AWS

Installing AWS CLI

Published June 12, 2026 | By Adam Craig Johnston

Using WordPress on AWS Lightsail and Docker

Summary

The AWS CLI is a command-line tool that lets you manage and automate AWS services including Lightsail using PowerShell, Command Prompt, or Terminal. With AWS CLI, you can automate tasks, configure AWS resources, and streamline the deployment and management of Lightsail instances, Docker containers, and WordPress environments.

Prerequisites

Python (if applicable):
- Required only for AWS CLI v1 (installed via pip): Python 3.7 or later recommended.
- AWS CLI v2: Python is bundled; you don’t need to install it separately.
Administrator or sudo privileges: Required for installation and configuration on most systems.

Installation

Tip: All commands below should be run in your system’s terminal, PowerShell, or command prompt.

Windows

Option 1: MSI Installer

Download the installer from the official AWS CLI documentation.
Run the installer (e.g., AWSCLIV2.msi).Or, run this command:msiexec.exe /i https://awscli.amazonaws.com/AWSCLIV2.msi

Option 2: Chocolatey

Chocolatey is a command-line package manager for Windows.

To install or upgrade AWS CLI:

choco upgrade awscli

Verify Installation

aws --version

Linux

Option 1: Official Bundled Installer

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install
rm -rf awscliv2.zip aws/

Option 2: Snap (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo snap install aws-cli --classic

Verify Installation

aws --version

macOS

Option 1: Homebrew

brew update
brew install awscli

Verify Installation

aws --version

Creating an IAM User Group for Lightsail Access

You can use either a service-linked role (created automatically by Lightsail) or set up a custom role with your own group and permissions.

Go to the IAM (Identity and Access Management) service (search for “IAM” in the AWS Console search bar).

2. Create a User Group

Navigate to User groups ? Create group.
Name your group (e.g., LightsailUsers).
(Optional) Add users now, or skip and add later.
Click Next.

3. Attach Permissions

In Attach permissions policies, search for AdministratorAccess.
Check the box for AdministratorAccess.
Click Next, then Create group.

4. Add Users (if you didn�t earlier)

In User groups, select your group.
Go to the Users tab, click Create user.

5. Create User & Access Key

Set a username (e.g., developer).
Leave console access unchecked (optional).
On Permissions, choose Add user to group and pick LightsailUsers.
Skip permission boundaries (optional).
Click Create user.

Create Access Key:

In Users, click your user’s name.
Go to Security credentials tab, click Create access key.
Select Command Line Interface (CLI).
Confirm recommendations and continue.
Download your credentials .csv and store securely.

Tip: Tags (key-value pairs) can help organize and automate your Lightsail resources.

AWS CLI Configuration

1. Run the `aws configure` Command

aws configure

You’ll be prompted for:

AWS Access Key ID: (From your downloaded .csv)
AWS Secret Access Key: (From your downloaded .csv)
Default region name: (e.g., ap-southeast-2)
Default output format: (json, text, or table)

These are stored as your default profile.

2. Add Additional Profiles (Optional)

You can create multiple named profiles (for different users/accounts):

aws configure --profile MyUbuntuProfile

3. Where Profiles Are Stored

Profiles are kept in two files:

Linux/macOS: ~/.aws/
Windows: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.aws\

Files:

credentials – stores access keys
config – stores region and output format

Example:

~/.aws/credentials

[default]
aws_access_key_id = AKIAEXAMPLE1
aws_secret_access_key = secret1

[MyUbuntuInstance]
aws_access_key_id = AKIAEXAMPLE2
aws_secret_access_key = secret2

~/.aws/config

[default]
region = ap-southeast-2
output = json

[profile MyUbuntuInstance]
region = us-west-2
output = table

Using Multi-Profiles

Multi-profiles allow you to easily switch between AWS accounts, users, or environments from a single machine.

View all profiles:aws configure list-profiles
Use a profile:aws s3 ls --profile default aws ec2 describe-instances --profile MyUbuntuProfile

Using WordPress on AWS Lightsail and Docker – Early Access Edition

Published May 24, 2026 | By Adam Craig Johnston

Learn how to deploy WordPress on AWS Lightsail using Docker.

