Deploying WordPress 7.1 Beta on Edge Network

Traditional WordPress hosts often impose egress charges on media-heavy sites and limit how quickly you can scale resources during testing. Edge Network removes those charges entirely while providing global VMs that deploy in under 60 seconds and resize live without downtime.

WordPress 7.1 Beta 1 compatibility notes#

WordPress 7.1 Beta 1 runs on PHP 8.1 or later with the default MySQL or MariaDB backend. Edge Compute images based on Ubuntu 24.04 include PHP 8.3 by default, satisfying the requirement without additional configuration. The beta does not introduce new database schema changes that affect standard object storage mounts, so the free Storage tier can hold uploads alongside the VM filesystem.

Deploying the base VM#

Use the Edge CLI to create a VM sized for typical WordPress workloads. The command below provisions a 2 vCPU, 4 GB instance with NVMe storage in under 60 seconds.

edge compute create --name wp-beta-1 --size s-2vcpu-4gb --image ubuntu-24

After the instance reports as running, connect via SSH and update packages:

1. Run apt update && apt upgrade -y.
2. Install required packages: apt install -y apache2 mysql-server php8.3 php8.3-mysql php8.3-curl php8.3-gd php8.3-mbstring php8.3-xml php8.3-zip.
3. Enable and start services: systemctl enable --now apache2 mysql.

Download and extract the beta:

wget https://wordpress.org/wordpress-7.1-beta1.tar.gz
tar -xzf wordpress-7.1-beta1.tar.gz -C /var/www/html --strip-components=1

Set ownership and create the configuration file from the sample, then complete the browser-based installer at your VM IP.

Live resize during testing#

WordPress 7.1 Beta testing often requires temporary increases in memory or CPU when running multiple plugins. Edge supports live resize from the dashboard or CLI without instance restart. Change the size flag to a larger preset such as s-4vcpu-8gb and apply; the VM continues serving requests while resources adjust.

Private networking with VxLAN#

Place the WordPress VM and a separate database VM on the same private network to keep query traffic off the public internet. Create a VxLAN network through the dashboard or API, attach both instances, and assign RFC 1918 addresses. This configuration removes the need for public database ports and supports the 99.99% SLA on the Compute platform.

Update wp-config.php to point to the private database address rather than localhost or a public IP.

Adding the free CDN tier#

Media-heavy WordPress sites benefit from Edge CDN for static assets and images. Create a free CDN zone, point it at your VM origin, and enable Edge Rules to cache /wp-content/uploads/* and /wp-includes/* paths. The CDN provides instant purge capability and DDoS protection at no extra cost. Because Edge levies zero egress fees on all traffic, bandwidth-heavy image or video content incurs no additional charges regardless of volume.

Update WordPress site URL settings to the CDN hostname for static assets while keeping dynamic requests routed to the origin VM.

Performance and cost comparison#

Sub-15 ms latency reaches 95% of internet users from the 5K+ node network. Traditional hosts typically add egress fees once monthly transfer exceeds a few hundred gigabytes; Edge removes this line item permanently. The same 2 vCPU, 4 GB workload runs at least 20% lower than equivalent hyperscaler or managed WordPress plans when measured on hourly prepaid billing.

Free DNS, CDN and Storage tiers further reduce the baseline cost. A starter Compute credit of $5 is available on signup, sufficient to run the beta instance for initial testing periods.

Next steps#

Monitor query performance through standard MySQL slow-query logging and adjust the live resize setting if plugin testing increases load. The combination of private networking, zero egress and global CDN gives WordPress 7.1 Beta testers a production-like environment without the usual hosting penalties.

Full instructions are in the WordPress on Edge guide. See Compute for VM details, CDN for configuration and pricing for current rates.

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