SlickStack [ss] Beta 20.04

SlickStack is a free LEMP stack automation script written in Bash designed to enhance and simplify WordPress provisioning, performance, and security.

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Google PageSpeed	GTMetrix	Pingdom	Security Headers	Qualys SSL Labs	WebPageTest
A	A	A	A	A	A

• NEW! WordPress Core will now be reinstalled automatically every 2 months as per the default "sometimes" cron job... modify this schedule in ss-config by use ing the SS_INTERVAL_INSTALL_WORDPRESS_CORE variable (or disable it completely). We will continue to add more interval schedules so that every core SS script can be set to automatically run on any of our 12 core cron job schedules!

• NEW! We are experimenting with a new "dashboard" that lets admin-level WOrdPress users easily review their SlickStack related settings... if you want to disable this new feature for now, you can run ss-update to get the latest boilerplate then set SS_DASHBOARD to "false" in ss-config then run ss-install-wordpress-config again and the feature should then disappear.

• NEW! There is now an interactive Bash wizard when you run ss-install on SlickStack servers (new servers) that don't yet have ss-config files. This helps admins save time in setting up new LEMP stacks by simply running thru a few options using the wizard and proceeding with the installation process without having to spend any time configuring the ss-config file manually as was previously required. This wizard now also has "defaults" for all prompts, meaning that for most options you can simply hit the ENTER key (besides critical fields like SITE_DOMAIN or SITE_TLD and so forth, which always require unique values to be input).

• NEW! We continue to better organize SlickStack filenames including various new sub-scripts that can be run indendently and/or sourced within other Core scripts. For example, ss-install has been broken down into various scripts such as ss-install-php etc. This means that our Github repo (or third party sysadmins) can easily reinstall the PHP-FPM module without having to go through the entire installation process. For better scaling and organizing of Core cron jobs, we have also moved to a double-digit prefix for all cron jobs starting from 00 for crontab and going up from there e.g. 01-cron-... etc. This means that cron jobs will remain clearly ordered while viewing them in the shell terminal above the core directories and core Bash scripts installed by SlickStack.

• NEW! Staging sites are now included by default on the /staging/ subdirectory as a separate WordPress installation... by default, we include special MU plugins like Disable Emails and Disable Default Runner (WooCommerce Scheduler) and we also disable WP Cron as well as part of our distinct wp-config boilerplate for staging sites... running ss-muplugs now manages MU plugins for both production and staging sites... and the new ss-sync script is what duplicates all content from production to staging (including the database to hardcoded staging_ tables)... by default ss-sync will run every 12 hours (half-daily cron)... staging sites are now live and active for all SlickStack environments but still considered BETA so please offer feedback in our Facebook/Spectrum groups...

• NEW! ss-optimize converts all MyISAM tables to InnoDB, removes junk SQL data, and more. We recommend running this script manually, or only occassionally, to avoid confusion and to allow for easily restoring potential data loss (although we are extremely careful/limited about removing SQL data).

• NEW! (Experimental) SSH keys are now supported (save public key into /var/www/meta/.ssh/authorized_keys)

• NEW! SlickStack now bundles Adminer (phpmyadmin) by default, access at: example.com/adminer

• NEW! We briefly disabled SQL_MODE in the my.cnf boilerplate due to a conflict with ss-config default settings for the recommended MySQL mode. After realizing that MySQL 8.0 no longer supports NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER, we removed that submode from the default SQL_MODE in the ss-config boilerplate default settings, and re-enabled SQL_MODE in the my.cnf boilerplate.

• NEW! SlickStack is now considered Beta (no longer Alpha) and has been moved to supporting Ubuntu 20.04 LTS only, along with PHP 7.4 and MySQL 8.0 which are the new Ubuntu defaults. We have ensured no critical conflicts exist, but some of the documentation and configuration are still being fully optimized for these updated module versions.

• NEW! To avoid potential conflicts we've added a SS_MU_PLUGINS variable that should be set to either default or custom in order to activate the custom list of MU plugins that you can edit in your ss-config file...

• NEW! ss-update now performs a "safety" check before running to ensure that it is compatible with the latest version of ss-config in order to avoid overwriting the current ss-config version with an outdated boilerplate...

• NEW! SlickStack now supports fully customizing the MU (Must-Use) plugins that are installed. This can be done easily by defining the download link and desired directory name of each MU plugin in the ss-config advanced settings (in case these variables are missing, SlickStack will default to the LittleBizzy plugins). Keep in mind that the Autoloader, Object Cache, Custom Functions, and XXX Notices plugins are required and cannot be disabled at this time.