This book provides a clear, step-by-step guide to setting up the AWS CLI, creating a Lightsail virtual server, installing Docker, and deploying WordPress with Docker Compose.
You will also explore how to automate WordPress theme deployments using WP-CLI and CI/CD pipelines.

It is designed for developers, site owners, and technical users who want a simpler, more reliable, and more secure approach to WordPress deployment using DevOps practices.

Early Access Edition

Using WordPress on AWS Lightsail and Docker

Posted in AWS, Docker, Using WordPress on AWS Lightsail and Docker, Wordpress | Tagged AWS, Docker, Using WordPress on AWS Lightsail and Docker, Wordpress | Leave a comment

and that was 2019 in Review.

Published December 30, 2019 | By Adam Craig Johnston

This blog has been very quiet this year, lots of reasons, mostly work-related has kept me away.

Some milestones were achieved this year:

NovuscodeLibrary

NovuscodeLibrary is a Delphi library of utility functions and non-visual classes.

New package NovusCodeLibrary_cURL.dpk – cURL function library
New package NovusCodeLibrary_WebUtils.dpk – Web functions library
Now support Delphi 10.3 and packages

https://github.com/novuslogic/NovuscodeLibrary

Changelog

ToDo

Adding features or fixing bugs to Novuscodelibrary, it’s general done organically. The next feature supported:

The Delphi Package Manager Project https://github.com/DelphiPackageManager/

CodeImatic

CodeImatic is a PascalScript based toolchain for building and deployment.

CodeImatc.build

CodeImatic.build is a PascalScript based build and deployment engine.

https://github.com/novuslogic/CodeImatic.build

CodeImatc.codegen

CodeImatic.codegen is a PascalScript template driven source code and static website generator.

https://github.com/novuslogic/CodeImatic.codegen

CodeImatic – Multiple features have been added and moving towards an early beta release next year.

DelphiAWSSDK

The Delphi AWS SDK enables Delphi/Pascal developers to easily work with Amazon Web Services.

DelphiAWSSDK

Changelog

The next version of DelphiAWSDK v.04 will have a full translation of Amazon DynamoDB https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/ using the new experimental Code-Generation based on CodeImatic.codegen https://github.com/novuslogic/CodeImatic.codegen

Using WordPress on Amazon Lightsail

https://leanpub.com/wordpressawslightsail/

I’m develpoing a new book called “Using WordPress on Amazon Lightsail” which will be pushlished early next year, so sign up with the “Notify Me When This Is Published” button.

Happy New Year.

Posted in AWS, Delphi, DelphiAWSSDK, Lazarus, NovuscodeLibrary, Using WordPress on Amazon Lightsail | Leave a comment

DelphiAWSSDK v0.2.0

Published September 4, 2018 | By Adam Craig Johnston

The Delphi AWS SDK enables Delphi/Pascal developers to easily work with Amazon Web Services.

https://github.com/novuslogic/DelphiAWSSDK/releases/tag/v0.2.0

Summary of updates

Updated support Delphi XE to Delphi X10.2
Tested support for Windows 32/64Bit, MacOSX 32Bit
New TAmazonIndyRESTClient and TAmazonDelphiRESTClient classes
Updated TAmazonSignatureV4 class to be less reliant on Indy, allowing for cross-platform development.
THashSHA2 supported in unit Amazon.Utils for Delphi XE8 and up.

Posted in AWS, Delphi, DelphiAWSSDK | Leave a comment

Using WordPress on AWS EC2 Free Tier

Published February 24, 2012 | By Adam Craig Johnston

Here is a guide on how to setup WordPress on Amazon EC2 Free Tier

Setup

Sign up for a AWS Account at http://aws.amazon.com/
Sign up for a Amazon EC2 at http://aws.amazon.com/ec2
Sign into the AWS Console
Choose a Region before launching your new EC2 instance.
Create EC2 Linux Micro Instance for WordPress:
To start a new EC2 instance click on the Launch Instance button.
In the “Request Instances Wizard” tab to the Community AMI’s then filter using “wordpress” then choose the AMI:

bitnami-wordpress-3.1-0-linux-ubuntu-10.04-ebs (ami-30f18f62)
For your Free instance, choose the number of instances: 1, Availability Zone: No Preference and Instance Type: Micro (t1 micro, 613MB).
Shutdown Behavior option should be stop, and all other options Use Default.
Add in a tag key = Name and value = Webserver.
Create a new Key Par call it the name of the website then create and save this file somewhere on your local machine that can be grabbed latter. E.g xyz.pem
Adjust Security Groups,

