WordPress on AWS EC2: A Powerful and Scalable Hosting Solution

For many websites, WordPress remains the go-to content management system. While shared hosting is common, deploying WordPress on Amazon EC2 offers unparalleled control, scalability, and performance. This guide outlines the essential steps to get your WordPress site up and running on an EC2 instance.

Why EC2 for WordPress?

• Control: Full root access to your server, allowing for custom configurations and optimizations.
• Scalability: Easily upgrade or downgrade instance types as your traffic fluctuates. Integrate with Auto Scaling for automatic scaling.
• Performance: Dedicated resources mean your site isn’t competing with others on a shared server, leading to faster load times.
• Security: Implement your own security measures and leverage AWS’s robust security features.

Core Components for WordPress on EC2: A typical WordPress setup requires:

• Web Server: Apache or Nginx
• Database: MySQL or MariaDB
• PHP: The programming language WordPress is built on
• EC2 Instance: Your virtual server

Step-by-Step Overview:

1. Launch an EC2 Instance:
   • Log in to your AWS Management Console, navigate to EC2, and click “Launch Instance.”
   • Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) like Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu Server.
   • Select an appropriate instance type (e.g., t3.micro for a small site, scaling up as needed).
   • Configure network settings and create/select a security group that allows inbound traffic on ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS). Also, allow SSH (port 22) from your IP for management.
   • Choose or create a key pair for secure SSH access.
2. Connect and Update Your Instance:
   • Once the instance is running, connect to it via SSH using your key pair.
   • Update the system packages:
     sudo yum update -y (for Amazon Linux)
     or sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y (for Ubuntu).
3. Install Web Server, PHP, and Database:
   • Apache/Nginx: Install your chosen web server.
   • PHP: Install PHP and necessary extensions (e.g., php-mysqlnd, php-gd).
   • MariaDB/MySQL: Install the database server and secure it (e.g., mysql_secure_installation).
4. Create WordPress Database and User:
   • Log into your MySQL/MariaDB shell as root.
   • Create a new database for WordPress (e.g., CREATE DATABASE wordpress_db;).
   • Create a new user and grant privileges to this user on the WordPress database.
5. Download and Configure WordPress:
   • Download the latest WordPress package to your web server’s document root (e.g., /var/www/html/).
   • Extract the files.
   • Copy wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php and edit it to include your database name, username, and password.
6. Set Permissions:
   • Adjust file and directory permissions to ensure WordPress can function correctly.
7. Complete WordPress Installation:
   • Access your EC2 instance’s public IP address or associated domain name in your web browser.
   • Follow the on-screen WordPress installation prompts.

For production environments, consider additional services like Amazon RDS for a managed database, Amazon S3 for media storage, and Amazon CloudFront for content delivery. Hosting WordPress on EC2 provides a robust foundation for growth and customization.