• NEW! SlickStack now has self-healing functions in the root Crontab and 1-cron-often and 2-cron-regular to ensure that Core Cron Jobs will be reinstalled fresh in case they are missing or damaged. This self-healing function also ensures that the critical Core Bash Scripts ss-check and ss-worker also exist and are intact every single day!

NOTE: The self-healing function will respect any custom Cron Job schedules found in your ss-config file...

• NEW! Running ss-update will now automagically update your ss-config to latest template... any variables that are missing or undefined will simply be setup using the default (recommended) values for those variables...

• NEW! Long-awaited Let's Encrypt (Certbot) support is now live using SSL_TYPE option in ss-config... those who do not wish to use CloudFlare can now use this approach instead... OpenSSL + CloudFlare is still always our recommended approach however... also, keep in mind that during initial setup (the first time that you request an SSL cert via Certbot) you will still need to have CloudFlare active for .well-known domain verification to work properly over HTTPS (otherwise Certbot will complain re: the self-signed OpenSSL cert)...

• NEW! All Nginx functionality is now via TCP-only (127.0.0.1) including FastCGI cache for more robust scaling... many Nginx settings can now be customized using ss-config... check back for more options soon...

• NEW! All MySQL functionality is now via TCP-only (127.0.0.1) including during setup and when purging transient cache via ss-purge for better database performance and smoother traffic scaling...

• NEW! Our new default object cache (forked from PressJitsu) supports a OBJECT_CACHE defined constant set to either true (default) or false to easily deactivate object caching without needing to delete the object-cache.php file...

• NEW! ss-purge will now delete all Transients (along with clearing all LEMP stack caches)...

• NEW! ss-restart now provides a quick and easy way to restart all LEMP services for testing, etc...

• NEW! SlickStack now supports throwaway themes to customize wp_options during install...

• NEW! The ss-purge core script clears FastCGI Cache, OPcache, and Redis object cache in one go...

• NEW! SlickStack can now convert DOS files to Unix format via SS_DOS2UNIX variable in ss-config that will run automatically whenever the ss-perms script is called (end of the script)...

• NEW! SlickStack now supports custom plugin blacklists using PLUGIN_BLACKLIST_SOURCE variable...

• NEW! SlickStack now does include_once within wp-config.php on the Custom Functions (MU plugin) file /var/www/html/wp-content/functions.php meaning much more reliable PHP functions...

Core Modules [read more]

Last updated: Nov 1, 2020

Default Ports: 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), 6969 (SSH)

LEMP Module	Mirrors	Version	What does SlickStack [ss] customize?
Ubuntu	mirrors	20.04 (LTS)	crontab + gai.conf + sshd_config + sudoers + sysctl.conf
Nginx (Extras)	mirrors	1.18.x	nginx.conf + default (server block)
FastCGI Cache	mirrors	1.18.x	fastcgi-cache.conf (moved to nginx.conf)
OpenSSL	mirrors	1.1.1x	nginx.crt + nginx.key
Let's Encrypt	mirrors	0.40.x	cert.perm + privkey.pem + chain.pem + fullchain.pem
MySQL	mirrors	8.0.x	my.cnf
PHP-FPM	mirrors	7.4.x	php.ini + php-fpm.conf + www.conf
Zend / OPcache	mirrors	3.4.x / 7.4.x	(same as PHP-FPM)
Redis (Obj Cache)	mirrors	5.0.x	redis.conf + object-cache.php
WordPress	mirrors	5.5.3	some WP Core junk files are removed by ss-clean
MU Plugins	mirrors	(n/a)	optional mu-plugins by LittleBizzy
WP-CLI	mirrors	2.4.0	default config
Adminer	mirrors	4.7.7	default config
Git	mirrors	2.25.x	default config
UFW Firewall	mirrors	0.36	ufw + ufw.conf + user-rules
ClamAV	mirrors	0.102.x	freshclam.conf

Abstract [read more]

Most of modern computing history can be traced back to one thing: Unix. Indeed, one of the only things about web servers that hasn't changed much in several decades is the Unix shell (Bash) command language. Keeping the same pragmatism and simplicity in mind that inspired LittleBizzy's managed hosting, SlickStack [ss] is coded entirely in Bash.

While there are clear benefits to programming languages like Python or Ruby, provisioning a server with WordPress isn't very complicated, and every Linux machine comes with Bash built into it. Plus, let's not forget what happens when typical web agencies rely on advanced dependencies like Ansible... yikes! Onward, then...

Requirements (Compatibility) [read more]

NOTE: SlickStack [ss] will never support installing multiple TLD domains on a single server. This is to ensure top speed, stability, and security (i.e. technical SEO). We will also never include any type of UI interface, to allow third party applications to integrate SlickStack [ss] with management tools as they best see fit.

