Overview

This guide walks you through the process of setting up WordPress on an Amazon EC2 instance (Ubuntu) using an Amazon RDS (MySQL) database. This setup ensures a scalable and reliable environment for your WordPress site.

Prerequisites

• An AWS account.
• Basic understanding of AWS services.
• A domain name (optional but recommended).

Steps

Step 1: Launch an EC2 Instance

1. Log in to the AWS Management Console

• Navigate to the AWS Management Console at aws.amazon.com/console.

1. Navigate to EC2

• In the AWS Console, search for EC2 in the search bar and select it.

1. Launch a New Instance
   • Click on Launch Instances.

1. Configure Instance
   • Name: my-new-server.
   • AMI: Choose Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
   • Instance Type: Select t3.micro (free tier eligible).
   • Key Pair: Create or select a key pair for SSH access. This step is crucial for securely connecting to your instance.
   • Security Group:
     • Allow HTTP (port 80), HTTPS (port 443), and SSH (port 22).
   • Launch the instance.

Step 2: Access Your EC2 Instance

1. SSH into the EC2 Instance
   • Open your terminal or SSH client and connect using the command below. Replace your-key.pem with the path to your key file and your-ec2-public-ip with the public IP of your EC2 instance.

   ssh -i "your-key.pem" ubuntu@your-ec2-public-ip

1. Update the System
   • It is good practice to update your package list and upgrade existing packages to ensure your system is secure and up-to-date.

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 3: Install Necessary Software

1. Install Apache, PHP, and MySQL Client
   • Apache will serve your website, PHP will process the server-side scripts, and MySQL client will help in managing databases.

   sudo apt install apache2 php php-mysql mariadb-client curl unzip -y

1. Remove the Default Apache Landing Page
   • This step ensures that Apache serves the WordPress site instead of its default landing page.

   sudo rm /var/www/html/index.html

1. Restart Apache
   • Restarting Apache applies the changes and ensures it runs correctly.

   sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 4: Launch an RDS Instance

1. Go to the AWS Console > RDS > Create Database
   • Navigate to RDS in the AWS Console.

1. Configure the Database
   • Engine: Select MySQL.
   • DB Instance Class: Choose db.t2.micro (free tier eligible).
   • Storage: Allocate 20 GB.
   • Username: Set as admin.
   • Password: Set as yourpassword.
   • Public Access: Enable to allow EC2 to connect.
   • Security Group: Allow MySQL/Aurora (port 3306).

1. Launch the Database
   • Click the Create Database button to launch your RDS instance.

Step 5: Create and Configure the Database

1. Note the RDS Endpoint

   • Open the RDS dashboard and note down the Endpoint. You will use this to connect from your EC2 instance.

2. SSH into Your EC2 Instance

   • Connect to your RDS database from the EC2 instance using the MySQL client.

   mysql -h your-rds-endpoint -u admin -p

1. Create the WordPress Database
   • In the MySQL prompt, execute the following command to create a new database for WordPress.

   CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
   EXIT;

Step 6: Download and Configure WordPress

1. Download WordPress
   • Use curl to download the latest version of WordPress, extract it, and move it to the web root directory.

   curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
   tar -xzvf latest.tar.gz
   sudo mv wordpress /var/www/html/

1. Set Permissions
   • Set the correct permissions to ensure that Apache can manage the WordPress files.

   sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/wordpress
   sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/wordpress

1. Edit the wp-config.php File
   • Rename the sample configuration file and edit it to include your database details.

   sudo nano /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php

   define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress');
   define('DB_USER', 'admin');
   define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpassword');
   define('DB_HOST', 'your-rds-endpoint');

• Save the file as wp-config.php.

   sudo mv /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config-sample.php /var/www/html/wordpress/wp-config.php

Step 7: Configure Apache

1. Create a Virtual Host Configuration File
   • Create a new configuration file for your WordPress site.

   sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/wordpress.conf

1. Add the Virtual Host Configuration
   • Add the following configuration to the file.

   <VirtualHost *:80>
       DocumentRoot /var/www/html/wordpress
       <Directory /var/www/html/wordpress>
           AllowOverride All
       </Directory>
   </VirtualHost>

1. Enable the Site and Rewrite Module
   • Enable the WordPress site and the rewrite module.

   sudo a2ensite wordpress
   sudo a2enmod rewrite
   sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 8: Finalize WordPress Installation

1. Open Your Browser
   • Navigate to http://your-ec2-public-ip to access the WordPress setup wizard.

1. Complete the Setup Wizard
   • Follow the instructions to enter your site title, admin credentials, and other necessary information.

Step 9: Troubleshooting Tips

1. Cannot Connect to RDS
   • Ensure