Category: Blogging

Whenever Ghost released 5.0 back in May, they made a change so that Ghost no longer supports SQLite3 or MySQL 5.

I didn’t mind running SQLite until the recent 5.9 changes on the Docker image for Ghost changed all of that. So now, if you try to run Ghost via SQLite3 on your Docker container, it will stop working.

Obviously, if you still want your site to run, you would either need to continue to use a older version of Ghost (Eg. Anything <5.9) OR change to MySQL 8.

Unfortunely, if you are running a modern day control panel like Plesk or cPanel, you may not be able to use MySQL 8 as it may have only been distrbuted with MariaDB. MariaDB is not supported on Ghost either. Solely Oracle’s MySQL 8.

So if you already have MariaDB installed and you do not want to go through the hassle of going through the task of switching database engines and potentially causing issues for non-Ghost sites, then carry out the following:

This will involve creating 2 Docker containers:

• A new Ghost docker container
• MySQL 8 Docker container.

We’ll quicky go through the MySQL 8 Docker set up.

• Volume Mapping should set to /var/lib/mysql and the 2nd box should be set to /var/docker/<container_name>/mysql

  • You can put this anywhere that you like, but I advise keeping it within the /var/ directory for ease of access.

• Uncheck the ‘Automatic Port mapping’ and you will be presented with 2 ports.

  • Port 3306 would already be used by MariaDB so change this to another port. I chose 3307.
  • Port 33060 would also be used by MariaDB so change this to 33061

Where it has Environment Variables, add the following:

• MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD and in the 2nd box, add in your root password. This is caps sensitive, so ensure this is strong.

Now with the database server created, we will need to create the database, for this, you will need to drop into the shell for this container.

In SSH, connect to your server and ensure that you are on root user.

• Type docker exec -it <mysql_docker_container> /bin/bash/ eg: docker exec -it mysqleight_docker /bin/bash and press enter.
• Type mysql -p and enter in your MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD that you set earlier. Now you should see mysql >
• Type CREATE DATABASE db_name; (Replace db_name with the new name of your database)
• Type exit; to drop out of the MySQL shell and then Ctrl/Cmd+D to drop out of the docker container.

Now to set up Ghost.

Create a Ghost container as per my guide here:

How to install Ghost 5 on Plesk Obsidian

Sidenote: The above link should be a bookmark and look fancy and shit, but because I am using a .blog TLD, it breaks! Mental! I have already reported it to the Ghost devs but they are not looking at it. 🙄

When you are setting the “Environment Variables”, you will need to make the following additions:

• database__client – mysql
• database__connection__host – 123.123.123.123 (Your Server IP address)
• database__connection__user – root
• database__connection__password – **************
• database__connection__database – db_name
• database__connection__port – 3007

Press “OK” and this will create a blank new Ghost site.

Create your site as per normal, then go to https://<site>/ghost/#/settings/labs to import your content.

Then copy your content folder back to /var/ghost/my_new_awesome_ghost_container/content – Restart the Ghost container and most (if not all), your posts, content, themes and everything should be back.

You can update the Ghost container as you would have before.

This is a follow-on to my previous post about installing Ghost 5 on Plesk Obsidian. Please check it out!

How to install Ghost 5 on Plesk Obsidian

This is actually really simple, but, we want to be protected first!

Go into your Ghost site, click on the Cog “⚙” at the bottom and click on “Labs” and click on “Export your content” to download the content.

When that is done, head into Plesk.

• Go to “Docker” on the left-hand side.
• Find your container. Eg. padraig_is_awesome
• Click on “Details”
• Click “Recreate”
• Choose the latest version numbered. Do NOT choose latest

• DO NOT CHECK THE BOX for “Reset variables to default”. This will break your site!
• Click on “Recreate” and after a few seconds, it will be upgraded.

You can check the version of your site by going into your Ghost admin panel, clicking on the avatar on the bottom left and clicking on “About Ghost”

This is an update to the Ghost 4 install guide from March 2021. The instructions are pretty much the same.

