Deploy and Host WordPress + MariaDB + Protected phpMyAdmin on Railway

WordPress is the world’s most popular open-source CMS for building websites, blogs, business sites, landing pages, and content-driven applications. This template deploys WordPress with MariaDB for persistent storage and phpMyAdmin for database management, while protecting phpMyAdmin behind a dedicated Basic Auth gateway for a safer hosted setup.

About Hosting WordPress + MariaDB + Protected phpMyAdmin

Hosting this stack on Railway means running four connected services: WordPress for the public website, MariaDB for persistent database storage, phpMyAdmin for internal database administration, and a protected gateway service for secure browser access to phpMyAdmin. This template is designed to keep WordPress public, keep MariaDB private, keep phpMyAdmin internal, and expose phpMyAdmin only through a password-protected gateway. It also includes the startup adjustments needed to avoid Apache MPM conflicts that can happen with WordPress and phpMyAdmin containers on Railway.

Common Use Cases

Launching a WordPress blog, company site, landing page, or content website
Running a managed WordPress stack with private MariaDB access
Managing the WordPress database safely through protected phpMyAdmin access

Dependencies for WordPress + MariaDB + Protected phpMyAdmin Hosting

MariaDB database
phpMyAdmin
Basic Auth gateway service
Railway persistent volumes

Deployment Dependencies

WordPress official image: https://hub.docker.com/_/wordpress
MariaDB official image: https://hub.docker.com/_/mariadb
phpMyAdmin official image: https://hub.docker.com/_/phpmyadmin
Railway templates docs: https://docs.railway.com/templates
phpMyAdmin Gateway repo: https://github.com/omryatia/caddy-phpmyadmin-gateway
phpMyAdmin Railway wrapper repo: https://github.com/omryatia/phpmyadmin-railway

Implementation Details

This template uses four services:

WordPress
MariaDB
phpMyAdmin
phpMyAdmin Gateway

Recommended service setup:

WordPress

Image:

wordpress:php8.3-apache

Volume:

/var/www/html

Public HTTP port:

Environment variables:

WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=${{MariaDB.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:3306
WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=${{MariaDB.MARIADB_DATABASE}}
WORDPRESS_DB_USER=${{MariaDB.MARIADB_USER}}
WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=${{MariaDB.MARIADB_PASSWORD}}

Recommended Custom Start Command:

bash -c "grep -q 'ServerName localhost' /etc/apache2/apache2.conf || echo 'ServerName localhost' >> /etc/apache2/apache2.conf; a2dismod mpm_event || true; a2dismod mpm_worker || true; a2enmod mpm_prefork; exec docker-entrypoint.sh apache2-foreground"

Optional recommended salts and keys:

WORDPRESS_AUTH_KEY=${{ secret(64) }}
WORDPRESS_AUTH_SALT=${{ secret(64) }}
WORDPRESS_LOGGED_IN_KEY=${{ secret(128) }}
WORDPRESS_LOGGED_IN_SALT=${{ secret(128) }}
WORDPRESS_NONCE_KEY=${{ secret(128) }}
WORDPRESS_NONCE_SALT=${{ secret(128) }}
WORDPRESS_SECURE_AUTH_KEY=${{ secret(128) }}
WORDPRESS_SECURE_AUTH_SALT=${{ secret(128) }}

Optional URL configuration:

WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA=define('DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE', '${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}');define('WP_HOME','https://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}');define('WP_SITEURL','https://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}');

MariaDB

Image:

mariadb:lts

Volume:

/var/lib/mysql

Environment variables:

MARIADB_DATABASE=${{ secret(8, "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ") }}
MARIADB_USER=${{ secret(8, "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ") }}
MARIADB_PASSWORD=${{ secret(16) }}
MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=${{ secret(24) }}

phpMyAdmin

Source repo:

https://github.com/omryatia/phpmyadmin-railway

Private only.

Environment variables:

PMA_HOST=${{MariaDB.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}
PMA_PORT=3306

This custom wrapper is used to solve Apache MPM conflicts that can appear on Railway when using phpMyAdmin directly.

phpMyAdmin Gateway

Source repo:

https://github.com/omryatia/caddy-phpmyadmin-gateway

Public HTTP port:

Environment variables:

PMA_UPSTREAM=${{phpMyAdmin.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}
BASIC_AUTH_USER=${{ secret(8, "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ") }}
BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=${{ secret(8, "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ") }}

This keeps phpMyAdmin internal while exposing access safely through the gateway.

Architecture

This template is designed with the following service visibility:

WordPress: public
MariaDB: private
phpMyAdmin: private
phpMyAdmin Gateway: public

Connection flow:

WordPress connects to MariaDB through Railway private networking
phpMyAdmin connects to MariaDB through Railway private networking
phpMyAdmin Gateway connects privately to phpMyAdmin
users access phpMyAdmin only through the public gateway

Why Deploy WordPress + MariaDB + Protected phpMyAdmin on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying WordPress + MariaDB + Protected phpMyAdmin on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete full-stack application with minimal burden. Host your website, database, admin tools, and more on Railway.

Notes

MariaDB should remain private and should not be exposed publicly.
phpMyAdmin should remain internal and should only be reached through the gateway.
WordPress stores uploads, themes, and plugins in its mounted volume.
MariaDB stores all database data in its mounted volume.
The phpMyAdmin wrapper and gateway repositories are maintained separately and are part of this template architecture.

Maintainer Components

Custom repositories used in this template:

phpMyAdmin Gateway: https://github.com/omryatia/caddy-phpmyadmin-gateway
phpMyAdmin Railway wrapper: https://github.com/omryatia/phpmyadmin-railway