Yes. Discourse and WordPress can share one VPS reliably when each runs in its own container stack and a host-level Nginx reverse proxy owns public ports 80 and 443. Nginx terminates HTTPS, then routes forum.example.com to Discourse on an internal port and www.example.com to WordPress on another. The important constraints are memory, persistent storage, backups, and the fact that both sites share one failure domain.
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What the shared-VPS architecture looks like
A default standalone Discourse installation expects to claim ports 80 and 443. WordPress also needs an HTTP service, so starting both stacks with their default public bindings creates a port conflict. Move both applications behind one host-level reverse proxy instead.
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- Nginx on the VPS host: listens publicly on TCP 80 and 443, handles HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects, terminates TLS, and selects a backend using the requested hostname.
- Discourse container: binds only to a loopback address and an internal host port such as 8080.
- WordPress container: binds only to another loopback port such as 8081, with its database reachable only on the Docker network.
- DNS: separate A records point the forum and website hostnames to the same VPS address.
A request for forum.example.com therefore follows this path: Internet, Nginx on port 443, Discourse at 127.0.0.1:8080. A request for www.example.com follows the same first two hops and then goes to WordPress at 127.0.0.1:8081. Neither application needs to expose its web port directly to the Internet.
Requirements and capacity planning
The current Discourse cloud installation guide specifies a 64-bit Linux server, root SSH access, Docker support, at least 1 GB of RAM with swap, and at least 10 GB of disk. It recommends 2 GB or more of RAM and 20 GB or more of disk for Discourse alone. Those figures are not a combined Discourse-and-WordPress specification.
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| Resource | Documented baseline | What a combined host must account for |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | 64-bit Linux with root SSH and Docker support | Also needs a supported Nginx package, firewall tooling, monitoring and room for upgrades |
| Memory | Discourse: 1 GB minimum with swap; 2 GB or more recommended | WordPress PHP workers, its database, page-cache behavior, plugins, Nginx, Docker and filesystem cache consume additional memory |
| Disk | Discourse: 10 GB minimum; 20 GB or more recommended | Add WordPress core files, uploads, media, both databases, container images, logs, backups and temporary upgrade space |
| Network | Public access to 80 and 443; restricted SSH | Mail delivery, image uploads, updates and backup transfers can add substantial traffic |
There is no canonical concurrent-user or universally correct RAM number for both applications. Themes, plugins, uploads, search indexing, mail, caching, traffic bursts and the VPS provider all change the result. Treat the Discourse recommendation as a floor for that application, not as a guarantee for the pair. Choose a plan with more than the 2 GB Discourse recommendation, enable swap as required by the Discourse baseline, and size upward from measured memory, CPU, disk and database growth.
A single VPS is attractive because it reduces monthly cost and administration. It also creates one failure domain: a kernel problem, exhausted memory, disk failure or provider outage can take both properties offline. Plan a move to separate hosts when either site needs independent scaling, a separate maintenance window, or stronger isolation.
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Prepare the VPS and DNS
- Provision a Docker-capable VPS. Use a 64-bit Linux image and obtain root SSH access. Apply system updates before installing application stacks.
- Create two DNS A records. Point
forum.example.comandwww.example.com(or your chosen site hostname) to the VPS public IPv4 address. Wait for the records to resolve before requesting certificates. - Reserve the host ports. Nginx must be the only process listening publicly on 80 and 443. Select loopback-only backend ports, for example 8080 for Discourse and 8081 for WordPress.
- Install the host reverse proxy and firewall. Do this before exposing either application. Keep a second SSH session open while changing firewall rules so a mistake does not lock you out.
Do not publish database or cache ports while preparing the host. PostgreSQL, Redis, MySQL or MariaDB should be reachable only from their application containers or from a deliberately restricted administration path.
Install Discourse with its supported Docker path
Discourse states that its officially supported production installations are Docker based. Follow the current installer, then complete the hostname, administrator account and outbound-mail settings. The hostname entered for Discourse must be the forum hostname, not the WordPress hostname.
During the first installation, the standard standalone configuration attempts to expose web traffic on ports 80 and 443. That is correct for a single-site server but cannot coexist with a host-level Nginx that must serve two sites. Finish the basic installation, then change the container’s web bindings before putting the forum into production.
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Move Discourse off ports 80 and 443
- Open the Discourse container configuration generated by the installer.
- Replace the public web bindings with a loopback binding such as
127.0.0.1:8080:80. Remove the direct 443 binding because Nginx will terminate TLS. - Save the configuration and rebuild or restart the Discourse container using the installer-supported procedure.
