Ghost CMS High Availability

Ghost CMS HA is a publishing platform for content creators, journalists, and media outlets. The application deploys one Ghost virtual machine and a highly available Managed Service for MySQL^® cluster with two hosts in the ru-central1-a and ru-central1-d availability zones.

Main Ghost CMS features

• Minimalistic editor. A user-friendly interface for writing articles, with Markdown support, dynamic blocks (galleries, video, audio, and bookmarks), and distraction-free work.
• Membership management. Reader registration and management of access to content.
• SEO. Automatic generation of meta tags, sitemaps, and structured data, without installing additional plugins.
• Customization. Full control over the frontend, support for themes, and the ability to create a unique design (Handlebars.js).

Data is stored in Yandex Managed Service for MySQL^® with automatic backups, replication, and monitoring.

1. The application requires a domain delegated to Yandex Cloud DNS. At your domain registrar, specify the ns1.yandexcloud.net. and ns2.yandexcloud.net. name servers. For more information, see How to delegate a domain to Cloud DNS servers.

2. Create a public DNS zone for the delegated domain and save its ID.

3. Create a Yandex Virtual Private Cloud network and subnets in the ru-central1-a and ru-central1-d availability zones.

4. Create a Yandex Lockbox secret containing the password for a Managed Service for MySQL^® database. In the Key field, enter db_password.

5. In the management console, select the folder where you want to deploy the application.

6. Select Cloud Apps.

7. In the left-hand panel, select Marketplace.

8. Select Ghost CMS HA and click Use.

9. Specify the following:

   • Application name: the name of your Ghost CMS HA instance.
   • (Optional) Application description.
   • A service account with the admin role for the folder, or select Auto to create the required service account during installation.
   • ID of the DNS zone where the application’s domains will be hosted.
   • (Optional) Site subdomain for Ghost CMS. The default is an empty subdomain. The site domain is formed by adding the subdomain to the DNS zone domain.
   • (Optional) Admin dashboard subdomain. The default is admin. The admin dashboard domain is formed by adding the subdomain to the DNS zone domain.
   • (Optional) Mail sender. The default is noreply@site_domain. This is used to configure SMTP via Yandex Cloud Postbox.
   • VPC subnets in the ru-central1-a and ru-central1-d availability zones for deploying the Managed Service for MySQL^® cluster.
   • (Optional) VPC subnet where the virtual machine will be deployed. The default is the subnet in the ru-central1-d availability zone.
   • (Optional) Number of vCPU cores. The default is 2.
   • (Optional) RAM in GB. The default is 2 GB.
   • (Optional) Guaranteed vCPU performance. Available values: 20%, 50%, or 100%. The default is 100%.
   • (Optional) Public SSH key. It will be added to the Ghost user’s authorized_keys. For instructions on creating an SSH key, see the documentation.
   • (Optional) Disk type. The default is network-ssd. For more information about disk types, see Storage in Managed Service for MySQL^®.
   • (Optional) Additional VM disk size in GB. The default is 20 GB. A separate 10 GB boot disk is also created.
   • ID of the secret containing the database password for connecting to the Managed Service for MySQL^® cluster, created earlier.
   • (Optional) Managed Service for MySQL^® cluster disk size in GB. The default is 20 GB.

10. Click Install and wait for installation to complete.

After successful installation, Ghost CMS HA will be available at:

• Main website: https://your-domain
• Ghost admin dashboard: https://admin.your-domain/ghost

For initial setup, open the admin dashboard link from the installation outputs and create an admin account. The installation outputs provide links to the website, admin dashboard, and Lockbox secret containing passwords. Keep passwords in the secret and do not publish them.

Deleting the application

1. Delete the Yandex Cloud Postbox address created automatically during installation. For technical reasons, it will not be deleted automatically when you delete the application.
2. Delete the DNS record created to verify the Yandex Cloud Postbox address.
3. Delete all objects from the Yandex Object Storage buckets created during installation, as only empty buckets can be deleted.
4. Delete the Ghost CMS HA instance.

• News outlets and personal blogs.
• Communities with access to exclusive content.
• Corporate blogs and knowledge bases.
• Brand media for promoting products and services.

Yandex Cloud technical support is available 24/7. The types of requests you can submit and the relevant response times depend on your pricing plan. You can switch to the paid support plan in the management console. You can learn more about the technical support terms and conditions here.