Install Multiple Ghost Sites on One DigitalOcean Droplet

01 November 2024

If you’re already using Ghost on a DigitalOcean droplet and want to add more Ghost instances to the same server, this guide is for you.

Prerequisites:

Your server uses Ghost’s supported Ubuntu, MySQL, NGINX, and systemd stack.
The server has enough memory and storage for another Ghost process and database.
You are logged into the droplet via SSH as a user with sudo access.
Your domain name is connected to the droplet’s IP address.
You have backed up every existing Ghost site on the server.

Before continuing, read Ghost’s current Ubuntu installation requirements and Ghost CLI documentation. Multiple sites share the server’s CPU, memory, disk, MySQL, and NGINX, so monitor resource use after adding the site.

1. Back Up the Existing Site

Run the backup command inside the existing Ghost installation:

sudo -i -u ghost-mgr
cd /var/www/ghost
ghost backup
exit

Repeat this for any other Ghost installations on the server.

2. Create a Directory for the New Site

Create a separate directory and give the DigitalOcean Ghost manager account ownership:

sudo mkdir /var/www/new-blog
sudo chown ghost-mgr:ghost-mgr /var/www/new-blog

Replace new-blog with a short name for the new publication.

3. Switch to the Ghost Manager Account

DigitalOcean’s Ghost image uses ghost-mgr for Ghost maintenance:

sudo -i -u ghost-mgr

Then enter the directory:

cd /var/www/new-blog

4. Install the New Ghost Site

Run the supported production installer:

ghost install

Follow the prompts for the new domain, MySQL administrator credentials, NGINX, SSL, systemd, and starting Ghost. Choose a unique database name when prompted.

Do not reuse the application database account from the existing site’s configuration. Ghost CLI’s MySQL setup creates a dedicated, minimally privileged database user for the new installation.