- Confirm that Discourse answers locally on port 8080 and that no Discourse container still owns host ports 80 or 443.
- Do not expose port 8080 in the VPS firewall. It is an internal hop from Nginx to the container.
Use the exact port-binding syntax accepted by the current Discourse template. Docker supports binding a selected host interface and port to a container port; binding to 127.0.0.1 prevents direct external access.
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Keep WordPress and its database independent of the Discourse container. The official WordPress image expects persistent storage: its initial files are copied into the web root, while the data that must survive a rebuild belongs in a volume. Use a separate database service and persistent volumes for both the WordPress files and database data.
The following skeleton shows the required separation. Set the variables to current, tested image tags and strong secrets in an environment file that is not committed to a public repository.
services:
db:
image: mariadb:${MARIADB_IMAGE_TAG}
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
MYSQL_DATABASE: ${WP_DB_NAME}
MYSQL_USER: ${WP_DB_USER}
MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${WP_DB_PASSWORD}
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${DB_ROOT_PASSWORD}
volumes:
- db_data:/var/lib/mysql
wordpress:
image: wordpress:${WORDPRESS_IMAGE_TAG}
restart: unless-stopped
depends_on:
- db
environment:
WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db:3306
WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: ${WP_DB_NAME}
WORDPRESS_DB_USER: ${WP_DB_USER}
WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: ${WP_DB_PASSWORD}
ports:
- 127.0.0.1:8081:80
volumes:
- wp_files:/var/www/html
volumes:
db_data:
wp_files:The database service has no host-port mapping, so it is available to WordPress through the private Compose network rather than from the Internet. The WordPress web service is reachable by Nginx through loopback port 8081. Keep uploads and themes in the persistent WordPress volume; otherwise a container replacement can remove them.
After starting the stack, open the WordPress hostname through Nginx and complete the installer. Set the site’s canonical URLs to the HTTPS hostname after certificates are active. Avoid installing a second web server on the host that competes with Nginx.
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Configure Nginx to route by hostname
Create one Nginx server block for each hostname. The essential proxy headers preserve the original host, client address and scheme. Discourse particularly needs X-Forwarded-Proto so it knows that a request arriving at the application over HTTP from Nginx was originally HTTPS.
server {
listen 80;
server_name forum.example.com;
location / {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}
server {
listen 80;
server_name www.example.com;
location / {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8081;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}Use the same routing logic in the TLS-enabled server blocks after certificates are issued. Preserve the Host, X-Real-IP, X-Forwarded-For and X-Forwarded-Proto headers in both blocks. Validate the Nginx configuration before reloading it, then test each hostname separately.
Discourse may use long-lived connections for notifications. If your installed configuration requires WebSocket proxying, add the standard Nginx upgrade directives recommended by the current Discourse guidance rather than copying settings from an unrelated application. Keep the forum and WordPress server blocks distinct so a hostname typo cannot send traffic to the wrong site.
Issue and renew HTTPS certificates
With a standalone Discourse installation, the supported cloud flow can provision Let’s Encrypt automatically. In this shared-host design, Nginx owns certificate issuance and renewal because it owns ports 80 and 443. Use the proxy’s ACME or Let’s Encrypt integration for both hostnames.
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- Ensure inbound TCP 80 and 443 reach Nginx without another service intercepting them.
- Request certificates covering the exact forum and WordPress hostnames.
- Configure the certificates in the corresponding Nginx TLS server blocks.
- Reload Nginx and test the HTTPS URL for each hostname, including the HTTP-to-HTTPS redirect.
- Confirm automatic renewal and perform a renewal test according to the ACME client documentation.
Do not let Discourse and Nginx compete to obtain or renew the same certificate. Certificate ownership, private keys and renewal jobs should live in one place: the host proxy.
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Firewall and hardening rules
Expose only the services that must be public:
- SSH: restrict by source IP where practical, use keys instead of password authentication, and move administration behind a VPN or allowlist if your environment supports it.
- HTTP 80: required for redirects and commonly used ACME challenges.
- HTTPS 443: required for both sites.
- Everything else: deny from the Internet, including 8080, 8081, database ports, Redis and any Docker management endpoint.
Docker-published ports can bypass assumptions made from a host firewall, so inspect the actual listening sockets and container port mappings after every stack change. The Discourse Docker documentation specifically warns that multi-container database and Redis ports need firewall protection.
