Skip to content

Full Walkthrough to Migrate a WordPress Site from a Raspberry Pi to a Proxmox VM

Migrating a WordPress site from a Raspberry Pi to a Proxmox VM can seem complicated, but with a structured approach, it becomes straightforward. This guide walks you through the process in a generalized way, without revealing any sensitive details such as usernames, passwords, or actual domain content.

Migrating a WordPress site from a Raspberry Pi to a Proxmox VM can seem complicated, but with a structured approach, it becomes straightforward. This guide walks you through the process in a generalized way, without revealing any sensitive details such as usernames, passwords, or actual domain content.

Step 1: Prepare the Raspberry Pi

  • Stop Nginx and MySQL to prevent changes during backup.
  • Backup WordPress files: tar.gz of the site folder.
  • Export the WordPress database: mysqldump.

Step 2: Copy Files to Proxmox VM

  • Use scp or rsync to transfer the WordPress files and database dump to the VM’s home directory.

Step 3: Prepare Proxmox VM

  • Install a LEMP stack: Nginx, PHP-FPM, and MySQL.
  • Check the PHP-FPM version and note the socket path.

Step 4: Restore WordPress Files

  • Extract the tar.gz into /var/www/.
  • Set proper ownership and permissions (www-data).

Step 5: Create Database and Import

  • Create a MySQL database and user.
  • Import the database dump, fixing collation issues if necessary.

Step 6: Configure Nginx

  • Set up a site file pointing to the WordPress folder.
  • Ensure the fastcgi_pass points to the correct PHP-FPM socket.
  • Test Nginx configuration and reload.

Step 7: SSL Certificates (Optional)

  • Copy existing Let’s Encrypt certificates or issue new ones.
  • Update Nginx SSL paths if needed.
  • Test Nginx to confirm SSL works.

Step 8: Test the Site

  • Optionally update /etc/hosts to point the domain to the VM IP.
  • Open the site in a browser and confirm WordPress is running.
  • Re-save permalinks to ensure URLs work.

Step 9: Add Sample Blog Post

  • Use the WordPress admin dashboard to create a new post.
  • Title: “Full Walkthrough to Migrate a WordPress Site from a Raspberry Pi to a Proxmox VM”
  • Content: This guide demonstrates how to migrate a WordPress site safely and efficiently, ensuring that files, database, Nginx configuration, and SSL certificates are all handled correctly.

By following this step-by-step approach, you can migrate WordPress safely and have a fully functional site on your Proxmox VM with minimal downtime.

Migrating a WordPress site from a Raspberry Pi to a Proxmox VM can seem complicated, but with a structured approach, it becomes straightforward. This guide walks you through the process in a generalized way, without revealing any sensitive details such as usernames, passwords, or actual domain content.

Step 1: Prepare the Raspberry Pi

Stop Nginx and MySQL to prevent changes during backup:

“`bash
sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo systemctl stop mysql

Backup WordPress files:

cd /var/www/<wordpress-site-folder>
sudo tar czvf ~/wordpress-files.tar.gz .

Export the database:

mysqldump -u root -p <wordpress-db-name> > ~/wordpress-db.sql

Step 2: Copy Files to Proxmox VM

scp ~/wordpress-files.tar.gz user@<vm-ip>:~
scp ~/wordpress-db.sql user@<vm-ip>:~

Step 3: Prepare Proxmox VM

Install Nginx, PHP-FPM, and MySQL:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx php-fpm mysql-server -y

Check PHP version and socket:

php -v
ls /var/run/php/

Step 4: Restore WordPress Files

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/<wordpress-site-folder>
sudo tar xzvf ~/wordpress-files.tar.gz -C /var/www/<wordpress-site-folder>
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/<wordpress-site-folder>
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/<wordpress-site-folder>

Step 5: Create Database and Import

Create database and user:

CREATE DATABASE <wordpress-db-name>;
CREATE USER '<wp-user>'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '<password>';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON <wordpress-db-name>.* TO '<wp-user>'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Import the database:

mysql -u <wp-user> -p <wordpress-db-name> < ~/wordpress-db.sql

If collation errors occur:

sed 's/utf8mb4_uca1400_ai_ci/utf8mb4_unicode_ci/g' ~/wordpress-db.sql > ~/wordpress-db-fixed.sql
mysql -u <wp-user> -p <wordpress-db-name> < ~/wordpress-db-fixed.sql

Step 6: Configure Nginx

Edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/<wordpress-site>:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name <domain> www.<domain>;

    root /var/www/<wordpress-site-folder>;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/<php-fpm-socket>;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Enable and test:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/<wordpress-site> /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 7: SSL Certificates (Optional)

Copy existing certificates:

sudo rsync -avz /etc/letsencrypt/ user@<vm-ip>:/tmp/letsencrypt-backup/

On VM:

sudo rsync -avz /tmp/letsencrypt-backup/ /etc/letsencrypt/
sudo chown -R root:root /etc/letsencrypt
sudo chmod -R 755 /etc/letsencrypt

Update Nginx paths:

ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/privkey.pem;

Test:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 8: Test the Site

Optionally update /etc/hosts locally:

<vm-ip> <domain> www.<domain>

Visit in browser and confirm the site is running.
Resave permalinks: Settings → Permalinks → Save Changes.

Step 9: Add Sample Blog Post

Using WordPress Admin:

  • Title: Full Walkthrough to Migrate a WordPress Site from a Raspberry Pi to a Proxmox VM
  • Content: This guide demonstrates how to migrate a WordPress site safely and efficiently, ensuring that files, database, Nginx configuration, and SSL certificates are all handled correctly.

Or via SQL:

INSERT INTO wp_posts
(post_author, post_date, post_date_gmt, post_content, post_title, post_status, post_type)
VALUES
(1, NOW(), NOW(), 'This guide demonstrates how to migrate a WordPress site safely and efficiently, ensuring that files, database, Nginx configuration, and SSL certificates are all handled correctly.', 'Full Walkthrough to Migrate a WordPress Site from a Raspberry Pi to a Proxmox VM', 'publish', 'post');

✅ Following these steps, you will have a fully migrated WordPress site on your Proxmox VM with a sample post ready to display. All critical files, database, Nginx config, and SSL are handled securely and without exposing sensitive information.


---

If you want, I can also **turn this into a ready-to-run shell + SQL script** that will:  

- Copy files from Pi → VM  
- Restore database  
- Configure Nginx + SSL  
- Add this blog post automatically  

Do you want me to make that script?

Tags: