How to setup WordPress on Amazon AWS Lightsail.

Learn how to setup a WordPress instance on AWS Lightsail.

1. Create a WordPress instance

First, choose Create Instance in Amazon Lightsail.

Then, choosing Linux/Unix and WordPress.

Give your instance a name and tap Create Instance.

Click on your instance, to configure it further.

At the bottom of the page, it will display an IP address.

Your instance IP address will be different.

Type this IP address into your browser, to navigate to your WordPress site.
e.g. IP address 3.104.124.232 would navigate to http://3.104.124.232 in the browser.

Congratulations, your WordPress website is up and running.

2. Accessing the WordPress Admin Console

The next steps assume you’re familiar with the WordPress Admin Console.

Access your admin panel by navigating to the WP Admin url.
e.g. http://{SERVER_IP_ADDRESS}/wp-admin however your website’s IP address will be different.

Usually, the default username for the Bitnami WordPress instance will be: user

To find the password, you’ll want to access the SSH client terminal.

Click Connect using SSH.

Type the following command which can be found at the Bitnami documentation.

cat bitnami_application_password

Then copy the password which displays immediately underneath. Your website’s password will be different.

Paste the password into the WordPress Admin login screen.

You’ll now be logged into the Admin Dashboard.

3. Setup a Static IP Address

When you log into Lightsail and press ‘Stop’ or ‘Start’ – your IP address will change.

To avoid this, you can create a Static IP address, which can be used for setting your domain name Zone Record.

In Lightsail, click Networking and then tap Create Static IP.

Give the Static IP address a name, then click Create.

Be mindful, once this is attached your old IP address will no longer work.

To get around this, simply access your website via the New Static IP Address you just created.

4. Update your domain zone records

To point your domain name to the AWS Lightsail instance, you’ll need to update your Zone Records.

This tutorial assumes you know how to update the zone records.

In this example, I’ve assigned the A Record to the Static IP address for the AWS instance.

After you’ve updated your domain record, you should be able to access the website via the domain.

5. Remove the Bitnami banner

You’ll notice that your website retains the Bitnami banner.

To remove this permanently, you’ll need to access the SSH Client again.

Execute the following command which can be found at the Bitnami documentation.

sudo /opt/bitnami/apps/APPNAME/bnconfig --disable_banner 1

However, don’t type this exactly – instead replace “APPNAME” with wordpress.

The command should look like this:

sudo /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/bnconfig --disable_banner 1

Then, you’ll want to restart your AWS Lightsail instance.

Tap Reboot and then confirm Reboot.

Wait about 1 or 2 minutes for the server instance to reboot.

Your website is now ready to start publishing.