In this tutorial, we’ll guide you through the process of upgrading the underlying hardware and PHP version of your WordPress site by cloning to the Amazon Lightsail service within your AWS account.
Please note: the latest version of PHP is not always compatible with all themes/plugins. We recommend users always run the trial process first to establish if there are incompatibility issues. Click Here to navigate to the dedicated trial tutorial.
● Upgrading your instance to the latest bitnami WordPress stack
Skills and Specialized Knowledge
| About this Tutorial | |
|---|---|
| Time | 20-30 minutes |
| Cost | Free to Trial |
| Use Case | Compute |
| Products | Amazon Lightsail |
| Level | 100 |
| Last Updated | Feburary 2, 2024 |
WordPress Certified by Bitnami and Automattic/6.4.2-12-r16 on Debian 11
WordPress: v.6.4.2 | PHP: v.8.2.15
Apache: v.2.4.58 | MariaDB: v.11.2.2
| Requirements | |
|---|---|
| Web Server | Apache, Nginx, Windows |
| Min. PHP Version | v7.0 |
| Database | MySQL or MariaDB |
| Min. WP Requirement | v5.3 |
| Enabled PHP Functions | fopen(), cURL |
If you have already installed and configured Seahorse software skip to step 8:
1. Overview
2. Sign in to the administration dashboard of your WordPress website
3. Install the WP on AWS Plugin to your existing WordPress Site
4. Get a Licence Key From The Service Provider
5. Validate Licence
6. Generate IAM Keys
7. Validate IAM Credentials
8. Set AWS Region and Select temporary Storage
9. Prepare the Website’s Database
10. Prepare the Website’s File System
11. Upload the Prepared File System
12. Launch your Website on AWS
13.Configure your new Instance from Snapshot
14.Create static IP and assign to your instance
15.Create CPU Utilization alarm
16.Install SSL Certificate
17.Management Overview Console
Brought to you by Seahorse — an AWS partner
Complete the following steps to sign in to the administration dashboard of your WordPress website.
If you are already signed-in, skip to step: Install Plugin.
2.1 — In a browser, navigate to your site: http://example.com/wp-login.php
(replace example.com with the URL of your WordPress website).
2.2 — Log into your instance.
Now you have logged-in to your WordPress Administration Dashboard, the required plugin can be installed.
3.1 — Download the Plugin zip file and upload it manually to your site. (Download WP on AWS Plugin here).
3.2 — Install via the WordPress Plugin Repository Search
When the installation process is complete, click on Activate to activate the Plugin.
A License Key is required to activate the installed Plugin.
4.1 — Contact Seahorse to acquire a licence key or if you do not wish to purchase a licence at this time you can opt to run a trial clone (to the Seahorse/AWS environment) – See Trial Tutorial
In this step, you will activate the License Key you received.
5.1 — Activate the License key you received from the service provider.
● Navigate to the WP on AWS Plugin interface
● Input the License Key received from the service provider and the corresponding email
address when requesting the license key
● Click on Register License
● Valid License key is then confirmed.
Once the License Key is activated, you can validate your AWS IAM keys.
In this step, you will create your own IAM keys for use within WordPress
● Login to your AWS account & navigate to the IAM service
● Click on Users => Add User, add a User name and check Programmatic access
● Click Next:Permissions and select ‘Attach existing policies directly’ => enter
‘PowerUserAccess’ into the filter and select the resulting selection. Do the same for
‘AdministratorAccess’ so there are 2 policies selected.
● Click through to Create User and securely store the Keys provided (Access key ID &
Secret access key)
* NB – Seahorse strongly advises the use of these 2 policies temporarily only. To continue using the software after migration please contact Seahorse Support to get issued a policy of least privilege
Once the License Key is activated, you can validate your AWS keys.
7.1 — Validate your AWS Keys.
Complete the following steps to validate the AWS keys generated in Step 6:
● Go to the WP on AWS Plugin Interface
● Navigate to the AWS Setup section
● Input the IAM Key and the IAM Secret
● Click on Save IAM Credentials
In this step, you will choose the AWS Region and temporary storage bucket for your WordPress website.
Note: the selections in step 8 are not available in the trial version of the software. Trial users can move to step 9.
8.1 — Set the AWS Region. This is the Amazon Lightsail Region where your WordPress site will be hosted.
In the WP on AWS Plugin interface complete the following steps:
● Navigate to the AWS Setup section
● Navigate to the Update AWS Region subsection
● Select your preferred AWS Region from the drop-down list
● Click on Update AWS Region
8.2 — Set the S3 Bucket.
