Are you considering hosting WordPress on AWS? Installing WordPress on AWS is a bit complex. In this article, we will discuss a step-by-step step-by-step guide on how to set up a staging WordPress site.
We shall discuss two methods. The first method is how to create a WordPress Staging on AWS and is a bit technical. The second method is easier for beginners because it allows you to use InstaWP, the easiest WordPress development environment.
Table of Contents
What is Amazon Web Services?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive and widely adopted cloud hosting platform offered by Amazon. It provides various services including computing power, storage options, and networking capabilities. Want to host WordPress on AWS? Let’s do it together but before we proceed, let’s learn the key features of AWS.
Key Features of Amazon Web Services.
Scalable and Elastic. AWS provides tools like auto scaling and Elastic load balancing allowing your applications to scale up or down based on demand. This ensures that you have the right resources at any given time for optimal performance.
Security. Robust security infrastructure with numerous compliance certificates. It includes data encryption, identity access management, and network firewalls ensuring data protection and privacy.
Flexibility. AWS provides a variety of operating systems, programming languages, and databases allowing you to choose the development platform or model that best suits your needs.
Global reach. The extensive network of data centers in multiple regions worldwide allows you to deploy your applications closer to your users, improving performance and reducing latency.
Innovation. AWS continually innovates and introduces new services and features that allow businesses to leverage the latest technologies. For example, AWS Lambda allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers, and Amazon SageMaker simplifies the process of building and deploying machine learning models.
Cost Effectiveness. The Pay-as-you-go pricing model with no upfront costs allows you to pay for only what you need.
Extensive Services. AWS provides over 200 fully featured services, including computing power, storage options, databases as well as emerging technologies like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Additionally, organizations looking to transition to the cloud can benefit from AWS migration services, which facilitate a seamless and efficient move of applications and data to AWS infrastructure.
Due to its comprehensive service offering and global infrastructure, these features make AWS a popular choice for all business sizes, from startups to large enterprises.
How to Create a WordPress Staging using AWS.
The simplest approach to setting up a WordPress website on aws is using Amazon Lightsail.
It provides a cost-effective wordpress cloud hosting, virtual servers, databases and networking plans.
In the next steps, we shall show how to set up and host WordPress on AWS. Let’s get started.
Step 1: Register for an Account on Amazon Lightsail.
Step 2: Create an instance of WordPress.
Sign in to your Amazon Lightsail account.
On the Instances tab of the Amazon Lightsail dashboard, click on Create Intstance.
Select your region.
You have been assigned a default AWS region and Availability Zone. To select another region, click on Change AWS Region and Availability Zone.
Select your instance image.
Select Linux/Unix as the operating system and choose WordPress as the blueprint.
Choose the network type.
Select the network type. Dual Stack is recommended because it includes an IPV4 address.
Choose your pricing plan.
Each plan consists of RAM, SSD Storage, vCPU, and Transfer speed specifications of the computer.
Try the 7 USD Lightsail plan for free for the first 90 days.
Name your instance.
Give your instance a unique name and click on Create Instance.
Step 3: Connect to your WordPress Instance.
To get the password for your WordPress site, connect to your instance by clicking on the SSH quick connect icon.
The browser-based SSH window will open.
Copy and paste the following command.
cat $HOME/bitnami_application_password
It will return the password for your WordPress site
Note the password that appears on the screen. For example, C5Huq9JOIfR+ is the one shown in the screenshot above.
You will use it to sign into your WordPress admin dashboard.
Step 4: Sign in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard.
Sign into your WordPress admin dashboard with the password obtained.
On your browser, go to this URL http://PublicIPAddress/wp-login.php
Replace PublicIPAddress with the Pubic IP of your WordPress Instance.
Get the Public IP address of your instance from the Lightsail console.
Sign in to your WordPress instance.
Enter username as user.
Enter the password you got in the previous step.
Click on Login to access the dashboard.
You now have access to your WordPress dashboard and you can install a theme of your choice and plugins. You can test out different plugins here.
To view your WordPress site, visit http://PublicAddress for instance mine is http://54.247.249.15
Step 5: Create a Lightsail static IP address.
The next step is to create a Lightsail static IP address and attach it to your WordPress Instance.
Your instance’s default public address will change if you stop and start your instance but the static IP address, attached to your instance stays the same even if you stop and start your instance.
Let’s create a static IP address for your running WordPress instance.
On your Lightsail dashboard, click on your running WordPress Instance.
Go to the Networking tab.
In Public address. Click on Attach static IP.
Give your Static IP address a name and click Create and attach.
Your Static IP address has been created.
Click Continue to confirm.
Your Static IP address has been created.
For my example, it is 63.35.147.198
To access your admin dashboard, visit http:static-ip/wp-login.php.
To view your site visit http://static-ip. For my example, http://63.35.147.198/
Step 6: Create a DNS Zone.
To map a domain to your WordPress instance, you have to create a DNS Zone.
