charts/bitnami/wordpress

WordPress

WordPress is one of the most versatile open source content management systems on the market. A publishing platform for building blogs and websites.

TL;DR

$ helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
$ helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress

Introduction

This chart bootstraps a WordPress deployment on a Kubernetes cluster using the Helm package manager.

It also packages the Bitnami MariaDB chart which is required for bootstrapping a MariaDB deployment for the database requirements of the WordPress application.

Bitnami charts can be used with Kubeapps for deployment and management of Helm Charts in clusters. This chart has been tested to work with NGINX Ingress, cert-manager, fluentd and Prometheus on top of the BKPR.

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes 1.12+
• Helm 3.1.0
• PV provisioner support in the underlying infrastructure
• ReadWriteMany volumes for deployment scaling

Installing the Chart

To install the chart with the release name my-release:

helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress

The command deploys WordPress on the Kubernetes cluster in the default configuration. The Parameters section lists the parameters that can be configured during installation.

Tip

: List all releases using helm list

Uninstalling the Chart

To uninstall/delete the my-release deployment:

helm delete my-release

The command removes all the Kubernetes components associated with the chart and deletes the release.

Parameters

The following table lists the configurable parameters of the WordPress chart and their default values per section/component:

Global parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
global.imageRegistry	Global Docker image registry	nil
global.imagePullSecrets	Global Docker registry secret names as an array	[] (does not add image pull secrets to deployed pods)
global.storageClass	Global storage class for dynamic provisioning	nil

Common parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
nameOverride	String to partially override common.names.fullname	nil
fullnameOverride	String to fully override common.names.fullname	nil
clusterDomain	Default Kubernetes cluster domain	cluster.local
commonLabels	Labels to add to all deployed objects	{}
commonAnnotations	Annotations to add to all deployed objects	{}
kubeVersion	Force target Kubernetes version (using Helm capabilities if not set)	nil
extraDeploy	Array of extra objects to deploy with the release	[] (evaluated as a template)

WordPress parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
image.registry	WordPress image registry	docker.io
image.repository	WordPress image name	bitnami/wordpress
image.tag	WordPress image tag	{TAG_NAME}
image.pullPolicy	WordPress image pull policy	IfNotPresent
image.pullSecrets	Specify docker-registry secret names as an array	[] (does not add image pull secrets to deployed pods)
image.debug	Specify if debug logs should be enabled	false
hostAliases	Add deployment host aliases	Check values.yaml
wordpressSkipInstall	Skip wizard installation when the external db already contains data from a previous WordPress installation see	false
wordpressUsername	User of the application	user
existingSecret	Name of the existing Wordpress Secret (it must contain a key named wordpress-password). When it's set, wordpressPassword is ignored	nil
serviceAccountName	Name of a service account for the WordPress pods	default
wordpressPassword	Application password	random 10 character long alphanumeric string
wordpressEmail	Admin email	user@example.com
wordpressFirstName	First name	FirstName
wordpressLastName	Last name	LastName
wordpressBlogName	Blog name	User's Blog!
wordpressTablePrefix	Table prefix	wp_
wordpressScheme	Scheme to generate application URLs [http, https]	http
wordpressExtraConfigContent	Add extra content to the configuration file	""
allowEmptyPassword	Allow DB blank passwords	true
allowOverrideNone	Set Apache AllowOverride directive to None	false
htaccessPersistenceEnabled	Make .htaccess persistence so that it can be customized. See	false
customHTAccessCM	Configmap with custom wordpress-htaccess.conf directives	nil
customPostInitScripts	Custom post-init.d user scripts	nil
smtpHost	SMTP host	nil
smtpPort	SMTP port	nil
smtpUser	SMTP user	nil
smtpPassword	SMTP password	nil
smtpUsername	User name for SMTP emails	nil
smtpProtocol	SMTP protocol [tls, ssl, none]	nil
smtpExistingPassword	Existing secret containing SMTP password in key smtp-password	nil
command	Override default container command (useful when using custom images)	nil
args	Override default container args (useful when using custom images)	nil
extraEnvVars	Extra environment variables to be set on WordPress container	{}
extraEnvVarsCM	Name of existing ConfigMap containing extra env vars	nil
extraEnvVarsSecret	Name of existing Secret containing extra env vars	nil

