Amazon Lightsail is a powerful virtual cloud server platform aimed at small businesses, startups, students, and other users who need to build and host their website or other solutions, including managed database. We will learn to set up a WordPress website on Amazon Lightsail server and host our website for free.
Advantages of Using Amazon Lightsail for the Website Hosting
Unlike the Amazon EC2, Amazon Lightsail is a simplified VPS that empowers users to quickly deploy and manage applications and websites. It offers a range of services including:
With just a few clicks, anyone can host their WordPress website or application on Amazon Lightsail. And one of the key features of Amazon Lightsail is free website hosting. It is also scalable, meaning you can easily upgrade your hosting plans or server configurations (RAM, storage, & processor) as your website or business grows.
If you are a startup, individual or small business looking to create an online presence without spending much, Amazon Lightsail’s free website hosting is what you need.
Setting Up a Free WordPress Website on Amazon Lightsail
Setting up free WordPress website hosting on Amazon Lightsail is a simple process. You can follow the below steps to create an instance on Amazon Lightsail to host your website.
1. Sign Up to Amazon Lightsail
Visit the Amazon Lightsail page and sign up using your email account. If you already have an Amazon or AWS account, you can sign in using your registered email and password.
2. Create a New Instance
After signing in to the Amazon Lightsail, follow these instructions to create and launch a new instance on the Amazon Lightsail:
Wait for a while and allow Amazon Lightsail to deploy your website instance. This may take between five and ten minutes. Once it’s done, you can visit the IP address of your instance to access and view the default website.
Log In to WordPress’ Admin Panel
Once your WordPress instance is up and running, you can access the backend (yoursitename.com/wp-admin) by using the default credentials. To get these credentials, follow these steps:
Configure Your Domain and SSL Certificate
The next step is to connect the domain to the website server and set up SSL. We recommend you add your domain name to Cloudflare with a free account. This will add an extra layer of protection against spam and attacks.
Once added, follow these steps to connect the domain to the Amazon Lightsail website server.
1. Set Up a Static IP address
To ensure that your domain remains connected to your Amazon Lightsail instance, you must set up a static IP address.
2. Update DNS Records on Cloudflare
Log in to your Cloudflare account and go to the DNS option. Here, update the IP address in the A record with the IP address of your Amazon Lightsail instance (after attaching the static IP). If the A record is not added yet, follow these steps:
After a few minutes, you can visit your domain name to access the new website hosted on Amazon Lightsail.
3. Configure an SSL Certificate
You must secure your website and protect user data with an SSL certificate. Follow these steps to set up SSL on your Amazon Lightsail using Cloudflare:
For detailed instructions, refer to our previous guide on how to set up a free SSL certificate on WordPress.
Alternatively, you can follow Bitnami’s official documentation to install and configure the Let’s Encrypt SSL on the Amazon Lightsail instance. Alternatively, you can also host a secure website on a Raspberry Pi with no recurring charges or hosting fees.
Amazon Lightsail Is Ideal for Getting Started
Amazon Lightsail is one of the quickest and most reliable ways to launch a website within a few minutes. It does not require any technical expertise and thus, anyone with little to no experience in launching or setting up a website on Linux or Windows server can host their business or individual websites for free.
You can also host a free DIY Bitwarden password manager server at home using a Raspberry Pi to manage all your passwords without paying a subscription fee.
This content was originally published here.