Give Amazon Lightsail access to your domain’s DNS records.
Follow the following steps to create a Lightsail DNS Zone.
On the sidebar, select Domains & DNS.
Click on Create DNS Zone.
Enter your domain name.
Click on Create DNS zone.
Take note of the name servers listed.
After transferring your domain’s DNS records to Lightsail, add a record to point to the apex of your domain to your WordPress instance.
Add the name server addresses to your domain’s registrar to give Amazon Lightsail access to your Doman’s DNS records.
In your domain’s DNS Zone, go to the DNS records tab.
Click on Add record.
In the Record name field, type your record name.
In the Resolves field, add the static IP address you created in the previous step.
Click on the green save icon.
Give time for the changes to propagate through the internet’s DNS before your domain starts routing traffic to your WordPress instance.
Congratulations! You have set up a WordPress instance using Amazon Lightsail.
To build and develop web applications like WordPress on aws, amazon lightsail is a great option.
However, creating a WordPress Staging on AWS is quite complex with many steps involved. You can skip very technical steps to create a WordPress staging site. InstaWP simplifies the work for you in the easiest and quickest steps possible. In the next section, we shall learn about InstaWP and how to use it to create a WordPress Staging using InstaWP.
Setting up a WordPress staging using InstaWP.
What is InstaWP?
InstaWP is a tool for spinning up WordPress staging sites quickly and easily. It is suitable for developers and freelancers who need a quick set up to test out different WordPress themes and Plugins or new features without affecting their live sites.
Here are some key features of InstaWP.
Key Features of InstaWP.
Instant WordPress Sites. InstaWP users can set up fresh WordPress staging sites in seconds without the need to configure hosting or domain names.
Temporary Sites. The platform provides temporary sites that can be for a limited time, ideal for testing and development purposes.
Pre-configured Environments. InstaWP offers pre-configured environments with various versions of WordPress and PHP making easy to test compatibility.
Customizable Sites. Users can use different themes and plugins to customize their temporary sites.
Staging Environments. InstaWP allows you to create copies of your websites for development and testing purposes.
Pre-Made Templates. InstaWP quickens your workflow with a number of templates to choose from which saves a lot of your time.
Migration. You can migrate sites to InstaWP or from one hosting provider to another.
Hosting. InstaWP Live provides Managed WordPress hosting which is ideal for many WordPress users.
Collaboration. InstaWP allows users to share temporary sites with others using a simple URL, making collaboration easy.
How to Create a WordPress Staging With InstaWP.
Step 1: Create an account on InstaWP.
Step 2: Install the InstaWP Connect Plugin
Sign in to the live website’s admin dashboard.
Search and install the InstaWP Connect Plugin.
Step 3: Create a Staging
Once the plugin is successfully installed, click on Create Staging.
Connect your InstaWP account to the website.
You will see a popup, click on Approve to authenticate the connection.
Click on Create Staging site to proceed.
Select the Staging type.
Customize Staging options.
Exclude files and tables that you don’t want in the Staging environment.
Click on Expand to view other options.
Confirm Staging Options.
Wait for the process to get done.
Click on Track Migration to view the Staging progress.
Congratulations! Your Staging site is now ready.
Click on the URL to view your site.
Click on the Magic Login button to access your Staging site’s admin dashboard.
To create another staging site, Click on Create another Staging Site.
And there you go, with InstaWP, you can easily spin up a WordPress site in seconds. Even newbies can use InstaWP, no technical expertise is required which is the case for AWS.
Why Choose InstaWP Over AWS?
Simplicity. InstaWP is designed to be user-friendly, with a straight forward setup process that can create a WordPress site in seconds without any technical configurations. AWS on the hand, requires knowledge of cloud infrastructure and involves more complex setup process.
No Configuration Required. InstaWP handles all the backend configuration including server setup, database management, and security settings. With AWS, you need to manually configure and maintain these components.
Instant Deployment. InstaWP allows you to deploy a WordPress site instantly, making it ideal for tests, demos, or development environments. AWS setup can be time-consuming, involving
multiple steps like creating instances, configuring security groups and installing WordPress.
Temporary Sites. InstaWP provides temporary sites that are perfect for short-term projects, and testing. AWS is better suited for long-term projects, and scalable applications and may not be convenient for temporary use cases.
Cost-Effeciency. InstaWP’s pricing is straightforward and geared towards short-term and development use. While AWS has a free tier, It has usage limits, and exceeding these can result in unexpected charges.
Non-Technical Users. InstaWP is ideal for non-technical users or those who want to avoid the complexity of cloud infrastructure. AWS is better for users who need the flexibility and power of a cloud platform and have the technical expertise to manage it.
Conclusion.
In summary, InstaWP is a great choice for quick, easy, and staging WordPress site setups, especially for development, testing, and demonstration purposes. AWS while powerful and flexible, is more complex WordPress coud hosting option and better suited for long-term, scalable and production-ready applications.