WordPress deployment parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
replicaCount	Number of WordPress Pods to run	1
containerPorts.http	HTTP port to expose at container level	8080
containerPorts.https	HTTPS port to expose at container level	8443
podSecurityContext	WordPress pods' Security Context	Check values.yaml file
containerSecurityContext	WordPress containers' Security Context	Check values.yaml file
resources.limits	The resources limits for the WordPress container	{}
resources.requests	The requested resources for the WordPress container	{"memory": "512Mi", "cpu": "300m"}
livenessProbe	Liveness probe configuration for WordPress	Check values.yaml file
readinessProbe	Readiness probe configuration for WordPress	Check values.yaml file
customLivenessProbe	Override default liveness probe	nil
customReadinessProbe	Override default readiness probe	nil
updateStrategy	Set up update strategy	RollingUpdate
schedulerName	Name of the alternate scheduler	nil
podAntiAffinityPreset	Pod anti-affinity preset. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hard	soft
nodeAffinityPreset.type	Node affinity preset type. Ignored if affinity is set. Allowed values: soft or hard	""
nodeAffinityPreset.key	Node label key to match. Ignored if affinity is set.	""
nodeAffinityPreset.values	Node label values to match. Ignored if affinity is set.	[]
affinity	Affinity for pod assignment	{} (evaluated as a template)
nodeSelector	Node labels for pod assignment	{} (evaluated as a template)
tolerations	Tolerations for pod assignment	[] (evaluated as a template)
podLabels	Extra labels for WordPress pods	{}
podAnnotations	Annotations for WordPress pods	{}
extraVolumeMounts	Additional volume mounts	[]
extraVolumes	Additional volumes	[]
initContainers	Add additional init containers to the WordPress pods	{} (evaluated as a template)
sidecars	Attach additional sidecar containers to the pod	{} (evaluated as a template)

Exposure parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
service.type	Kubernetes Service type	LoadBalancer
service.port	Service HTTP port	80
service.httpsPort	Service HTTPS port	443
service.httpsTargetPort	Service Target HTTPS port	https
service.nodePorts.http	Kubernetes http node port	""
service.nodePorts.https	Kubernetes https node port	""
service.extraPorts	Extra ports to expose in the service (normally used with the sidecar value)	nil
service.clusterIP	WordPress service clusterIP IP	None
service.loadBalancerSourceRanges	Restricts access for LoadBalancer (only with service.type: LoadBalancer)	[]
service.loadBalancerIP	loadBalancerIP if service type is LoadBalancer	nil
service.externalTrafficPolicy	Enable client source IP preservation	Cluster
service.annotations	Service annotations	{} (evaluated as a template)
ingress.enabled	Enable ingress controller resource	false
ingress.certManager	Add annotations for cert-manager	false
ingress.hostname	Default host for the ingress resource	wordpress.local
ingress.path	Default path for the ingress resource	/
ingress.tls	Create TLS Secret	false
ingress.annotations	Ingress annotations	[] (evaluated as a template)
ingress.extraHosts[0].name	Additional hostnames to be covered	nil
ingress.extraHosts[0].path	Additional hostnames to be covered	nil
ingress.extraPaths	Additional arbitrary path/backend objects	nil
ingress.extraTls[0].hosts[0]	TLS configuration for additional hostnames to be covered	nil
ingress.extraTls[0].secretName	TLS configuration for additional hostnames to be covered	nil
ingress.secrets[0].name	TLS Secret Name	nil
ingress.secrets[0].certificate	TLS Secret Certificate	nil
ingress.secrets[0].key	TLS Secret Key	nil

Persistence parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
persistence.enabled	Enable persistence using PVC	true
persistence.existingClaim	Enable persistence using an existing PVC	nil
persistence.storageClass	PVC Storage Class	nil (uses alpha storage class annotation)
persistence.accessMode	PVC Access Mode	ReadWriteOnce
persistence.size	PVC Storage Request	10Gi
persistence.dataSource	PVC data source	{}

Database parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
mariadb.enabled	Deploy MariaDB container(s)	true
mariadb.architecture	MariaDB architecture (standalone or replication)	standalone
mariadb.auth.rootPassword	Password for the MariaDB root user	random 10 character alphanumeric string
mariadb.auth.database	Database name to create	bitnami_wordpress
mariadb.auth.username	Database user to create	bn_wordpress
mariadb.auth.password	Password for the database	random 10 character long alphanumeric string
mariadb.primary.persistence.enabled	Enable database persistence using PVC	true
mariadb.primary.persistence.accessModes	Database Persistent Volume Access Modes	[ReadWriteOnce]
mariadb.primary.persistence.size	Database Persistent Volume Size	8Gi
externalDatabase.host	Host of the external database	localhost
externalDatabase.user	Existing username in the external db	bn_wordpress
externalDatabase.password	Password for the above username	nil
externalDatabase.database	Name of the existing database	bitnami_wordpress
externalDatabase.port	Database port number	3306
externalDatabase.existingSecret	Name of the database existing Secret Object	nil