SlickStack [ss] works best on cloud servers with KVM virtualization that have at least 2GB RAM from quality network providers such as DigitalOcean, Vultr, Hostwinds, and AWS Lightsail. The underlying LEMP stack configuration is meant primarily for high-traffic single-site WordPress installations, although support for Multisite installations is being planned. SlickStack [ss] supports WordPress, WooCommerce, bbPress, and BuddyPress "out of the box" with optimized settings that scale -- what this means is that you can upgrade your cloud server to a bigger or better instance, and run ss-install again, and most settings will (re)optimize themselves.

Currently, SlickStack [ss] is meant for a single origin server with a single 127.0.0.1 database, although remote databases should also work fine. Server "clustering" or "load balancing" has not been tested, and is not the goal here; complex enterprise-style configurations for WordPress are rarely needed (and can be expensive and difficult to manage), thus SlickStack [ss] aims to to provide a simple solution for the 99% of WordPress sites that don't need such complexity.

It should also be noted that SlickStack [ss] is HTTPS-only, and that HSTS is enabled by default, meaning that HTTP sites are not supported. Because OpenSSL generates self-signed certificates, SlickStack [ss] servers require CloudFlare to be active in front of your server in order for SSL certificates to be properly CA-signed and loaded by your browser, at least until the first ss-install has been completed (after that, you can switch to Certbot / Let's Encrypt).

Installation [read more]

Because it’s written purely in Bash (Unix shell), SlickStack [ss] has no dependencies and works on any Ubuntu Linux machine. Unlike heavier provisioning tools like EasyEngine or Ansible, there are no third party languages required such as Python or Docker, meaning a lighter and simpler approach to launching WordPress servers.

The below installation steps assume that you've already spun up a dedicated Ubuntu Linux VPS server (KVM) with at least 2GB RAM memory and that you are now logged in via SSH:

1. sudo mkdir /var/www/ && sudo chown root:root /var/www/ && sudo chmod 755 /var/www/

2. sudo nano /var/www/ss-config configure as desired

3. cd /var/www/ && sudo wget -O ss slick.fyi && sudo chmod 755 ss && sudo bash ss

4. sudo reboot

NOTE: SlickStack [ss] requires CloudFlare to be activated on your domain before SSL (HTTPS) will be recognized as a fully secure and CA-signed domain, because of its self-signed OpenSSL certificate.

From this point forward, you can manage your SlickStack [ss] server by simply using the sudo bash command on any one of the included ss scripts located within the /var/www/ directory, as needed. However, in most cases there shouldn't be any need for much hands-on management as the server will intelligently run various cron jobs which connect to this GitHub repo (or whichever fork of this repo that your team has setup... be sure to modify all wget sources).

You can safely re-install SlickStack [ss] anytime via sudo bash /var/www/ss-install without causing any conflicts or data loss since the installation process is completely idempotent.

Directory Structure

After completing the installation steps above, your /var/www/ directory should look exactly as below. Keep in mind that you should never directly modify the crontab on any SlickStack [ss] server, nor should you modify any of the files appearing below with the exception of ss-config (this does not apply to "WordPress" files found under /var/www/html/)...

/var/www/0-crontab
/var/www/1-cron-often
/var/www/2-cron-regular
/var/www/3-cron-quarter-hourly
/var/www/4-cron-half-hourly
/var/www/5-cron-hourly
/var/www/6-cron-quarter-daily
/var/www/7-cron-half-daily
/var/www/8-cron-daily
/var/www/9-cron-half-weekly
/var/www/10-cron-weekly
/var/www/11-cron-half-monthly
/var/www/12-cron-monthly
/var/www/13-cron-sometimes
/var/www/cache/
/var/www/html/
/var/www/logs/
/var/www/meta/
/var/www/ss-check
/var/www/ss-clean
/var/www/ss-config
/var/www/ss-config-sample
/var/www/ss-dump
/var/www/ss-encrypt
/var/www/ss-import
/var/www/ss-install
/var/www/ss-muplugs
/var/www/ss-perms
/var/www/ss-purge
/var/www/ss-restart
/var/www/ss-scan
/var/www/ss-update
/var/www/ss-worker

...likewise, your /var/www/html/ (WordPress) directory should look like this:

/var/www/html/wp-admin/...
/var/www/html/wp-content/
/var/www/html/wp-content/blacklist.txt
/var/www/html/wp-content/functions.php
/var/www/html/wp-content/index.php
/var/www/html/wp-content/languages/
/var/www/html/wp-content/mu-plugins/
/var/www/html/wp-content/object-cache.php
/var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/
/var/www/html/wp-content/temp/
/var/www/html/wp-content/themes/
/var/www/html/wp-content/upgrade/
/var/www/html/wp-content/uploads/
/var/www/html/wp-includes/...
/var/www/html/wp-...