In the WP on AWS Plugin interface complete the following steps:
● Navigate to the Temporary Storage Configuration.
● Navigate to the Select S3 Bucket.
● Select your preferred S3 Bucket from the drop-down list
● Click on Select S3 Bucket
If you have not created an S3 bucket before you can create a new S3 Bucket by following below steps:
● Navigate to the Temporary Storage Configuration.
● Navigate to the Create S3 Bucket.
● Enter your S3 Bucket Name
● Click on ‘Create new S3 Bucket’ and refresh on left to Select
In this step, you prepare the Database.
9.1 — Create an automated clone of your website’s database.
In the WP on AWS Plugin interface, complete the following steps:
● Navigate to the Prepare Database Status section
● Click on Prepare Database
● The prepared download will then be confirmed and the database status updates
In this step, you prepare the website’s file system.
10.1 — Create an automated clone of your website’s file system. This includes your themes,
plugins, images, etc, and will be used to display your website’s content on AWS.
In the WP on AWS Plugin interface complete the following steps:
● Navigate to the File-System Preparation Status section
● Click on Prepare File System
● The progress is indicated by the Progress bar. Progress duration varies depending on
the size of your file and the server on which it is hosted.
When completed, the file system preparation status will be updated.
Now that your website has been prepared, a copy can be uploaded to AWS.
11.1 — Upload the clone of your website
This includes your database, themes, plugins and images etc and will be used to create your cloned website on AWS.
In the WP on AWS Plugin interface, complete the following steps:
● Navigate to the Clone to AWS Status section
● Click on Clone to AWS
● When complete, the Clone to AWS status will be updated. Progress duration may vary
depending on the size of your file system and the server on which it is hosted.
After a copy of your Website has been cloned to AWS, it can now be launched.
12.1 — Run a Migration to view a clone of your WordPress website in Amazon Lightsail.
In the WP on AWS Plugin interface, complete the following steps:
● Navigate to the Launch a Clone of This Website on AWS section
● Click on Launch AWS
● When complete, the IP address of your cloned website will become available.
12.2 — You will receive an email to the address associated with your license which contains links to view your cloned site.
● Click on Download Key to retrieve your SSH Access key.
Steps 13 onwards are only applicable to paid licence users.
In this step you will learn how to configure your new instance from a snapshot.
Seahorse launches instances in 2GB ($10 p/m) by default. All settings below are completed so if you wish to continue using this size instance you do not need to carry out the steps in the section. Increasing the instance size is an option but not a requirement.
13.1 Log into your AWS Lighsail Console, navigate to the instance created and click on the Snapshots Tab.
13.2 From here you can ‘+ Create Snapshot’ and ‘Create new Instance’ from the snapshot created
13.3 Select your SSH Key, Enable Auto Snapshots, instance type, and Name your new instance
In this step you will learn how to create a static IP & assign it to your instance.
Note: if your instance is already on AWS Lightsail you can simply switch your existing IP to this new instance at this stage.
14.1 In the Networking tab, click Create Static IP
14.2 Instances in your chosen region not currently assigned to a Static IP will be presented. Selected your instance.
14.3 Set a specific identifier name for your static IP
In this step we will create a CPU Utilization alarm to monitor your new instance
15.1 Select the metrics tab of your instance
15.2 Choose the CPU Utilization metric and Add Alarm.
*Our recommendation is greater than or equal to 60% for 2 times in the last 20 minutes. We also advise adding a notification method (email or SMS)
The final step is point your domain at the Static IP you created and to install and configure an SSL cert for your domain so the site can run over HTTPS.
Note: DNS editing is not required if you are using an existing static IP – see step 14
16.1 Point your domain at your newly created Static IP
16.2 Once your DNS change has propagated run the following command via your chosen SSH client
sudo /opt/bitnami/bncert-tool
* The bncert tool is self explanatory and will configure a cron to auto renew your cert so the process only has to be run once
16.3 Than It will ask for the domain list you want to install SSL certificate and complete the process.
Finally here is an overview of the Management Console that is available within your WordPress website on AWS.
17.1 — Once your Website has been launched on AWS Lightsail, a Management Console is available by clicking the WP Manage AWS tab on the Plugin Menu (on the cloned site)
From this Console, key information about your AWS server is available.
Actions can also be carried-out on your AWS Server from within the Management Console, such as:
● Reboot
● Change Tier
● Change Region
● Create Snapshot
● Boot from Snapshot
● Add Alarms
You migrated your WordPress website to run on Amazon Lightsail using Seahorse!