Are you running a WordPress installation on Google Cloud Platform? If so, it is important that you have a system to remotely manage your WordPress files on Google Cloud.
For those of you who are experienced WordPress users, you’ve probably broken your site before. You’re well aware that a simple plugin malfunction or php code error can lock you out of your WordPress site.
When a plugin or code error breaks your WordPress site, you’ll need to be able to manage WordPress files on Google Cloud using a back-end method.
In this type of situation, when you’re unable to access your WordPress dashboard, don’t lose hope. You can still access your WordPress files remotely using an SFTP client.
In the video above I show you step-by-step how to configure an SFTP client for your WordPress Google Cloud installation.
There are 7 steps in this tutorial:
1. Install the Google Cloud SDK
2. Link SDK to your Google Account
3. Configure Compute Engine
4. Run gcloud Command
5. Configure SSH Key in FileZilla
6. Link SSH Key to Google Cloud
7. Connect to FileZilla
1. Install the Google Cloud SDK
To install the Google Cloud SDK, visit cloud.google.com/sdk.
2. Link SDK to your Google Account
After installing Google Cloud SDK, the terminal will open, and you will be asked to log in. Type “y” and press “enter”. Your browser will open up your Google accounts page, asking you to grant permissions for Google Cloud SDK.
3. Configure Compute Engine
The Google Cloud SDK will now ask if you want to configure Google Compute engine. Type “y” and press “enter” to continue.Next you will be prompted to select a zone. Either choose the zone that you selected when setting up your instance, or choose “21” to not set a default zone (recommended).
4. Run gcloud Command
After selecting your zone, go back to your Google Cloud Platform instance dashboard, and click the arrow next to the SSH button and select “View gcloud command”.Select and copy your gcloud command.Go back to your SDK terminal and paste the gcloud command.After you paste your gcloud command into the SDK terminal, a PuTTY terminal will launch. Paste you gcloud command into the PuTTY terminal. The PuTTY terminal will generate SSH keys. When asked if you want to enter a passphrase, leave the field empty and press enter.Your SSH key files will be saved into your computer files. You can locate your keys at: Windows (C:) > users > yourusername > .ssh.
5. Configure SSH Keys in FileZilla
Open FileZilla, and go to Edit > Settings. If you don’t have FileZilla installed, you can download it here.In the settings page, under Connection > SFTP, click on “add key file” to upload your SSH key file.Choose the middle SSH PuTTY key file.
6. Link SSH Key to Google Cloud
Go back to your Google Cloud platform VM instances page, and click on your WordPress instance.Click on the “edit” button on the top of the page next to the VM instances header.Scroll down to the middle of the page where it says “You have one SSH Key”. Click on “Show and edit”.Go back to your directory where your SSH keys are saved ( Windows (C:) > users > yourusername > .ssh), and select the bottom SSH key file. Open the file, and copy the entire text.Paste the entire contents of the key file into the SSH text area on your VM instance page. Select the very last part of the text (which identifies your PC), and delete it.Replace the deleted text with the name of your WordPress installation. If you’re using the Bitnami WordPress installation, you will add “bitnami” at the end of the text.Next, go up towards the middle of the page and copy the external IP address. Then, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the save button.
6. Connect to FileZilla
Go back to FileZilla, and paste the external IP address in the host field. Make sure to put “sftp://” before it (see picture). In the username field enter “bitnami”, and click the “Quick Connect” button to connect your WordPress instance.Success! You are now connected to your WordPress instance and will be able to use the FileZilla SFTP client to easily manage your WordPress files.
Did it work?
Please include your questions and comments below!
Comments
Michaelsays
Hi, Leron,
excellent video, thanks 🙂
Ran into a problem: after pasting gcloud command into the PuTTY terminal:
ERROR: (gcloud.compute.ssh) Could not fetch instance:
– Insufficient Permission
Hi Michael,
Your insufficient permission error likely has to do with your access scopes.
To change them, follow these steps as outlined in the Google Cloud documentation:
1. Go to the VM instances page in the Compute Engine.
2. Click on the VM instance for which you want to change the service account.
3. If the instance is not stopped, click the Stop button. Wait for the instance to be stopped.
4. Next, click the Edit button.
5. Scroll down to the Service Account section.
6. From the dropdown menu, select the desired service account.
7. To change scopes, in the Access scopes section, set the appropriate scopes for your needs. As a best practice, specify only the access scopes that your VM instance requires. If you’re not sure of the proper access scopes to set, choose Allow full access to all Cloud APIs and then make sure to restrict access by setting IAM roles.
8. Click the Save button to save your changes.
This is a common issue, that may or may not have to do with the formatting or your key file text.
If you still haven’t resolved the problem, check out these tutorials for possible solutions and see if they help.
As I help you through the problem I need to know: did you already generate key files? Or was this your first attempt at doing so? Check to see if you have key files located at C:/users/yourusername/.ssh. Based on the nature of the error, it is likely that SSH key files already exist.
Hi, Leron,
excellent video, thanks 🙂
Ran into a problem: after pasting gcloud command into the PuTTY terminal:
ERROR: (gcloud.compute.ssh) Could not fetch instance:
– Insufficient Permission
thanks for help,
Michael
Hi Michael,
Your insufficient permission error likely has to do with your access scopes.
To change them, follow these steps as outlined in the Google Cloud documentation:
1. Go to the VM instances page in the Compute Engine.
2. Click on the VM instance for which you want to change the service account.
3. If the instance is not stopped, click the Stop button. Wait for the instance to be stopped.
4. Next, click the Edit button.
5. Scroll down to the Service Account section.
6. From the dropdown menu, select the desired service account.
7. To change scopes, in the Access scopes section, set the appropriate scopes for your needs. As a best practice, specify only the access scopes that your VM instance requires. If you’re not sure of the proper access scopes to set, choose Allow full access to all Cloud APIs and then make sure to restrict access by setting IAM roles.
8. Click the Save button to save your changes.
Source: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/access/create-enable-service-accounts-for-instances#changeserviceaccountandscopes:
Let me know if this fixes your problem.
-Joe
Hi Leron,
Thank for providing so much useful video about google cloud platform.
need your help.
have an error : server refused our key.
here is the video about the error https://youtu.be/hwzMFZsQ7bY
thanks for help,
David Lee
Hey David,
This is a common issue, that may or may not have to do with the formatting or your key file text.
If you still haven’t resolved the problem, check out these tutorials for possible solutions and see if they help.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/204400/ssh-public-key-no-supported-authentication-methods-available-server-sent-publ (answer number 1)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20294381/google-server-putty-connect-disconnected-no-supported-authentication-methods-a
As I help you through the problem I need to know: did you already generate key files? Or was this your first attempt at doing so? Check to see if you have key files located at C:/users/yourusername/.ssh. Based on the nature of the error, it is likely that SSH key files already exist.
Let me know.
-Joe