pick a $5 plan and have your blog for 10 months free. The credit expires after 60 days from redemption so be careful about not getting unexpected charges after 60 days:

Conclusion

In this post, we looked into creating a new Linode account and setting up a WordPress blog from start to finish. If you would like to have a blog post in the next 30 minutes, you can easily follow through and get it up and running.

Resources

Categories: linode

Volkan Paksoy

Volkan Paksoy is a software developer with more than 15 years of experience, focusing mostly on C# and AWS. He’s a home lab and self-hosting fan who loves to spend his personal time developing hobby projects with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, LEGO and everything in-between.