How to Build a WordPress Website Easily with Amazon Lightsail
Amazon Lightsail is a simplified virtual private server (VPS) service provided by Amazon Web Services. It offers pre-configured virtual server instances and a suite of convenient features and services, enabling users to quickly create, manage, and scale server instances for applications and workloads of various sizes.
About Amazon Lightsail
Amazon Lightsail provides cloud computing resources including compute, storage, networking, and databases. It comes pre-installed with common development environments such as LAMP/LEMP, Nginx, and WordPress. With simple configuration, you can quickly set up everything needed for your website.
How to Build a WordPress Website with Amazon Lightsail (Step-by-Step Guide)
Want your own website but lack programming or server configuration skills? No problem. With Amazon Lightsail, you can set up a WordPress website in minutes without needing programming or operations knowledge. Follow the detailed steps below:
Step 1: Register an Amazon Web Services Account
Click here to register for the AWS Free Tier.
Step 2: Create a WordPress Instance in Lightsail
Follow these steps to launch and run a WordPress instance on Amazon Lightsail:
Log in to the Lightsail Console.
On the Lightsail home page, go to the Instances tab and select Create instance.
Select the AWS Region and Availability Zone for your instance.
Select your instance blueprint:
- Choose Linux/Unix as the platform.
- Select WordPress as the blueprint.
Select an instance plan:
- Plans include predictable low costs, computer configurations (RAM, SSD, vCPU), and data transfer limits. You can try a Lightsail plan worth $3.50 for free for one month (up to 750 hours). AWS will provide one month of credits to your account for free.
Note For a limited time, Lightsail extends its free trial to include three months of free usage for selected instance plans. This offer applies to new or existing AWS accounts that started using Amazon Lightsail on or after July 8, 2021. The offer is limited to one bundle per account. Standard charges apply after 750 hours of usage per month for the selected bundle. You can use the following instance plans for free for three months:
- Linux/Unix instance plans: $3.50/month, $5/month, and $10/month
- Windows instance plans: $8/month, $12/month, and $20/month
Enter a name for your instance.
- Resource Name:
- Must be unique in each AWS Region within your Lightsail account.
- Must contain 2 to 255 characters.
- Must start and end with an alphanumeric character.
- Can include alphanumeric characters, digits, periods, hyphens, and underscores.
- Resource Name:
Select Create instance.
Step 3: Connect to Your Instance via SSH and Retrieve the WordPress Password
The default password for logging into your WordPress website's admin dashboard is stored on the instance.
Follow these steps to connect to your instance using the browser-based SSH client in the Lightsail console and retrieve the admin dashboard password:
On the Lightsail home page, under the Instances tab, select the SSH quick connect icon for your WordPress Multisite instance.
After opening the browser-based SSH client window, enter the following command to retrieve the default application password:
cat $HOME/bitnami_application_passwordNote the password displayed on the screen. You can use it later to log in to the WordPress website's admin dashboard.
Step 4: Log in to the WordPress Website Admin Dashboard
Now that you have the password for the WordPress website's admin dashboard, you can log in. In the dashboard, you can change user passwords, install plugins, change website themes, and more.
Follow these steps to log in to the WordPress website's admin dashboard:
In your browser window, navigate to:
http://<PublicIpAddress>/wp-login.phpReplace
<PublicIpAddress>with the public IP address of your WordPress instance. You can obtain the public IP address of your instance from the Lightsail console, as shown in the example below:
In the Username or Email Address box, enter
user.In the Password box, enter the default password obtained earlier in this tutorial.
Select Log In.
Now that you are logged in to the WordPress website's admin dashboard, you can perform administrative tasks. For more information on managing a WordPress website, refer to the WordPress Codex in the WordPress documentation.
Step 5: Create a Lightsail Static IP Address and Attach It to Your WordPress Instance
If you stop and start your instance, the default public IP of your WordPress instance may change. However, a static IP address attached to your instance remains unchanged even after stopping and starting the instance.
Follow these steps to create a static IP address and attach it to your WordPress instance:
- On the Lightsail home page, under the Instances tab, select the running WordPress instance.
- Select the Networking tab, then select Create static IP.
- The static IP location and the instance it connects to are pre-selected based on the instance you chose earlier in this tutorial.
- Name your static IP, then select Create.
Step 6: Create a Lightsail DNS Zone and Map Your Domain to Your WordPress Instance
Transfer the management of DNS records for your domain to Lightsail. This makes it easier to map your domain to your WordPress instance and manage more resources on your website via the Lightsail console.
Follow these steps to create a Lightsail DNS zone and map your domain to your WordPress instance:
- On the Lightsail home page, go to the Domains & DNS tab and select Create DNS zone.
- Enter your domain, then select Create DNS zone.
- Note the nameserver addresses listed on the page.
Add these nameserver addresses to your domain registrar to transfer the management of DNS records for your domain to Lightsail.
- After transferring DNS record management to Lightsail, add an A record to point your root domain to your WordPress instance as follows:
- In the Assignments tab of your DNS zone, select Add assignment.
- In the Select a domain field, select the domain or subdomain.
- In the Select a resource dropdown list, select the LAMP instance you created earlier in this tutorial.
- Select Assign.
Wait for some time for the changes to propagate across the Internet's DNS before your domain starts routing traffic to your WordPress instance.
Get More Professional Instruction
If you feel the above step-by-step guide is not detailed enough, you can visit the One-Stop Solution for Enterprise Cloud _ Innovation and Growth Enterprise Acceleration Center and watch the video "Building a WordPress Website with Amazon Lightsail." Technical experts will guide you step-by-step via video. Combining text and video tutorials makes it easier to understand and master the relevant knowledge.
The video covers:
- How to search for and enter Lightsail in the console
- How to create an instance by selecting the appropriate WordPress image based on region and instance configuration
- How to connect via SSH to retrieve the backend management password
- How to log in to the backend to install themes and plugins to customize the website
- How to use CDN to accelerate website access speed
- How to resolve your own domain to the instance and configure custom SSL certificates
The entire process requires only a few clicks and simple configurations, making it very easy to get started without needing much professional knowledge or a high threshold. Want to quickly build your own website? Check out the detailed tutorial in the video.
Explore More Free Services
Amazon Web Services offers much more than this. You can view more application and service cases, such as personal cloud storage setup and multi-language subtitle solutions, in the One-Stop Solution for Enterprise Cloud _ Innovation and Growth Enterprise Acceleration Center. Interested friends can click the link to learn more.
Conclusion
In short, Amazon Lightsail is a simplified virtual private server (VPS) service that allows users to quickly create, manage, and scale server instances. If you have other needs, visit the AWS Free Tier to explore more free packages and start your trial today.