Amazon offers a newer, simpler alternative to EC2 instances called Lightsail. Lightsail is very easy to use and excellent for any small business interested in creating a simple app.

I was recently asked to create a Wordpress website using Lightsail and it took less than 10 minutes. In fact, the hardest part was figuring out how to SFTP into server so that I can get the /login password. Here's how I did it.

Step 1 - Create a Lightsail Instance

Visit AWS Lightsail and create a new app instance.
create-lightsail

Step 2 - Open Transmit

There are many good file transfer apps for Mac but Panic Transmit is my favorite. Simply create a new instance, enter the IP address given to you by AWS, set the protocol to SFTP, enter "bitnami" into the User Name and select the key symbol.
create-new-app

Step 3 - Pick your PEM

When you click on the key symbol near "Password", you will open a prompt that asks for your PEM file.
add-pem

Step 4 - Complete!

When you first log in, you will be sent to the default Bitnami file structure. You can find your Bitnami password. Simply open bitnami_application_password using a text editor.
lightsail-myapp-01

Step 5 - Log In

Log in using user as your Username.
wordpress-login

Finding /plugins folder

If you're using Wordpress on Lightsail, some folders, like plugins, are placed in different locations.

/opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/plugins/

lightsail-myapp-02

Resources