MU (Must-Use) Plugins [read more]

If you choose to deploy a SlickStack [ss] server using our free WPLite boilerplate, the installation process will include several Must Use plugins inside your WordPress structure (/var/www/html/wp-content/mu-plugins/) that are maintained by LittleBizzy. If you do not wish for these Must Use plugins to be installed, and want a default "vanilla" WordPress installation, choose "wordpress" instead of "wplite" when setting up your ss-config options:

• Autoloader: Enables standard WordPress plugins contained in a folder to be placed in the mu-plugins directory and loaded prior to others (forked from Bedrock).
• Clear Caches: The easiest way to clear caches including WordPress cache, PHP Opcache, Nginx cache, Transient cache, Varnish cache, and object cache (e.g. Redis).
• CloudFlare: Easily connect your WordPress website to free optimization features from CloudFlare, including one-click options to purge cache and enable dev mode.
• Custom Functions: Enables the ability to input custom WordPress functions such as filters in a centralized place to avoid the dependence on a theme functions.php file.
• Dashboard Cleanup: Cleans up the WP Admin backend by disabling various bloat features including nag notices, Automattic spam, and other outdated and pointless items.
• Delete Expired Transients: Deletes all expired transients upon activation and on a daily basis thereafter via WP-Cron to maintain a cleaner database and improve performance.
• Disable Attachment Pages: Completely disables media attachment pages which then become 404 errors to avoid thin content SEO issues and better guard against snoopers and bots.
• Disable Embeds: Disables both external and internal embedding functions to avoid slow page render, instability and SEO issues, and to improve overall loading speed.
• Disable Emojis: Completely disables both the old and new versions of WordPress emojis, removes the corresponding javascript calls, and improves page loading times.
• Disable Empty Trash: Completely disables the automatic trash empty for WordPress posts, custom posts, pages, and comments to avoid data loss and encourage manual emptying.
• Disable Gutenberg: Completely disables the Gutenberg block editor and enables the classic WordPress post editor (TinyMCE aka WYSIWYG) for lighter coding and simplicity.
• Disable Image Compression: Completely disables all JPEG compression in WordPress including image uploads, thumbnails, and image editing tools, thus retaining original quality.
• Disable Post Via Email: Completely disables and hides the Post Via Email feature included in WordPress core for stronger security and to simplify the backend settings page.
• Disable XML-RPC: Completely disables all XML-RPC related functions in WordPress including pingbacks and trackbacks, and helps prevent attacks on the xmlrpc.php file.
• Error Log Monitor:
• Force Strong Hashing: Forces all user passwords generated by WordPress to be hashed using Bcrypt, the most secure and popular PHP hashing algorithm currently available.
• Header Cleanup: Cleans up most of the unnecessary junk meta included by default in the WordPress header including generator, RSD, shortlink, previous and next, etc.
• Limit Heartbeat: Limits the Heartbeat API in WordPress to certain areas of the site (and a longer pulse interval) to reduce AJAX queries and improve resource usage.
• Minify HTML: Tactfully minifies HTML output and markup to remove line breaks, whitespace, comments, and other code bloat to cleanup source code and improve speed.
• Plugin Blacklist: Allows web hosts, agencies, or other WordPress site managers to disallow a custom list of plugins from being activated for security or other reasons.
• Server Status: Useful statistics about the server OS, CPU, RAM, load average, memory usage, IP address, hostname, timezone, disk space, PHP, MySQL, caches, etc.
• SFTP Details: Displays a small Dashboard widget to remind logged-in Admin users of their server SFTP login information for easy reference (uses defined constants).
• Virtual Robotstxt: Replaces the default virtual robots.txt generated by WordPress with an editable one, and deletes any physical robots.txt file that may already exist.
• XXX Notices: Occasional notices designed to appear in the WP Admin Dashboard that mention important changes regarding the SlickStack environment (white-labeled).

Defined Constants

The included Must Use plugins that SlickStack [ss] bundles as part of the wplite boilerplate support the following defined constants. Some of them are hard-coded in the wp-config.php file in order to optimize performance, however they can otherwise be customized using the Custom Functions file at /wp-content/functions.php ... please note that some of these are "planned" and not yet functional, we are hurrying to update the documentation accordingly.

