WPCloudDeploy Documentation

Reasons Servers Fail To Deploy

In general, a server should finish deploying within 30 minutes. Most, except those from VULTR, should deploy in 20 mins or less.

Here are some reasons that a server might fail to deploy properly or look like it’s “stuck”:

Keys, Keys, Keys

By far, the number one reason for servers not deploying is an incorrect combination of PUBLIC-PRIVATE SSH keys provided in the SETTINGS screen.  Check, double-check and triple-check that your public-private key combinations are correct and that your password for your private key, if any, is valid (and does not contain special characters).

How to generate SSH key-pairs

If the information for your SSH key-pair is not entered properly we cannot log into the newly provisioned server to install our stack.

If this is the issue, the server will be created and will be visible in your Cloud Provider’s control panel.  But then the process will be ‘stuck’ in WPCD because it cannot log into the server.

Bad Location & Size Combination

Many providers do not have all server sizes at all locations.  VULTR’s High Frequency servers are a particular egregious violator.  And, recently, the ‘CX’ series of servers at Hetzner are not always available in their US locations but available at their European locations.

So, it is possible that you might be requesting a server size that just isn’t available.  Double-check your server provider’s website to make sure that the server size you’re trying to provision is available in the region/location you’re using.

If this is the issue, the failure will be reported within 60 seconds.

Firewalls & Proxies

When a new server is being provisioned, it needs to call back into the server on which the WPCD plugin is installed.  If that server has a firewall in front of it, then the call-backs might be blocked.  The easiest way to handle this is to white-list your new servers’ IP as soon as it’s finished being created – you’ll need to monitor your server providers’ dashboard to see when the server is up and running and then copying its IP address to white-list on your firewall.


WP Cron Jobs Are Not Running

Please verify that WPCD Cron jobs are running in WordPress.  These jobs are described here.


WP REST API Is Blocked

We use the WP REST API to call back from servers and sites into the WPCloudDeploy plugin.  If the WP REST API is blocked then we will not be notified when processes have been completed on servers and sites.

Some reasons that this might be blocked are as follows:

  • Many security plugins try to block the API so please double-check that this option is turned off if you are using one.
  • Some proxies such as CloudFlare might have page rules or other rules that block the WP REST API access. Please double-check that such rules have not been inadvertently added if you’re using such a proxy service.

Critical WPCD Folders Might Be Blocked

If you’re using WPCD on a server that we have not configured for you, then it is possible that a security plugin or other security process is blocking direct access to the plugins/wp-cloud-deploy folder.  We download files from this folder to your cloud servers so if this is blocked things will just not work.

Please check the Firewalls & Proxies section of our Requirements Document for additional information.


See also: Common server deployment issues and error messages

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