Volume Permissions parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
volumePermissions.enabled	Enable init container that changes the owner and group of the persistent volume(s) mountpoint to runAsUser:fsGroup	false
volumePermissions.image.registry	Init container volume-permissions image registry	docker.io
volumePermissions.image.repository	Init container volume-permissions image name	bitnami/bitnami-shell
volumePermissions.image.tag	Init container volume-permissions image tag	"10"
volumePermissions.image.pullPolicy	Init container volume-permissions image pull policy	Always
volumePermissions.image.pullSecrets	Specify docker-registry secret names as an array	[] (does not add image pull secrets to deployed pods)
volumePermissions.resources.limits	Init container volume-permissions resource limits	{}
volumePermissions.resources.requests	Init container volume-permissions resource requests	{}
volumePermissions.securityContext.*	Other container security context to be included as-is in the container spec	{}
volumePermissions.securityContext.runAsUser	User ID for the init container (when facing issues in OpenShift or uid unknown, try value "auto")	0

Metrics parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
metrics.enabled	Start a side-car prometheus exporter	false
metrics.image.registry	Apache exporter image registry	docker.io
metrics.image.repository	Apache exporter image name	bitnami/apache-exporter
metrics.image.tag	Apache exporter image tag	{TAG_NAME}
metrics.image.pullPolicy	Image pull policy	IfNotPresent
metrics.image.pullSecrets	Specify docker-registry secret names as an array	[] (does not add image pull secrets to deployed pods)
metrics.service.port	Service Metrics port	9117
metrics.service.annotations	Annotations for enabling prometheus to access the metrics endpoints	{prometheus.io/scrape: "true", prometheus.io/port: "9117"}
metrics.resources.limits	The resources limits for the metrics exporter container	{}
metrics.resources.requests	The requested resources for the metrics exporter container	{}
metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled	Create ServiceMonitor Resource for scraping metrics using PrometheusOperator	false
metrics.serviceMonitor.namespace	Namespace where servicemonitor resource should be created	nil
metrics.serviceMonitor.interval	Specify the interval at which metrics should be scraped	30s
metrics.serviceMonitor.scrapeTimeout	Specify the timeout after which the scrape is ended	nil
metrics.serviceMonitor.relabellings	Specify Metric Relabellings to add to the scrape endpoint	nil
metrics.serviceMonitor.honorLabels	honorLabels chooses the metric's labels on collisions with target labels.	false
metrics.serviceMonitor.additionalLabels	Used to pass Labels that are required by the Installed Prometheus Operator	{}

Other parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
pdb.create	Enable/disable a Pod Disruption Budget creation	false
pdb.minAvailable	Minimum number/percentage of pods that should remain scheduled	1
pdb.maxUnavailable	Maximum number/percentage of pods that may be made unavailable	nil
autoscaling.enabled	Enable autoscaling for WordPress	false
autoscaling.minReplicas	Minimum number of WordPress replicas	1
autoscaling.maxReplicas	Maximum number of WordPress replicas	11
autoscaling.targetCPU	Target CPU utilization percentage	nil
autoscaling.targetMemory	Target Memory utilization percentage	nil

The above parameters map to the env variables defined in bitnami/wordpress. For more information please refer to the bitnami/wordpress image documentation.

Specify each parameter using the --set key=value[,key=value] argument to helm install. For example,

helm install my-release \
  --set wordpressUsername=admin \
  --set wordpressPassword=password \
  --set mariadb.auth.rootPassword=secretpassword \
    bitnami/wordpress

The above command sets the WordPress administrator account username and password to admin and password respectively. Additionally, it sets the MariaDB root user password to secretpassword.

NOTE: Once this chart is deployed, it is not possible to change the application's access credentials, such as usernames or passwords, using Helm. To change these application credentials after deployment, delete any persistent volumes (PVs) used by the chart and re-deploy it, or use the application's built-in administrative tools if available.