/** Plugin Meta (Limited Support) */
define('AUTOMATIC_UPDATE_PLUGINS', false); // default = false
define('DISABLE_NAG_NOTICES', false); // default = false

/** Clear Caches Functions (v1.2.1) */
define('CLEAR_CACHES', true); // default = true
define('CLEAR_CACHES_NGINX', true); // default = true
define('CLEAR_CACHES_NGINX_PATH', '/var/www/cache'); // default = /var/www/cache
define('CLEAR_CACHES_OBJECT', true); // default = true
define('CLEAR_CACHES_OPCACHE', true); // default = true

/** CloudFlare Functions (v1.5.0) */
define('CLOUDFLARE', true); // default = true
define('CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY', '@CLOUDFLAREAPIKEY'); // *must be unique*
define('CLOUDFLARE_API_EMAIL', '@CLOUDFLAREAPIEMAIL'); // *must be unique*
// define('CLOUDFLARE_WIDGET_DNS', true); // default = true
// define('CLOUDFLARE_WIDGET_ANALYTICS', true); // default = true

/** Custom Functions Functions (v1.0.0) */
// define('CUSTOM_FUNCTIONS', true); // default = true
// define('CUSTOM_FUNCTIONS_PATH', '/var/www/html/wp-content/functions.php'); // default = /var/www/html/wp-content/functions.php

/** Dashboard Cleanup Functions (v1.1.2) */
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_ADD_PLUGIN_TABS', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_ADD_THEME_TABS', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_CSS_ADMIN_NOTICE', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_DISABLE_SEARCH', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_EVENTS_AND_NEWS', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_IMPORT_EXPORT_MENU', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_LINK_MANAGER_MENU', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_QUICK_DRAFT', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_THANKS_FOOTER', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_WELCOME_TO_WORDPRESS', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_WOOCOMMERCE_CONNECT_STORE', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_WOOCOMMERCE_FOOTER_TEXT', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_WOOCOMMERCE_MARKETPLACE_SUGGESTIONS', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_WOOCOMMERCE_PRODUCTS_BLOCK', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_WOOCOMMERCE_TRACKER', true); // default = true
define('DASHBOARD_CLEANUP_WP_ORG_SHORTCUT_LINKS', true);  // default = true

/** Delete Expired Transients Functions */
define('DELETE_EXPIRED_TRANSIENTS', true); // default = true
define('DELETE_EXPIRED_TRANSIENTS_HOURS', '6'); // default = 6
define('DELETE_EXPIRED_TRANSIENTS_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME', '10'); // default = 10
define('DELETE_EXPIRED_TRANSIENTS_MAX_BATCH_RECORDS', '50'); // default = 50

/** Disable Attachment Pages Functions */
// define('DISABLE_ATTACHMENT_PAGES', true); // default = true

/** Disable Embeds Functions (v1.3.0) */
define('DISABLE_EMBEDS', true); // default = true
define('DISABLE_EMBEDS_ALLOWED_SOURCES', 'twitter,facebook,youtube,soundcloud,etc'); // default = none

/** Disable Emojis Functions */
// define('DISABLE_EMOJIS', true); // default = true

/** Disable Empty Trash Functions */
// define('DISABLE_EMPTY_TRASH', true); // default = true

/** Disable Gutenberg Functions (v1.1.0) */
define('DISABLE_GUTENBERG', true); // default = true

/* Disable Image Compression Functions */
// define('DISABLE_IMAGE_COMPRESSION', true); // default = true

/** Disable jQuery Migrate Functions */
// define('DISABLE_JQUERY_MIGRATE', true); // default = true

/** Disable Post Via Email Functions */
// define('DISABLE_POST_VIA_EMAIL', true); // default = true

/** Disable XML-RPC Functions */
// define('DISABLE_XML_RPC', true); // default = true

/** Force HTTPS Functions (v1.4.0) */
define('FORCE_HTTPS', true); // default = true
define('FORCE_HTTPS_EXTERNAL_LINKS', false); // default = false
define('FORCE_HTTPS_EXTERNAL_RESOURCES', true); // default = true
define('FORCE_HTTPS_INTERNAL_LINKS', true); // default = true
define('FORCE_HTTPS_INTERNAL_RESOURCES', true); // default = true

/** Force Strong Hashing Functions */
// define('FORCE_STRONG_HASHING', true); // default = true

/** Header Cleanup Functions */
// define('HEADER_CLEANUP', true); // default = true

/** Index Autoload Functions (v1.1.1) */
// define('INDEX_AUTOLOAD', true); // default = true
define('INDEX_AUTOLOAD_REGENERATE', false); // default = false

/** Limit Heartbeat Functions (v1.1.0) */
define('LIMIT_HEARTBEAT', true); // default = true
define('LIMIT_HEARTBEAT_DISABLE_DASHBOARD', false); // default = false
define('LIMIT_HEARTBEAT_DISABLE_EDITOR', false); // default = false
define('LIMIT_HEARTBEAT_DISABLE_FRONTEND', true); // default = true
define('LIMIT_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_DASHBOARD', 600); // default = 600
define('LIMIT_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_EDITOR', 30); // default = 30
define('LIMIT_HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_FRONTEND', 300); // default = 300

