First time setting up Trellis - unclear when following docs - willing to pay for some help :)

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working with WordPress for a little over 6 years now but this is my first time setting up a local environment and using any remotely similar to Trellis. And I’ll be honest, I am just getting into using Github as well.

I’ve been having a hard time following the docs for getting started, as I feel a lot of the steps in the docs assume that you already know certain things. They don’t seem to be geared towards the average WordPress developer who’s just always installed WP on their server and went to work from there. I was going through page-by-page and got as far as the SSH keys. I guess I’m just not seeing the whole picture here of how this works. i.e. how I connect to my remote server, how this syncs with my Github account, how the actual WordPress install happens, etc.

I’d really like to learn how this is done because it seems like the most efficient way to build a WordPress site but I feel like I need my hand held a little bit for the first time setting this all up. I think some YouTube videos for beginners would go a long way to getting more people to sign onto Roots.

With all that being said, I’d be willing to pay someone (very fairly) who has experience with Trellis, Bedrock and Sage to sit with me for an hour or two via Skype where I can share my screen and have someone walk me through getting this all set up so I can get going on my new site. I am using a dedicated server for hosting through iWeb. I am available all weekend for anyone who is interested.

I’ve been coding for a long, long time and understand WordPress inside and out, so I’m not a total noob, I am just a total novice when it comes to local environments and command prompts and Github, etc. I think once someone walks me through this once, I’ll understand much better how it all works, and I also just want to make sure everything I’ve done thus far with the install is correct.

Thanks in advance!
Justin

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Trellis documentation has definitely improved a lot (and especially recently). However, you’re right. It does assume a base level of knowledge about certain topics. It’s hard to write documentation for everyone since it’s often not enough or it’s too much.

When it comes to support from the Roots team itself, you can buy “support” here: https://roots.io/services/. This support can come in whatever form you want such as a an hour or two with screen sharing.

Anyone else on this forum is also free to post in here if they know about Trellis and would like to offer their help (paid or otherwise) to @CRO.

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If you’re still needing some help later tonight or tomorrow I would probably be willing to help you out.

Hi!

Thanks for the responses!

@loffelmacher - I am available tomorrow and I would really appreciate it. If you use Skype, you can add me at justin_whalley or PM me on here and we can figure something out. I’ll be sure to compensate you for your time. :slightly_smiling:

Thanks again!

I’ve been struggling with this myself over the last couple of weeks I’ve attempted to get Trellis configured. Due to limited time I’ve had to continue with my current workflow but I’m so keen to understand the Trellis setup and establish where I’m going wrong.

I’m going to go through it once more and document my steps and request support.

I’d really appreciate you keeping me updated with your progress @CRO in the meantime =)

Cheers

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If you want, reply back and let me / everyone know which part more specifically is hanging you guys up.

Are we talking development env with virtualbox issues?
Having a problem with SSH keys into a staging/production server?
Also what OS are you using to try and get this all set up, Windows, Linux, MacOS?

If you let me know where your issue is coming from I wouldn’t mind taking a few minutes to possibly make a video.

The tough part is there is such a big difference if you are trying to get this all working from a Windows computer vs. Linux vs. Mac.

If your on Windows I personally feel like before you try and take on the whole Trellis, Bedrock, Sage stack you should do yourself a favor and learn to work on or at least understand how Linux works.

You can actually just use
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/contribute/?version=14.04.4&architecture=amd64
the exact same distro that ansible provisions for you with Trellis, if you use the default desktop (Unity) it’s really easy. Seriously I stole my Mom’s (shes 55) slow windows laptop one day and installed it on there without telling her and she just thought windows changed it’s look for over a month til I told her.
Either that or Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop
https://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=172
both those will go on mostly any old computer you have, just if your gonna run Virtualbox make sure you have like 4G RAM minimum.
I personally just switched from Debian to CentOS but I really like them both.

Alternatively you could spend a bunch of money on a Mac or use Windows which is so “awesome” they had to give it away for free. But don’t let that fool you it’s only because they make 10x more tracking everything you do and selling that data. But to be fair Ubuntu kind of does the same thing with Dash.

2 Likes

I’m using a Mac.

I’m willing to pay $80 for an hour, I’m on Skype right now at justin_whalley if anyone’s interested!

I can help you out in let’s say 30 minutes. If its a simple fix I don’t need any compensation but we can get as in depth as you want.

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Online right now with @RiFi2k !

@LeBear - I’ll update you on my progress in a bit!

So @RiFi2k just walked me through the whole set up. Took us almost 4 hours but he was explaining things to me along the way. This guy is a hero! There’s no way I would’ve gotten this far without him. I sitll have a lot of reading and learning to do but I’m feeling a lot better about using Roots now.

@LeBear - there are so many steps, I don’t even know where to start. I took 5 pages of notes while talking to @RiFi2k - it’s a big learning curve for someone who’s not familiar - I’d recommend investing some money and getting someone to walk you through everything. Today was very educational for me and gave me a big headstart.

Thanks again!!

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I’m really glad you feel like it gave you a leg up. I for sure dumped months worth of information on you in 4 hours, haha

I was impressed because I feel like you kept up like a champ and absorbed it all even though we went over a lot more than just trellis.

It’s really too bad we didn’t think to screen record the whole thing from the beginning. When you said something about it half way through I was kicking myself. It would have made a pretty good “How To” guide for the whole stack and especially to anyone with a Mac.

If I ever get a free afternoon I’ll try and make a video series, I got a lot of good ideas while breaking every step down and elaborating, stuff that would be almost impossible to write in a guide. Seeing it I’m sure makes a big difference. I say series because I think if I made a 4 hour video explaining it all it would scare people away more than make them want to learn it lol

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Great to see further discussion as I’d like to grasp this once and for all, I’ll add my input tomorrow evening GMT.

Thanks for the feedback CRO.

Win 10 OS here :confused:

Ahh I didn’t read this post! Winner =)

Cheers again @CRO glad you’re moving forward must be good.

@RiFi2k I’ll reach out later today if you’d be available to book at some point later in the week for support.

Cheers!

Ugh I am so sorry man, my weekend went downhill rapidly, hoping someone else in here has helped you out with this. You can ping me again here if you’re still needing help.

No problem! @RiFi2k came to my rescue and helped get me all set up and show how each part works. I am actually meeting with him again this weekend to learn some more stuff. I highly encourage anyone who’s having trouble to book some time with him!

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y’all might even want to do it as a hangout-on-air and broadcast it, post an announcement here so others can get in on that. good stuff!

It didn’t even dawn on me to screen record the whole situation until half way through when CRO mentioned it. Although it was 4 hours so I can’t even imagine how large of a file that would have ended up being. A lot of the issues I notice people having are related to their specific environment as well. If I went through the whole thing on my screen (CentOS) that maybe only benefits 1% of the people and most likely someone running CentOS / Debian / openSUSE / Arch etc. doesn’t need my help anyways haha

For a simple start, I found this article by Dave Kiss pretty darn helpful.

May not be as in depth as some people where wanting, but incase anyone turns up at this thread and need a guide, it’s a good place to start.