Add rules for SSH, HTTP, HTTPS but leave the source as 0.0.0.0/0
Now Lunch the instance
Assign Elastic IP then Associate Address with your EC2 Instance
Click on Instances within the EC2 console to find the Public DNS.
Install Open SSH on Windows
Set pem file to Read by owner

chmod 400 xyz.pem
SSH in to the instance

ssh -i xyz.pem bitnami@ec2-<public DNS>.ap-southeast-1.compute.amazonaws.com
Move WordPress to run at the root of the apache web server by editing httpd.conf file using vi

sudo vi /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

DocumentRoot “/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs”

To

DocumentRoot “/opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs”

<Directory />

Options Indexes MultiViews +FollowSymLinks

AllowOverride All

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

</Directory>

<Directory “/opt/bitnami/apache2/htdocs”>

To

<Directory “/opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs”>

Comment out:

#Include “/opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/conf/wordpress.conf”
Create an .htaccess file for WordPress

This also enables you to have pretty permalinks like myblog.com/tour

Add .htaccess file to WordPress dir

in /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/.htaccess

# BEGIN WordPress

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/server-status

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

</IfModule>

# END WordPress
Configure WordPress to know its own DNS entry

sudo vi /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-config.php

define(‘WP_HOME’, ‘http://www.ringio.com’);

define(‘WP_SITEURL’, ‘http://www.ringio.com’);
Install Filezila

Public DNS

SSH Username: bitnami

Password: <Blank>
delete the /opt/bitnami/updateip file. Otherwise, restarting the instance, Bitnami resets the wp_options values to the Public DNS server name.

sudo rm /opt/bitnami/updateip
Install EMS MySQL Manager

How to Connect to BitNami MySQL Remotely

http://wiki.bitnami.org/cloud/how_to_connect_to_your_amazon_instance#How_to_connect_to_the_BitNami_MySQL_remotely.3f
Run this SQL script to set the Pubic IP Address with WordPress

update wp_options set option_value = ‘http://www.agileweboperations.com’ where option_name in (‘siteurl’, ‘home’);
Configure WordPress with the Pubic IP Address

sudo vi /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-config.php

define(‘WP_HOME’, ‘http://www.ringio.com’);

define(‘WP_SITEURL’, ‘http://www.ringio.com’);
Reboot the instance
In your Browser type the public ip and see if WordPress is running correctly at Root Directory
Login into Woresspress using default bitnami username

Username: user

Password: bitnami
Add a new use into WordPress with Role of Administrator
Then remove default bitnami username from WordPress by login in as your new username
Make a DNS A record for the domain host provider, and use the elastic IP.

Migration

Both wordpress on your old site and on AWS are the same due to database compatible issues
Copy your \wp-content\upload from your old site locally to reload on AWS

sudo chmod 755 /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/

Install and download all plugins to your AWS Worspress instance
Download or install your old theme and plugins
Export your Old WordPress database using MyPHPAdmin
Run the Export SQL Script on the AWS WordPress Instance using your Remote SQL Manager
The rerun the SQL script to set the Pubic IP Address with WordPress

update wp_options set option_value = ‘http://www.agileweboperations.com’ where option_name in (‘siteurl’, ‘home’);

To Finish

When your domain has delegated run this script again with your domain

update wp_options set option_value = ‘http://www.website.com’ where option_name in (‘siteurl’, ‘home’);
Configure WordPress with the Pubic IP Address

sudo vi /opt/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-config.php

define(‘WP_HOME’, ‘http://www.website.com’);

define(‘WP_SITEURL’, ‘http://www.website.com’);