How to Get Started with cPanel on Amazon Lightsail

Getting Started with cPanel on Amazon Lightsail

Amazon Lightsail is a cloud computing platform from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that offers virtual servers (or “instances”). It’s designed to make it easier to launch and manage web applications and websites. If you want to use cPanel, a popular web hosting control panel, on Amazon Lightsail, here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started.

1. Sign Up for AWS and Lightsail:

• If you haven’t already, create an AWS account.
• Navigate to the Lightsail homepage and sign in.

2. Launch a Lightsail Instance:

• Click the “Create instance” button.
• Choose the AWS region and availability zone.
• Choose the “Apps + OS” tab and select the “cPanel & WHM” option.
• Select your desired plan.
• Optionally, add launch scripts, key pairs, or enable automatic snapshots.
• Click the “Create instance” button.

3. Access the cPanel Instance:

• Once the instance state changes to “Running,” click on its name to view its details.
• Click on the “Connect using SSH” button. This will open a web-based SSH terminal.
• Inside the SSH terminal, you’ll see the default cPanel login credentials. Keep these credentials safe.

4. Log in to cPanel:

• In your Lightsail instance’s details, you’ll see a “Public IP” address. Copy it.
• In your web browser, navigate to https://<Your_Public_IP>:2087 (for WHM) or https://<Your_Public_IP>:2083 (for cPanel).
• Use the cPanel credentials you obtained from the SSH terminal to log in.

5. Point a Domain to Your cPanel Instance:

• Purchase or use an existing domain name from any domain registrar.
• Update the domain’s nameservers to point to your Lightsail cPanel instance’s nameservers.
• It might take some time for DNS propagation to complete.

6. Secure Your Instance:

• Regularly update your cPanel & WHM.
• Set up firewalls in Lightsail to restrict traffic.
• Regularly back up your data.
• Consider enabling SSL for your websites via AutoSSL in cPanel.

7. Familiarize Yourself with cPanel:

• Create email accounts, databases, or subdomains via cPanel.
• Install WordPress or other CMS systems using the built-in Softaculous script installer.
• Monitor your server’s health, bandwidth, and disk usage.

8. Additional Configuration (Optional):

• Adjust PHP settings if needed.
• Set up custom CRON jobs.
• Configure server security settings and optimize performance through WHM.

Getting started with cPanel on Lightsail has never been easier!

Amazon Lightsail is an easy-to-use cloud platform that offers you everything needed to build an application or website, plus a cost-effective, monthly plan. If you’re new to the cloud or looking to get on the cloud quickly with AWS infrastructure, the simplified administration of cPanel is now just a few clicks away.

In this article, we will showcase cPanel’s streamlined setup on Amazon Lightsail.

Checklist:

In order to get started with cPanel on a Lightsail instance we need to do a simple pre-flight check:

• AWS Lightsail account: Create or login to Amazon Lightsail.
• cPanel License:  cPanel on Amazon Lightsail comes with a free 15-day trial license, but you will need to connect an active license once the trial ends.

Getting Started:

First, you will need to sign in to your account or set up an account on Amazon Web Services.

After you’re logged in, you will see your AWS Management Console. To access the Lightsail console, type “Lightsail” in the “Find Services” text box and click the link that appears below the box.

In Lightsail, you can now create instances, managed databases, content delivery network distributions, load balancers, block storage disks, static IPs, DNS zones, and more.

Create a Lightsail Instance

Next, we will create a new Lightsail instance. Click Create instance to get started. Choose the AWS Region and Availability Zone for your instance, then select the Linux/Unix Operating System (cPanel current only runs on the Linux Operating System). After selecting the OS, select the cPanel & WHM for Linux Blueprint.

cPanel & WHM License

The cPanel & WHM software on this blueprint includes a 15-day trial license. When the trial expires, you must add a current license or purchase a new license directly from cPanel to continue using the cPanel & WHM software.

Install Options

There are a few extra options available during the install.

• Launch Script:  You can write and use a script to configure your virtual private server (or instance) when it starts up. These scripts can add software, update software, or configure your instance in some other way. For Linux/Unix-based instances, you can write a shell script or a bash script to configure your instance right after Lightsail creates it.
• SSH Key Pair Manager: Choose Default to use the default key pair that Lightsail creates to connect to your Linux instance. When you create an instance in an AWS Region, Lightsail creates a region-specific default key. You can download the default private key if you also want to connect to your Lightsail instance using an SSH client such as PuTTY.
• Enable Automatic Snapshots: Automatic snapshots create a backup image of your instance and attached disks on a daily schedule.

Lightsail Plans:

Next, we choose our Lightsail plan. AWS currently offers Lightsail plans starting at $5 a month up to $160 per month, depending on your requirements.  In order to ensure that you have an optimal experience with cPanel, Lightsail does not support the cPanel bundle on the $3.50 plan.

Identify Your Lightsail Instance:

Now we need to select a unique name to identify our instance. You also have the option to use tags to filter and organize your resources in the Lightsail console. Key-value tags can also be used to organize your billing, and to control access to your resources.

Create your Amazon Lightsail Instance

Once you have your instance and chosen a plan, you are ready to create your instance! Click the “Create instance” button to start the creation process. Please note, if you’ve customized the install script, this might take a while.

When your instance has been successfully created, you will see the active instance in your control panel. Clicking on the Instance block will open the cPanel & WHM Instance control panel.

Now you have cPanel & WHM installed on an Amazon Lightsail instance! For more information on the next steps, you should take to get started after your cPanel & WHM instance is up and running on Amazon Lightsail, please view the AWS Lightsail cPanel & WHM Quick Start Guide

We hope you are as excited as we are about the new cPanel & WHM blueprint. cPanel will continue to work with AWS to bring your favorite software and integrations into the cloud!