/** Minify HTML Functions (v1.0.1) */
define('MINIFY_HTML', true); // default = true
define('MINIFY_HTML_INLINE_STYLES', true); // default = true
define('MINIFY_HTML_INLINE_STYLES_COMMENTS', true); // default = true
define('MINIFY_HTML_REMOVE_COMMENTS', true); // default = true
define('MINIFY_HTML_REMOVE_CONDITIONALS', true); // default = true
define('MINIFY_HTML_REMOVE_EXTRA_SPACING', true); // default = true
define('MINIFY_HTML_REMOVE_HTML5_SELF_CLOSING', false); // default = false
define('MINIFY_HTML_REMOVE_LINE_BREAKS', true); // default = true
define('MINIFY_HTML_INLINE_SCRIPTS', false); // default = false
define('MINIFY_HTML_INLINE_SCRIPTS_COMMENTS', false); // default = false
define('MINIFY_HTML_UTF8_SUPPORT', true); // default = true

/* Plugin Blacklist Functions */
define('PLUGIN_BLACKLIST', true); // default = true

/* Remove Query Strings Functions */
define('REMOVE_QUERY_STRINGS', true); // default = true
define('REMOVE_QUERY_STRINGS_ARGS', 'v,ver,version'); // default = v,ver,version

/* Server Status Functions */
define('SERVER_STATUS', true); // default = true
define('SERVER_STATUS_DISPLAY', 'widefat'); // default = none

/* SFTP Details Functions */
define('SFTP_DETAILS', true); // default = true
define('SFTP_DETAILS_SERVER', '123.123.123.123'); // *must be unique*
define('SFTP_DETAILS_USER', 'username'); // *must be unique*
define('SFTP_DETAILS_PASSWORD', 'password'); // *must be unique*
define('SFTP_DETAILS_PORT', '6969'); // default = 6969
define('SFTP_DETAILS_ROOT_DIR', '/var/www'); // default = /var/www
define('SFTP_DETAILS_PUBLIC_DIR', '/var/www/html'); // default = /var/www/html

/* Virtual Robots.txt Functions */
define('VIRTUAL_ROBOTSTXT', true); // default = true

Philosophy

Outside of the so-called Application Layer, so much of the way computers and servers now work has been moved away from in-house teams and specialists and onto "the cloud" that terms like DevOps have become standard among recruiters, companies, and developers alike. Modern web development trends have begun to revolve entirely around concepts such as automation, APIs, cloud services, and beyond — a phenomenon we might refer to as Web 3.0.

While this shift is exciting, there is now a massive and growing disconnect between these emerging technologies and the humans that are expected to implement or benefit from them. Typical small business owners (SMBs), along with independent agencies or freelancers, now face a virtually impossible learning curve if they wish to maintain a competitive "webdev" edge, let alone keep up with basic standards in website performance and security.

While Silicon Valley "gurus" and corporations pump out new SaaS services (or incredibly complex Configuration Management tools like Ansible) on a daily basis, the typical small business website is still trying to figure out how to make their contact forms work correctly. The "legacy" shared web hosting monopolies — think EIG or GoDaddy — also have little motivation to education their audience, as perpetuating confusion seems to be a core pillar of their business model.

Thus, before the likes of Google and Amazon and Shopify and Wix take over the entire web and turn it into Wall Street-backed website builders that feed into their private ecosystems, SlickStack hopes to bridge the knowledge gap between emerging technology and old-school web development to empower SMBs to achieve top notch website performance and security by offering a "controlled" LEMP-stack environment with limited options that is perfectly suited to the world's most popular open-source CMS: WordPress.

Comparison

...	SlickStack	EasyEngine	ServerPilot	Runcloud	Ansible	Puppet	Salt	Chef	Trellis	AnsiPress	VVV	VCCW	Centminmod	VPSSIM
100% Free	Yes	Yes	No	No	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Dependencies	None	Python	Ruby	Python	Python	Python	Ansible	Ansible	Vagrant	Vagrant	(Unix)	(Unix)	-	--
Direct Management	Yes	Yes	No	No	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Shell Commands	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	--	--
WordPress Focus	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	--	--
Single Site Focus	Yes	N/A	No	No	N/A	N/A	No	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Email APIs	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	No	No	No	No	No	No	--	--	--	--
Monitoring	Monit	N/A	None	None	None	None	None	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

Others: Moss.sh, Webinoly, VestaCP, OneInStack, OpenResty, ServerPilot, RunCloud

FAQ

Can I use your technical SEO features on non-SlickStack sites?

Yes, you can. If you or your client has a WordPress website on a web host somewhere and can't move it to a SlickStack server for the time being, you can still make use of all our mu-plugins (micro plugins) that are included in SlickStack by simply installing them one-by-one. Or you can install "less" plugins by installing the "parent" plugins instead, such as Speed Demon, SEO Genius, Security Guard.