Persistent storage, backups and upgrades
Backups are more important on a shared VPS because one incident can affect both properties. Keep Discourse data, WordPress files and media, and both databases on persistent volumes. A container image is not a backup.
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- Back up the Discourse data and configuration using its supported backup mechanism.
- Back up the WordPress database and the complete
/var/www/htmlvolume, including uploads. - Copy backups off the VPS or to independent object storage so disk failure does not destroy the only copy.
- Record backup age and size, and periodically perform a restore to a separate environment.
- Check that the backup exists before destructive
docker composeoperations, Discourse rebuilds or volume replacement.
Before upgrading either stack, verify free disk space, confirm a recent restorable backup and note the current image tags. Upgrade one application at a time, observe memory and error logs, and avoid bringing both stacks down simultaneously unless the maintenance window allows both sites to be unavailable.
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Monitor RAM usage, swap activity, CPU load, disk utilization, database size, container restarts, Nginx errors, certificate expiry and backup age. Alerts should distinguish a single application failure from a host-wide failure.
- A rising database or uploads directory can consume the disk long before CPU becomes a problem.
- Heavy WordPress plugins, uncached pages or media processing can create memory spikes that terminate Discourse or its database.
- Container restarts, increasing swap use and a full filesystem are signs that the host needs more capacity or a workload redesign.
- Track traffic separately for each hostname so a surge on the website does not hide a forum regression.
Because no independent benchmark establishes a universal WordPress-plus-Discourse capacity limit, use these measurements and your own traffic pattern to decide when to resize or split the services.
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One VPS or separate VPSs?
| Decision factor | One VPS | Separate VPSs |
|---|---|---|
| Cost and administration | One bill, one operating system and one proxy to maintain | Higher cost and more systems to patch and monitor |
| Failure impact | Kernel, disk, memory or provider failure can take both sites offline | An incident on one host need not affect the other |
| Scaling | Both workloads compete for the same RAM, CPU and disk | Resize or relocate each application independently |
| Maintenance | One host-level change can interrupt both properties | Independent maintenance windows are easier |
| Proxy and TLS | One Nginx instance handles both hostnames | Each host can own its own proxy and certificates |
| Backups and recovery | Centralized, but a host loss threatens both live services | Failure domains are separated, though backup management is duplicated |
Choose one VPS when the sites are modest, you accept the shared outage risk and you have tested off-site backups. Choose separate hosts when either workload requires independent scaling, stricter isolation, different geographic placement or maintenance without taking the other property offline.
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Nginx reports 502 Bad Gateway
Check that the relevant container is running and listening on the expected loopback port. Confirm that Discourse was rebuilt after changing its port mapping and that WordPress is bound to 8081 rather than another port. Review Nginx’s error log and the container logs, then test the backend locally from the VPS.
Discourse or WordPress still claims port 80
List host listeners and container port mappings. A default standalone Discourse binding or a second web server is still active if Nginx cannot start on 80 or 443. Remove the competing binding, change Discourse to its internal port, rebuild it, and reload Nginx only after the host ports are free.
HTTPS redirects loop or the application says the site is insecure
Verify that Nginx sends X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme and that the application hostname and canonical URL use HTTPS. A proxy that omits the scheme header can make Discourse believe every secure request arrived over plain HTTP.
ACME certificate validation fails
Check DNS resolution, firewall rules and reachability of port 80 from the Internet. Ensure the requested hostname exactly matches the A record and that no old service or server block answers the challenge.
The VPS runs out of memory
Inspect swap activity, container limits, database processes, WordPress plugins and traffic spikes. Temporarily reduce unnecessary workers or disable expensive jobs, then resize the VPS before the kernel’s out-of-memory handling kills a database. Do not treat swap as a replacement for adequate RAM.
Files or database data disappear after a rebuild
Inspect the Compose volume declarations and mount points before restarting. WordPress needs a persistent /var/www/html volume and persistent database data; Discourse also needs its supported persistent storage. Restore from a verified backup if a volume was deleted.
Quick Recap
Launch checklist
- Both DNS A records resolve to the VPS.
- Nginx is the only listener on ports 80 and 443.
- Discourse is reachable only through its loopback backend port.
- WordPress is reachable only through its loopback backend port.
- Database and Redis ports are not publicly reachable.
- Nginx forwards all four required proxy headers.
- Certificates cover both hostnames and renew automatically.
- Discourse data, WordPress files, media and both databases have persistent volumes.
- Off-site backups exist and a restore has been tested.
- RAM, swap, CPU, disk, logs, certificate expiry and backup age are monitored.
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