WordPress
WordPress in one click, with its own database, secure settings and a strong password. It updates itself and its plugins, and you edit its files in place.
Updated 17 Oct 20264 min read
A WordPress site on Tanzahost is installed for you in about a minute, with its own database. It keeps its files like a classic host: WordPress updates itself, its plugins and themes, and you can edit any file in the file manager.
Add a WordPress site
Open your project and choose Add a service, then WordPress.
Give the site a name, and its Site title (what visitors see; you can change it later in WordPress).
Type the admin's username and email.
Take the strong password we make, or type your own.
Choose Create site.
The password we make is shown only once: copy it before you leave the page. You can change it later in WordPress.
Everything else is set for you: the database and its user, unique keys and salts, a random table prefix, and debug off. Files start at the safe permissions 644 and folders at 755.
What you get
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| WordPress | Version 7.1, on PHP 8.4 |
| Database | Its own MariaDB 11.8, named after the site, like blog-db. It's one of your project's databases, with all their tools. You never type its name or password: they're the site's managed variables, WORDPRESS_DB_HOST, WORDPRESS_DB_NAME, WORDPRESS_DB_USER and WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD. |
| Updates | WordPress may write its own files, so it updates itself and its plugins as on any host. |
| WordPress's own tasks | WordPress's built-in cron is switched off, and a scheduled task runs php wp-cron.php every 5 minutes instead, so no visitor waits for it. |
| Files | Kept on the site's own disk. Nothing is rebuilt from code, so a plugin update is never undone. |
The site's page has a WordPress admin button that opens wp-admin.
The site's database
The site's database is in your project's list like any other, so it has the same page: its tables, import and export, users, a new password, its numbers, updates, backups, and connections from outside if you switch them on. It starts with 512 MB of memory, and you can change its limits. The site page's Database row shows its state and opens its page.
It belongs to the site: it can't be detached from it, and it can't be deleted while the site is there. It counts toward your databases' limits, so a project that has as many databases as it may can't add a WordPress site until one goes. If it doesn't start, the site page says so, with Try again; WordPress installs itself once it runs.
Example: Asha's blog
Asha adds a blog next to her shop, in the same project duka. She names it blog, gives it the title "Duka stories", and takes the generated password. A minute later it's live on its free address, like blog-duka-k2m9.tanzahost.co. She logs in to wp-admin, adds a contact-form plugin, and WordPress keeps it updated by itself.
When she adds blog.duka.co.tz under Domains, we move WordPress to its new address for her: first a copy of the database is kept, then WordPress's own search-and-replace changes the address in every table, then its home and site address are set. If any step fails, the copy is put back and the address stays. Visitors never bounce between two addresses.
PHP settings
Under PHP settings on the site's page, you can turn on PHP extensions and change the Largest upload, the Memory per request and the Time per request. WordPress sites run on PHP 8.4; a PHP site chooses its own version. Saving restarts the site with no downtime; its files stay as they are. The allowed settings and their limits are on The settings file.
Files and scheduled tasks
Files: open the site's Files to browse, upload, edit and restore files. See The file manager.
Recently changed files: the site's page lists them, and every change is in the activity log. An edited file keeps its earlier versions for 7 days.
Scheduled tasks: besides WordPress's own, add up to 10 of your own, like a PHP script every night. See Scheduled tasks.
Try changes on staging
A WordPress site can have a staging copy of its files and database, to try plugins, themes and updates before visitors see them. Push to live copies the files back, and the database too only when you ask. A copy of the live site is kept for 7 days first. See Environments and previews.
Move a site from another host
Start a PHP site from a ZIP file: a cPanel backup's public_html folder becomes the site.
Every visit passes our web firewall and limits first. Login forms, xmlrpc.php included, get a stricter limit: 10 tries a minute from one visitor. See Protection and speed.