Why do you use Ubuntu instead of other distros?

Many geeky distro fanboys love to hate on Ubuntu for one reason or another, but the truth remains that besides RedHat, Ubuntu has been the only stand out and dominant Linux distro for many years now. They have beyond proven themselves when it comes to regularl and reliable versioning and release schedules, and incredible package maintenance. Ubuntu has their finger on the pulse of industry changes and has a solid idea of what packages should be included -- and what versions of those packages. Their unique and impressive focus on stability makes them a perfect OS to base a LEMP stack script on. Their decisions end up widely impacting the greater web hosting and web dev community, and they have a corporate sponsor that is financially stable, while still maintaining and promoting a truly open source community that is the perfect answer to avoiding Big Tech monopolies.

More: https://slickstack.io/features/ubuntu/

What version of WordPress does SlickStack install?

Generally it installs the latest (current) version of WordPress, as long its not a major version. In other words, since our goal is stability and security, SlickStack will always bundle the most recent "minor" version of WordPress. So if the latest release of WordPress over at WordPress.org is currently 5.2.0 then SlickStack will usually wait to bundle version 5.2.1 because these minor versions (as per semantic versioning standards) means that several bugs and patches have now been fixed. So in this scenario if 5.2.1 is not yet available, then SlickStack will install 5.1.1 because its the latest stable "minor" patched release.

More: https://slickstack.io/features/wordpress/

Why do you use MySQL instead of MariaDB?

The original reason for the MariaDB fork was because a handful of engineers feared that Oracle would neglect MySQL after they acquired Sun Microsystems in favor of the Oracle Database systems. This turned out to be far from true, and MySQL has maintained its market dominance without blinking an eye, while continue to be open source. While its true that MariaDB is more transparent about bug patches, and perhaps is more open source minded, the argument that MariaDB has better performance is really just not true when you compare typical WordPress hosting scenarios. Plus, MySQL continues to come out with new revolutionary features that the smaller team at MariaDB will likely find it impossible to compete with. Ultimately, the point is that Ubuntu still ships with MySQL being the default on their distributions, and until that changes, we will be sticking with MySQL. Our goal is stability and trusting the "upstream" stack as much as possible, which means not fixing things that aren't broken. We fully expect many companies might be moving back to MySQL in the next few years as well... time will tell.

More: https://slickstack.io/features/mysql/

Why do you use OpenSSL instead of Let's Encrypt?

This is largely a decision that is based on LittleBizzy's web hosting approach, which requires our clients to be behind CloudFlare. As the fastest DNS resolver in the world, it simply doesn't make any sense right now NOT to use CloudFlare, especially since its completely free. By using OpenSSL, which is included in Ubuntu Linux, it means easier installation and configuration, and it never expires either. In contrast, Let's Encrypt is much more complicated to setup and maintain, and their certificates expire constantly after 90 days, meaning your server management software must constantly renew it and manage it. There is really no point in our view to introduce more potential conflicts and failures into SlickStack, when OpenSSL pairs perfectly with CloudFlare's free SSL network, soon to be the largest SSL provider in the world. By using self-signed certs, SlickStack [ss] also avoids the potential of Man-In-The-Middle attacks, meaning even stronger security. This decision might change in the future, but for now we will only be supporting OpenSSL self-signed certicates and assuming an integration with CloudFlare.

More: https://slickstack.io/features/openssl/

What is the complete list of Nginx modules that are installed?

nginx -V
nginx version: nginx/1.15.8
built with OpenSSL 1.1.0g  2 Nov 2017
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --with-cc-opt='-g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' --with-ld-opt='-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fPIC' --prefix=/usr/share/nginx --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log --lock-path=/var/lock/nginx.lock --pid-path=/run/nginx.pid --modules-path=/usr/lib/nginx/modules --http-client-body-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/body --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/fastcgi --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/proxy --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/scgi --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/uwsgi --with-compat --with-debug --with-pcre-jit --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_realip_module --with-http_auth_request_module --with-http_v2_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_slice_module --with-threads --with-http_addition_module --with-http_flv_module --with-http_geoip_module=dynamic --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_image_filter_module=dynamic --with-http_mp4_module --with-http_perl_module=dynamic --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_secure_link_module --with-http_sub_module --with-http_xslt_module=dynamic --with-mail=dynamic --with-mail_ssl_module --with-stream=dynamic --with-stream_ssl_module --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-headers-more-filter --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-auth-pam --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-cache-purge --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-dav-ext --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-ndk --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-echo --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-fancyindex --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/nchan --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-lua --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/rtmp --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-uploadprogress --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-upstream-fair --add-dynamic-module=/build/nginx-hFnDHF/nginx-1.15.8/debian/modules/http-subs-filter