Alternatively, a YAML file that specifies the values for the above parameters can be provided while installing the chart. For example,

helm install my-release -f values.yaml bitnami/wordpress

Tip

: You can use the default values.yaml

Configuration and installation details

Rolling VS Immutable tags

It is strongly recommended to use immutable tags in a production environment. This ensures your deployment does not change automatically if the same tag is updated with a different image.

Bitnami will release a new chart updating its containers if a new version of the main container, significant changes, or critical vulnerabilities exist.

Known limitations

When performing admin operations that require activating the maintenance mode (such as updating a plugin or theme), it's activated in only one replica (see: bug report). This implies that WP could be attending requests on other replicas while performing admin operations, with unpredictable consequences.

To avoid that, you can manually activate/deactivate the maintenance mode on every replica using the WP CLI. For instance, if you installed WP with three replicas, you can run the commands below to activate the maintenance mode in all of them (assuming that the release name is wordpress):

kubectl exec $(kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=wordpress -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') -c wordpress -- wp maintenance-mode activate
kubectl exec $(kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=wordpress -o jsonpath='{.items[1].metadata.name}') -c wordpress -- wp maintenance-mode activate
kubectl exec $(kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=wordpress -o jsonpath='{.items[2].metadata.name}') -c wordpress -- wp maintenance-mode activate

Additional environment variables

In case you want to add extra environment variables (useful for advanced operations like custom init scripts), you can use the extraEnvVars property.

wordpress:
  extraEnvVars:
    - name: LOG_LEVEL
      value: error

Alternatively, you can use a ConfigMap or a Secret with the environment variables. To do so, use the extraEnvVarsCM or the extraEnvVarsSecret values.

Sidecars

If additional containers are needed in the same pod as WordPress (such as additional metrics or logging exporters), they can be defined using the sidecars parameter. If these sidecars export extra ports, extra port definitions can be added using the service.extraPorts parameter. Learn more about configuring and using sidecar containers.

External database support

You may want to have WordPress connect to an external database rather than installing one inside your cluster. Typical reasons for this are to use a managed database service, or to share a common database server for all your applications. To achieve this, the chart allows you to specify credentials for an external database with the externalDatabase parameter. You should also disable the MariaDB installation with the mariadb.enabled option. Here is an example:

mariadb.enabled=false
externalDatabase.host=myexternalhost
externalDatabase.user=myuser
externalDatabase.password=mypassword
externalDatabase.database=mydatabase
externalDatabase.port=3306

Refer to the documentation on using an external database with WordPress and the tutorial on integrating WordPress with a managed cloud database for more information.

Pod affinity

This chart allows you to set your custom affinity using the affinity parameter. Find more information about Pod affinity in the kubernetes documentation.

As an alternative, use one of the preset configurations for pod affinity, pod anti-affinity, and node affinity available at the bitnami/common chart. To do so, set the podAffinityPreset, podAntiAffinityPreset, or nodeAffinityPreset parameters.

Ingress

This chart provides support for Ingress resources. If an Ingress controller, such as nginx-ingress or traefik, that Ingress controller can be used to serve WordPress.

To enable Ingress integration, set ingress.enabled to true. The ingress.hostname property can be used to set the host name. The ingress.tls parameter can be used to add the TLS configuration for this host. It is also possible to have more than one host, with a separate TLS configuration for each host. Learn more about configuring and using Ingress.

TLS secrets

The chart also facilitates the creation of TLS secrets for use with the Ingress controller, with different options for certificate management. Learn more about TLS secrets.

.htaccess files

For performance and security reasons, it is a good practice to configure Apache with the AllowOverride None directive. Instead of using .htaccess files, Apache will load the same directives at boot time. These directives are located in /opt/bitnami/wordpress/wordpress-htaccess.conf.

By default, the container image includes all the default .htaccess files in WordPress (together with the default plugins). To enable this feature, install the chart with the value allowOverrideNone=yes.

Learn more about working with .htaccess files.

Persistence

The Bitnami WordPress image stores the WordPress data and configurations at the /bitnami path of the container. Persistent Volume Claims are used to keep the data across deployments. Learn more about persistence in the chart documentation.

Troubleshooting

Find more information about how to deal with common errors related to Bitnami’s Helm charts in this troubleshooting guide.

Upgrading

To 10.0.0

On November 13, 2020, Helm v2 support was formally finished, this major version is the result of the required changes applied to the Helm Chart to be able to incorporate the different features added in Helm v3 and to be consistent with the Helm project itself regarding the Helm v2 EOL.

