CREATE DATABASE databasename DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci; GRANT ALL ON database_user.* TO ‘database_user’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘database_user_password_max_41_characters_’; Reference https://make.wordpress.org/core/2015/04/02/the-utf8mb4-upgrade/ https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-wordpress-with-lemp-on-ubuntu-16-04