Managed WordPress on Voroa: plans with CPU, memory and disk

What this covers

Managed WordPress runs WordPress and its database together, with everything on one disk that comes with your plan. This page explains the plans, how to create a site, backups, your own domain, email, updates and what is not offered yet.

What you get

• WordPress 7.1.4 on PHP 8.4 with a MySQL-compatible database (MariaDB 10.11), together on one plan.
• Its own panel. A WordPress site has a WordPress page in the dashboard: the site address, a link to wp-admin, the version it runs and an Update button, plus Logs, Disk, Domains, SSH and Settings. There is no code to deploy, so there is no repository, branch, build or environment variable page.
• Panel tools. A File Manager for everything in wp-content (themes, plugins, uploads): browse, edit text files up to 1 MB, upload files up to 64 MB, download files up to 20 MB, rename and delete. Plugins & Themes lists, activates, updates and deletes them, and can turn every plugin off or switch to the default theme even when wp-admin will not open. WordPress settings sets the PHP memory, upload and time limits, changes an admin’s password, and moves the site to a new address (previewed first, nothing changes until you apply).
• Database. Open the site’s database in Adminer from the panel: the link works once and the session ends after 30 minutes without use. Export writes the whole database to wp-content/voroa-export/database.sql; Import loads a .sql file you put in wp-content (MySQL 5.7 and 8 dumps work - their collations are converted on import).
• A page cache for visitors who are not logged in. Logged-in users, the admin area, the login page, search, and WooCommerce cart, checkout and account pages are never cached, and the cache clears itself when you publish or change content.
• Scheduled tasks every minute, so scheduled posts, plugin jobs and WooCommerce emails run on time.
• A hardened setup. WordPress’s own files are read-only, the theme and plugin file editor is off, xmlrpc.php is blocked, PHP cannot run from the uploads folder, the login page is rate-limited per visitor, and the web installer is switched off so nobody else can take over a new site.
• The database is never exposed to the internet. It listens on no network port, and its password is created for you and kept on the disk.
• Nightly backups of the database and your files together.
• Search engines see only your domain. The Voroa address your site starts on is marked noindex.

Plans

Every plan includes CPU, memory and disk for your site and its database:

Prices are shown on the create page and include no intro discount: a plan renews at the same price, and any price change is announced by email 30 days ahead. You can add more disk later from the site’s Disk page; disk only grows. There is no free WordPress plan.

On a DigitalOcean or Vultr machine

You can also run the site on a DigitalOcean or Vultr machine in the region you choose. On the create page, pick the provider and region, then a machine size of at least 1 GB of memory. You pay that machine’s price, shown in rupees with GST before you pay. The site keeps its files and database on that machine’s own disk, so there is no separate disk to buy, and the 80% disk email is not sent there. Backups, the page cache and the security setup are the same as on Voroa.

Create a WordPress site

Open New and choose WordPress. The page has three steps:

1. Site - enter a service name, your site’s title and the WordPress admin account: a username (not admin), your email address and a password of at least 12 characters. Voroa stores the password encrypted and never shows it again. Select Next.
2. Plan - choose a WordPress plan, or a DigitalOcean or Vultr region and machine. Select Next.
3. Review & pay - check the total, agree to the terms and select Create & pay.

Your site starts once the payment is complete: Voroa creates its disk, builds it and installs WordPress with your admin account. Sign in at your site’s address followed by /wp-admin. After your first sign-in, change your password in Users, Profile, or delete the WP_ADMIN_PASSWORD variable from the site’s Environment page - it is only needed for the first install.

Backups and restore

Every night the database is dumped to the site’s disk and the whole disk - database dump, uploads, plugins and themes - is copied to backup storage, kept for 30 days. To restore, open a support request with the date you want; our team restores the database and files together. The last 7 nights you can restore yourself from the site’s Backups page: the restore first saves the site as it is now (listed as “Before restore”), so it can be undone, and the site is offline for a few minutes while files and the database are put back. There is no point-in-time restore and no outside connection to the database on Managed WordPress. For a copy yourself, use Export on the site’s Database page, or WP-CLI over SSH (wp db export).

Use your own domain

Add your domain to the site (see Custom domains). Once it is active, the site answers on your domain straight away - there is no WordPress address to change - and emails and scheduled jobs use your domain from the first visit on it. The Voroa address keeps working and stays hidden from search engines.

Email from your site

Password resets, contact forms and WooCommerce order emails need an email provider. Add these environment variables to the site with your provider’s SMTP details (for example Zoho Mail, Google Workspace, Amazon SES or Brevo), then redeploy:

Voroa does not host mailboxes.

Updates

• Plugins, themes and translations update from wp-admin as usual.
• WordPress, PHP and the database are updated by Voroa releasing a new version of the site template; the core update button in wp-admin is turned off on purpose, because an update made inside the running site would be lost at the next update.
• When a new version is out, the site’s Overview says so and shows an Update button. Your site keeps serving the current version while the new one starts; if the new one does not come up, the site stays on the version it had. A version that changes WordPress itself shows as available, and its Update button appears once backups and restore are part of the panel.

Troubleshooting

• “Error establishing a database connection”: the site restarts itself if its database stops; if the message stays, open a support request.
• A white screen after installing a plugin: set the environment variable WP_DEBUG to 1 and redeploy; errors appear in the site’s logs, never to visitors. Remove the plugin’s folder over SSH if wp-admin will not load.
• The disk is full: Voroa emails you once when the site’s disk reaches 80%, and again if it drops below 60% and climbs back. Add disk from the Disk page. When the disk is nearly full, the nightly database dump is skipped (to protect the database) and our team is alerted.
• Large uploads fail: the upload limit is 64 MB per file. Move larger files over SSH.

Not offered yet

Multisite, a staging copy of a site, automatic pull from another host and malware scanning are not offered. You can move an existing site in yourself from the Database page (Move a site in: its .sql and a zip of its wp-content, put in place with the File Manager or SFTP), or ask us - moving a site in is free.

Related

• Persistent disks
• Custom domains
• Web services