Learn more about this change and related upgrade considerations.

Additional upgrade notes

• MariaDB dependency version was bumped to a new major version that introduces several incompatabilitees. Therefore, backwards compatibility is not guaranteed unless an external database is used. Check MariaDB Upgrading Notes for more information.
• If you want to upgrade to this version from a previous one installed with Helm v3, there are two alternatives:
  • Install a new WordPress chart, and migrate your WordPress site using backup/restore tools such as VaultPress or All-in-One WP Migration.
  • Reuse the PVC used to hold the MariaDB data on your previous release. To do so, follow the instructions below (the following example assumes that the release name is wordpress).

Warning: please create a backup of your database before running any of these actions. The steps below would be only valid if your application (e.g. any plugins or custom code) is compatible with MariaDB 10.5.

Obtain the credentials and the name of the PVC used to hold the MariaDB data on your current release:

$ export WORDPRESS_PASSWORD=$(kubectl get secret --namespace default wordpress -o jsonpath="{.data.wordpress-password}" | base64 --decode)
$ export MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=$(kubectl get secret --namespace default wordpress-mariadb -o jsonpath="{.data.mariadb-root-password}" | base64 --decode)
$ export MARIADB_PASSWORD=$(kubectl get secret --namespace default wordpress-mariadb -o jsonpath="{.data.mariadb-password}" | base64 --decode)
$ export MARIADB_PVC=$(kubectl get pvc -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=wordpress,app.kubernetes.io/name=mariadb,app.kubernetes.io/component=primary -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}")

Upgrade your release (maintaining the version) disabling MariaDB and scaling WordPress replicas to 0:

$ helm upgrade wordpress bitnami/wordpress --set wordpressPassword=$WORDPRESS_PASSWORD --set replicaCount=0 --set mariadb.enabled=false --version 9.6.4

Finally, upgrade you release to 10.0.0 reusing the existing PVC, and enabling back MariaDB:

$ helm upgrade wordpress bitnami/wordpress --set mariadb.primary.persistence.existingClaim=$MARIADB_PVC --set mariadb.auth.rootPassword=$MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD --set mariadb.auth.password=$MARIADB_PASSWORD --set wordpressPassword=$WORDPRESS_PASSWORD

You should see the lines below in MariaDB container logs:

$ kubectl logs $(kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=wordpress,app.kubernetes.io/name=mariadb,app.kubernetes.io/component=primary -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}")
...
mariadb 12:13:24.98 INFO  ==> Using persisted data
mariadb 12:13:25.01 INFO  ==> Running mysql_upgrade
...

To 9.0.0

The Bitnami WordPress image was migrated to a "non-root" user approach. Previously the container ran as the root user and the Apache daemon was started as the daemon user. From now on, both the container and the Apache daemon run as user 1001. You can revert this behavior by setting the parameters securityContext.runAsUser, and securityContext.fsGroup to 0. Chart labels and Ingress configuration were also adapted to follow the Helm charts best practices.

Consequences:

• The HTTP/HTTPS ports exposed by the container are now 8080/8443 instead of 80/443.
• No writing permissions will be granted on wp-config.php by default.
• Backwards compatibility is not guaranteed.

To upgrade to 9.0.0, it's recommended to install a new WordPress chart, and migrate your WordPress site using backup/restore tools such as VaultPress or All-in-One WP Migration.

To 8.0.0

Helm performs a lookup for the object based on its group (apps), version (v1), and kind (Deployment). Also known as its GroupVersionKind, or GVK. Changing the GVK is considered a compatibility breaker from Kubernetes' point of view, so you cannot "upgrade" those objects to the new GVK in-place. Earlier versions of Helm 3 did not perform the lookup correctly which has since been fixed to match the spec.

In https://github.com/helm/charts/pulls/12642 the apiVersion of the deployment resources was updated to apps/v1 in tune with the api's deprecated, resulting in compatibility breakage.

This major version signifies this change.

To 3.0.0

Backwards compatibility is not guaranteed unless you modify the labels used on the chart's deployments. Use the workaround below to upgrade from versions previous to 3.0.0. The following example assumes that the release name is wordpress:

kubectl patch deployment wordpress-wordpress --type=json -p='[{"op": "remove", "path": "/spec/selector/matchLabels/chart"}]'
kubectl delete statefulset wordpress-mariadb --cascade=false