Launch and Configure a WordPress Instance with Amazon Lightsail

Amazon Lightsail is one of the easiest ways to get started with AWS. It offers virtual servers, storage, databases, and networking, plus a cost-effective, monthly plan.

Step 2: Create a WordPress instance in Lightsail

Complete the following steps to get your WordPress instance up and running on Lightsail.

Note: For more information about creating an instance in Lightsail, see Create an Amazon Lightsail instance in the Lightsail documentation. 

a. Sign in to the Lightsail console. 

b. On the Instances tab of the Lightsail home page, choose Create instance.

c. An AWS Region and Availability Zone is selected for you. Choose Change AWS Region and Availability Zone if you want to create your instance in another location.

d. Choose your instance image.

Choose Linux/Unix as the platform.

Choose WordPress as the blueprint.

e. Choose an instance plan.

A plan includes a machine configuration (RAM, SSD, vCPU) at a low, predictable cost, and data transfer allowance. You can try the $3.50 USD Lightsail plan without charge for three months (up to 750 hours). AWS credits the first three months to your account.

f. Enter a name for your instance and choose Create instance.

 Resource name guidelines:

 Must be unique within each AWS Region in your Lightsail account.

Must contain 2 to 255 characters.

Must start and end with an alphanumeric character or number.

Can include alphanumeric characters, numbers, periods, dashes, and underscores.

Step 3: Connect to your instance via SSH and get the password for your WordPress website

The default password to sign in to the administration dashboard of your WordPress website is stored on the instance.

Complete the following steps to connect to your instance using the browser-based SSH client in the Lightsail console, and get the password for the administration dashboard.

Note: For more information, see Getting the application user name and password for your Bitnami instance in Amazon Lightsail.

a. On the Instances tab of the Lightsail home page, choose the SSH quick-connect icon for your WordPress instance.

b. After the browser-based SSH client window opens, enter the following command to retrieve the default application password:

cat $HOME/bitnami_application_password

Copy

c. Make note of the password displayed on the screen. You use it later to sign in to the administration dashboard of your WordPress website.

Step 4: Sign in to the administration dashboard of your WordPress website

Now that you have the password for the administration dashboard of your WordPress website, you can sign in. In the administration dashboard, you can change your user password, install plugins, change the theme of your website, and more.

Complete the following steps to sign in to the administration dashboard of your WordPress website.

Note: For more information, see Getting the application user name and password for your Bitnami instance in Amazon Lightsail.

a. In a browser, go o:

http://PublicIpAddress/wp-login.php

Copy

In the address, replace PublicIpAddress with the public IP address of your WordPress instance. You can get your instance's public IP address from the Lightsail console as shown in the image at the right.

b. Log in to your instance. 

In the Username or Email Address box, enter user.

In the Password box, enter the default password obtained earlier in this tutorial.

Choose Log in. 

c. You are now signed in to the administration dashboard of your WordPress website where you can perform administrative actions. For more information about administering your WordPress website, see the WordPress Codex in the WordPress documentation.

Step 5: Create a Lightsail static IP address and attach it to your WordPress instance

The default public IP for your WordPress instance changes if you stop and start your instance. A static IP address, attached to an instance, stays the same even if you stop and start your instance.

Complete the following steps to create a static IP address and attach it to your WordPress instance.

Note: For more information, see Create a static IP and attach it to an instance in Amazon Lightsail.

a. On the Instances tab of the Lightsail home page, choose your running WordPress instance.

b. Choose the Networking tab, then choose Create static IP.

c. The static IP location is preselected based on the instance zone that you chose earlier. Select the created WordPress instance from the Attach to an instance dropdown.

d. Name your static IP, then choose Create. 

Step 6: Create a Lightsail DNS zone and map a domain to your WordPress instance

Transfer management of your domain's DNS records to Lightsail. This allows you to more easily map a domain to your WordPress instance, and manage more of your website’s resources using the Lightsail console.

Complete the following steps to create a Lightsail DNS zone and map a domain to your WordPress instance.

Note: For more information, see Creating a DNS zone to manage your domain’s DNS records in Amazon Lightsail.

a. On the Networking tab of the Lightsail home page, choose Create DNS zone. 

b. Enter your domain, then choose Create DNS zone. 

c. Make note of the name server address listed on the page. 

You add these name server addresses to your domain name’s registrar to transfer management of your domain’s DNS records to Lightsail.

d. After management of your domain’s DNS records are transferred to Lightsail, add an A record to point the apex of your domain to your WordPress instance, as follows:

You add these name server addresses to your domain name’s registrar to transfer management of your domain’s DNS records to Lightsail.

1. In the DNS zone for your domain, choose Add record.

e. Continue adding the following details to complete pointing the apex of your domain to your WordPress instance:

1. In the Subdomain box, enter an @ symbol to map the apex of your domain (such as example.com) to your instance. The @ symbol explicitly symbolizes that you’re adding an apex record. It is not added as a subdomain.

2. In the Resolves to box, choose the static IP that you attached to the WordPress instance in the previous step of this tutorial.

3. Choose the green save icon.

Allow time for the change to propagate through the internet's DNS before your domain begins routing traffic to your WordPress instance.

How To Fix Critical Errors With WordPress Recovery Mode

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The text-based social media product already has 70 million sign-ups, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday.
“Meta only needs 1 in 4 Instagram users to use Threads monthly for it to be as big as Twitter,” 

WordPress – Website Builder

WordPress for Android puts the power of web publishing in your pocket. It’s a website creator and so much more!

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The plugin’s simple two-step process ensures the safety of your WordPress admin login URL within seconds, and all of this without any coding.

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Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/change-wp-admin-login/

Wordpress 6.3 Dropping support for PHP 5

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WordPress currently supports PHP version 5.6.20 or greater. The minimum supported version was last adjusted in WordPress 5.2 in 2019, and since then usage of PHP 5.6 has dropped to 3.9% of monitored WordPress installations 

WordPress 6.3 Beta 3 is ready for download and testing!

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Direct download the Beta 3 version (zip).

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ChatGPT downloads on iPhones in the U.S. were down 38% month over month in June, according to the note. Bing app downloads, which includes a ChatGPT-based chatbot in the U.S., were also down 38% in June.

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The annual event, which is hosted by several government ministries, has attracted China's top AI firms and institutions. The published agenda that runs from Thursday to Saturday is dominated by local firms and speakers, with some big international names conspicuously missing. Most notably, Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, will not be in attendance.

With domestic regulators flagging risks about generative AI, ChatGPT and similar services such as Google's Bard are unlikely to be allowed into the Chinese market, making AI another closed garden inside the Great Firewall that could benefit local tech giants.

Vulnerability in the Ultimate Member plugin gets exploited in Wordpress websites

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The plugin, which has amassed more than 200,000 downloads on the platform, is designed to support user signups and memberships on WordPress websites.

The vulnerability which is being tracked as CVE-2023-3460 has been awarded a score of 9.8, making it ‘critical.’ It is believed to have impacted all versions of the plugin.