UPDATE: 20th December 2022 – This guide has been updated to include instructions on implementing Ghost with MySQL 8.

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Yesterday, May 23rd, Ghost released Version 5 to everyone which contains support for new custom premium tiers, multiple newsletters, special offers, detailed audience segmenting, and expanded analytics.

They have also expanded their ‘cards’ feature which is embeddable content native within Ghost. They have support for videos, podcasts, callouts (Which will be demonstrated in this post) and even N /// F /// T's via OpenSea URLs (but that is something that you will probably not see here)

A full look at the changelog for Ghost 5 can be found here:

https://ghost.org/changelog/5

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So let’s install Ghost on Plesk.

Prerequisites

• Plesk Obsidian – (I am using 18.0.43)
• Docker extension (This is already preinstalled, but you should check in the ‘Extensions’ menu to make sure)
• MySQL 8 (MariaDB is not supported) – Ensure that you create a new database and note the details. [If you are on Debian (like me), you will need to install a MySQL 8 Docker container in order to use it]

Installing Ghost

• Go to “Docker“
• In the search box, type in “Ghost” and press enter.

• You will see “ghost” with the [OFFICIAL] tag. Click the highlighted arrow and choose the latest version (This may say 5.0.0 or similar. Do not choose latest or 5.x.x-alpine)
• This will download the image and bring you to the next screen.

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Configuring Ghost Docker Container! (😨)

• Container Name: Call this whatever you want, ideally something relating to your site. For this example, we’re calling this padraig_is_awesome
• Check the box for ✅”Automatic start after system reboot“
• Un-check the box for “Automatic port mapping”
  • Manual mapping: 2368 to external 32778
• Volume mapping:
  • “Container“: /var/lib/ghost/content
  • “Host“: /var/ghost/padraig_is_awesome/content (replace padraig_is_awesome with your container name from the top of the page!
• Near the bottom of the page, click on “Add Variable“
• In the blank boxes, type url in the first box and your URL (eg: https://padraig.blog in the second box (Make sure this domain is registered and added to Plesk)
• Add the database details:
  • Ensure that the database has been created first before proceeding. The information below is just sample data and should not be used!
  • database__client – mysql
  • database__connection__host – 123.123.123.123 (Your Server IP address)
  • database__connection__user – root
  • database__connection__password – **************
  • database__connection__database – db_name
  • database__connection__port – 3006

Your screen should look very similar to this:

• Now click “OK” and let it install.
• Go back to “Websites & Domains” and find your site, click on “Docker Proxy Rules“

• Click “Add Rule”
  • URL: Leave this alone
  • Container: Choose your container
  • Port: This should say 2368 -> 32778
  • Click “OK“

• Give that a couple of minutes for it to work and you can access your site via https://padraig.blog/ghost (Obviously replace padraig.blog with your own domain name)

And you should be good to go!

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Frequently Asked Questions!

What if I want to run a 2nd or 3rd Ghost blog on Plesk?

Repeat the steps above, the only thing to change are:

• The “Container Name“
• The port, change it from 32778 to 32779

What if I want it at domain.com/blog?

• Indicate this in the url on the setup page.
• And when you add it in the rule on the “Docker Proxy Rules” page, add blog where it says “URL“

I want to move this to/from a subdomain from/to a naked domain?

• Go into the “Docker Proxy Rules” and remove the rule from here.
• Go into “Docker” on the left-hand side.
• Click on “Settings” beside the container and adjust the url in here. This will more than likely restart the container.
• Re-add the “Docker Proxy Rules” to the new subdomain or naked domain.

How do I access the files if I want to import themes or other content?

• Connect via SSH to your server (FTP will not work)
• Navigate to /var/ghost/$containername/content

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If there are any other questions, hit me up on Twitter and I will try to help where possible, but as mentioned, I am not an expert. Do not rely on me to resolve your issue. Try StackOverflow, Plesk’s forums, Ghost’s forums, Google, DuckDuckGo.

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