Overview

This guide explains how to deploy 16 WordPress sites to DigitalOcean App Platform with isolated MySQL databases.

Architecture

MySQL Cluster: 1 cluster with 16 isolated databases ($15/month)
Spaces: 1 bucket for media uploads ($5/month)
App Platform: 16 apps ($80/month)
Total Cost: $100/month
Revenue: $192/month (16 sites × $12)
Profit: $92/month

Prerequisites

✅ MySQL cluster created (e482d1d5-dd84-4329-b7c4-aa809c9be4bc) ✅ Database credentials saved (exports/do-deployment/database_credentials.jsonl) ✅ WordPress sites migrated to GitHub (14-15 of 16 sites) ✅ doctl authenticated

Deployment Steps

Step 1: Create Spaces Access Keys (Manual)

App Platform deployment requires Spaces access keys for media uploads. These must be created manually:

Go to: https://cloud.digitalocean.com/account/api/spaces
Click "Generate New Key"
Name: wordpress-media-uploads
Copy both the Access Key and Secret Key
Update .env file:
DO_SPACES_KEY=your_access_key_here

DO_SPACES_SECRET=your_secret_key_here

IMPORTANT: Save these keys immediately! The secret key is only shown once.

Step 2: Run App Platform Deployment Script

cd /home/cw/Documents/IBG_HUB/rmm-psa-backend

./migration-scripts/deploy_app_platform.sh

The script will:

✅ Create Spaces bucket ibg-wordpress-media in syd1 region
✅ Prompt for confirmation (shows costs)
✅ Deploy 16 App Platform apps
✅ Configure environment variables for each app:
- DB_HOST, DB_PORT, DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD
- WORDPRESS_DB_HOST, WORDPRESS_DB_NAME, WORDPRESS_DB_USER, WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD
- SPACES_BUCKET, SPACES_REGION, SPACES_ACCESS_KEY, SPACES_SECRET_KEY
✅ Generate app spec files in exports/do-deployment/app-deployments/
✅ Save deployment info to deployed_apps.jsonl

Estimated Time: 10-15 minutes (with rate limiting between deployments)

Step 3: Import Database Dumps

After apps are deployed and running:

./migration-scripts/import_databases.sh

The script will:

✅ Download database.sql from each GitHub repo
✅ Import to corresponding MySQL database
✅ Clean up temporary files

Requirements: MySQL client installed (sudo apt install mysql-client)

Step 4: Install WP Offload Media Plugin

For each site, install and configure the WP Offload Media Lite plugin:

SSH into each app or use WP-CLI
Install plugin: wp plugin install amazon-s3-and-cloudfront --activate
Configure plugin with Spaces credentials:
- Provider: DigitalOcean Spaces
- Access Key: (from DO_SPACES_KEY)
- Secret Key: (from DO_SPACES_SECRET)
- Bucket: ibg-wordpress-media
- Region: syd1
- Path Prefix: sitename/ (e.g., collegeo/, murbahmowers/)

Step 5: Configure Custom Domains

For each app in the DigitalOcean dashboard:

Go to App Platform → Select app → Settings → Domains
Add custom domain (e.g., collegeo.com.au)
Update DNS records:
- CNAME: www → app-url.ondigitalocean.app
- A: @ → (provided IP address)
Wait for SSL certificate auto-provisioning

Deployment Details

App Specs

Each app uses this configuration:

Instance Size: basic-xxs ($5/month)
Region: syd (Sydney, Australia)
Git Source: Independent-Business-Group/wordpress-{username}
Branch: main
Auto Deploy: On push
Health Check: HTTP GET /

Environment Variables

All sites have isolated database credentials:

DB_HOST: wordpress-mysql-cluster-do-user-28531160-0.i.db.ondigitalocean.com
DB_PORT: 25060
DB_NAME: {username}_wp
DB_USER: {username}_user
DB_PASSWORD: {unique_password}

Security Model

Each site has a separate MySQL user
Each user can ONLY access their own database
MySQL GRANT permissions enforce isolation
If one site is compromised, other 15 databases remain secure

Troubleshooting

App Deployment Fails

# Check app logs
doctl apps logs <app-id> --type=run
 
# View app details
doctl apps get <app-id>
 
# Redeploy
doctl apps create-deployment <app-id>

Database Import Fails

# Test MySQL connection
mysql -h wordpress-mysql-cluster-do-user-28531160-0.i.db.ondigitalocean.com \
      -P 25060 -u {username}_user -p{password} {database}_wp
 
# Show tables
mysql -h ... -u ... -p... {database}_wp -e "SHOW TABLES;"

Spaces Upload Fails

Verify Spaces keys in .env
Check plugin configuration
Test with WP-CLI: wp media regenerate --yes

Monitoring

Check App Status

# List all apps
doctl apps list
 
# Get specific app
doctl apps get <app-id>
 
# View deployments
doctl apps list-deployments <app-id>

Check Database Usage

# Connect to cluster
mysql -h wordpress-mysql-cluster-do-user-28531160-0.i.db.ondigitalocean.com \
      -P 25060 -u doadmin -p
 
# Show all databases
SHOW DATABASES;
 
# Check table sizes
SELECT table_schema AS 'Database', 
       ROUND(SUM(data_length + index_length) / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS 'Size (MB)' 
FROM information_schema.tables 
GROUP BY table_schema;

Check Spaces Usage

# List spaces
doctl spaces ls
 
# List bucket contents
doctl spaces ls-objects ibg-wordpress-media --region syd1

Costs Summary

Service	Quantity	Unit Cost	Total
MySQL Cluster	1	$15/month	$15
Spaces	1	$5/month	$5
App Platform	16	$5/month	$80
Total			$100/month

Next Steps After Deployment

✅ Verify all 16 apps are running
✅ Confirm database imports successful
✅ Install and configure WP Offload Media on all sites
✅ Test image uploads to Spaces
✅ Configure custom domains
✅ Update DNS records
✅ Verify SSL certificates
✅ Test site functionality
✅ Update PostgreSQL domains table with GitHub repos
✅ Import remaining WHMCS data (products, invoices, tickets)

Support

For issues:

DigitalOcean Support: https://cloud.digitalocean.com/support
App Platform Docs: https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/
Spaces Docs: https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/spaces/