What is the complete list of Nginx packages installed?

dpkg --get-selections | grep -i nginx
libnginx-mod-http-auth-pam                      install
libnginx-mod-http-cache-purge                   install
libnginx-mod-http-dav-ext                       install
libnginx-mod-http-echo                          install
libnginx-mod-http-fancyindex                    install
libnginx-mod-http-geoip                         install
libnginx-mod-http-headers-more-filter           install
libnginx-mod-http-image-filter                  install
libnginx-mod-http-lua                           install
libnginx-mod-http-ndk                           install
libnginx-mod-http-perl                          install
libnginx-mod-http-subs-filter                   install
libnginx-mod-http-uploadprogress                install
libnginx-mod-http-upstream-fair                 install
libnginx-mod-http-xslt-filter                   install
libnginx-mod-mail                               install
libnginx-mod-nchan                              install
libnginx-mod-stream                             install
nginx-common                                    install
nginx-extras                                    install

What is the complete list of PHP-FPM modules installed?

php -m
[PHP Modules]
bcmath
calendar
Core
ctype
curl
date
dom
exif
fileinfo
filter
ftp
gd
gettext
hash
iconv
igbinary
json
libxml
mbstring
mysqli
mysqlnd
openssl
pcntl
pcre
PDO
pdo_mysql
Phar
posix
readline
redis
Reflection
session
shmop
SimpleXML
soap
sockets
sodium
SPL
standard
sysvmsg
sysvsem
sysvshm
tokenizer
wddx
xml
xmlreader
xmlwriter
xsl
Zend OPcache
zip
zlib

[Zend Modules]
Zend OPcache

What is the complete list of PHP-FPM packages installed?

dpkg --get-selections | grep -i php
php-common                                      install
php-igbinary                                    install
php-redis                                       install
php7.2                                          install
php7.2-bcmath                                   install
php7.2-cli                                      install
php7.2-common                                   install
php7.2-curl                                     install
php7.2-fpm                                      install
php7.2-gd                                       install
php7.2-json                                     install
php7.2-mbstring                                 install
php7.2-mysql                                    install
php7.2-opcache                                  install
php7.2-readline                                 install
php7.2-soap                                     install
php7.2-xml                                      install
php7.2-zip                                      install

Why don't use you env-vars (environment variables)?

Teams who use GitHub repos to develop their sites (e.g. dev/stage/production branches) have started using env-vars with systems like Roots Trellis so that their entire codebase can be safely open-source. However, this requires defining the env-vars within the server stack (hidden from public root) so it's not so friendly for many agencies. Since our goal is to support "typical" agencies with mostly frontend knowledge, we felt that reflecting the WordPress setup was a simpler approach and so if using SlickStack there will be two config files (ss-config and wp-config.php)

But shouldn't configs be outside the public root?

There's lots of "should" and theorizing in computer programming, but one reason for the success of WordPress is its pragmatism and user-friendliness. There's plenty to criticize about WordPress from the perspective of things like "12-factor apps" but let's remember that WordPress was around before many of these guidelines and even after better approaches have been founded, WordPress is still the king of CMS software for a reason.

Why ss-config-sample and not ss-config-example?

Because we aim to mirror WordPress Core as much as possible. Because the misnomer has existed in WordPress since the beginning, the WP Core team has no intention of changing it.

Why don't you use TMPFS or similar?

For stability reasons, we don't use any tpmfs (memory-based storage) for caching or otherwise, as it introduces more instability, possible data loss, and doesn't necessarily improve performance. What people people don't realize is Linux already uses tmpfs for its own purposes, and already stores many "requests" in RAM. Best to let the operating system do its thing, and we optimize the software packages installed.

Can I run apt update && apt upgrade without issues?

Yes, you can. The entire point of SlickStack is to be a lightweight group of Bash scripts that save you time without adding bloat to your stack (and reducing most learning curves). Your LEMP stack will be just like any other LEMP stack tutorial you might setup using a tutorial online, just using our optimized templates for Nginx blocks, etc (and optional Must Use plugins for WordPress). But after setup is complete, you can just use the Ubuntu package manager to run updates if you like or just run ss-update and it will do the same thing instead (it always defaults to using the existing/old conf files to retain all configuration).

Thanks

• rtCamp -- various inspiration
• Roots -- various inspiration and original author of Autoloader script
• Centminmod -- various inspiration
• Alex Georgiou -- feedback on WP-CLI configuration
• Janis Elsts -- author of Error Log Monitor plugin
• PressJitsu -- various inspuration and original author of Object Cache script

Ref

• https://www.alexgeorgiou.gr/wp-cli-www-data-user-permissions-linux/

Keywords

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