How to host Joomla on AWS Lightsail VM Instance - ServerAvatar

Published : Mar 22, 2023

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cloud-platform

AWS Lightsail

AWS Lightsail is a simplified and cost-effective way to launch and manage virtual private servers (VPS) in the cloud. It provides a user-friendly interface for deploying and scaling VPS instances with pre-configured options for operating systems, applications, and storage. Additionally, it offers a predictable pricing model that includes a flat monthly fee based on the instance size and data transfer limits.

Get started with AWS Lightsail
application

Joomla

Joomla is a free and open-source CMS platform that helps you create a comprehensive website easily without using much technical knowledge. What makes it different than other is it support multiple languages.

More info

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail

To create a server in AWS Lightsail, First log in to the AWS Lightsail console. Once you are there, Follow the steps given below.

Step 1: Go to Instance Creation Form

To access the instance creation form, Go to AWS Lightsail dashboard and click on the orange button with Create Instance text. See the following image for reference.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail - Step 1

Step 2: Select the Location of your Instance

First of all, You have to select the location for your instance. It is always better to select a location closest to your major traffic source. It will decrease the latency for majority of your website visitors.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail - Step 2

If you want to change the location of your server, You can simply update the current region in your AWS account.

Step 3: Select the OS for your Instance

After selecting the location, Select the operating system for your instance. In this case, First click on OS Only and then select Ubuntu 20.04 as an operating system just like the following image.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail - Step 3

Step 4: Select SSH Key and Launch Script (Optional/Advanced)

This is an optional step. Here you can set the Launch script and the main SSH key for your server. If you don't understand launch script and SSH keys, Just ignore this step.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail - Step 4

Step 5: Select the Plan

In this step, select the size of your VM instance. AWS Lightsail provides lots of different options when it comes to plans and pricing. The plan and pricing selection completely depends on the requirements of your site(s). So, select the plan based on the complexity and traffic of your sites.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail - Step 5

Step 6: Verify and Create the Instance

Finally, Enter the name of your instance, number of instances you want to create and assign the tags accordingly for identification. Once done, click on the Create Instance button to start the instance creation process.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail - Step 6

It might take a few minutes to deploy the instance. Once done, follow the below given step to update the firewall rules for the VM instance.

Step 7: Update Firewall Rules

ServerAvatar requires 43210 port open. In total, You need to keep the following ports open on the instance.

  • 22 (SSH): To access your server via SSH.
  • 80 (HTTP): To access your sites on HTTP.
  • 443 (HTTPS): To access your sites on HTTPS.
  • 43210 (ServerAvatar): To allow communication between ServerAvatar and your instance.

To update the firewall rules for a specific instance, Go to the AWS Lightsail dashboard and click on the name of the instance you want to update. Then go to the Networking section and add the missing firewall rules. After updating the firewall rules, the networking section of your Instance should look like the following image.

Create VM Instance in AWS Lightsail - Step 7

Initial Server Configuration

The Initial server configuration includes installation and configuration of various packages required to host your website. Usually, You have to write commands and modify configuration files. Luckily, With ServerAvatar, Your full server configuration and optimisation can be automated.

Here are the three ways to automatically configure your server with ServerAvatar.

Auto-install Joomla with ServerAvatar

Step-1. Create a PHP application

Once you are on the admin panel, access the Application tab from the sidebar and click the Create button.

Create application

Now fill up the required details in the application form, as seen in the image below.

Application creation form

Note that:

If you want to host Joomla CMS on your domain, then make sure to point your domain to the current IP address of your server, and for that:

  1. Log in to your hosting provider site, where you buy your domain. You can check your domain information with one click.

  2. Access DNS Manager to edit your DNS records(contact the support team if you don’t find them)

  3. Change the IP address of A Record of your website to the current server’s IP address.

Click the Create Application button.

Step-2 Create Joomla database

Joomla installation process takes database credentials. So to create a MySQL database for Joomla, Click on the Databases tab on the server panel.

Create database

Enter the details such as Database Name, Username, and Password in the database creation form like the image below.

Database creation form

Click the Create Database button.

Step-3. Auto-install Joomla application

To install Joomla on a Fresh PHP application, go to your application panel and access the** Auto Deploy** tab from the sidebar.

Auto-deploy

Click the Joomla Auto Install card on the screen, as shown in the above image.

Select the supported PHP version in the given field and click the Install Now button.

Step-4. Install and Setup Joomla

Now access the site URL from the Application panel to install and set up Joomla CMS.

Joomla Installer

Select a language and Enter your Joomla site name.

Joomla installer

Admin Login data

Enter the administrator credentials in the Login Data field like the below image.

Login data

Database Configuration

Enter the database credential that we have created above in step 2. Database details include-

  • Database Type: Type MySQLi as it supports both procedural and object-oriented interfaces.
  • Host Name: leave this field as it is if you host your database on the same server as the application.
  • Database Username: Enter your created database username in step 2.
  • Database Password: Enter Your database password.
  • Database Name: Enter the name of your database.
  • Database table Prefix: Set the Joomla database table prefix as your choice.
  • Connection Encryption: Set it by default.

Database configuration

Click the Install Joomla button.

Delete Installation folder

After successfully installing Joomla, deleting the Install directory is required.

To do this, access the File Manager tab from the application panel and go to the public_html directory.

Delete the directory

Now Delete the Installation directory like the above image.

Access Joomla admin login

The next screen allows you to access your site and the admin login page.

Admin login

Click the Open Administrator to access the Joomla admin panel using admin credentials.

That’s it. You can now create a blog, e-commerce, and membership sites with an easy-to-use interface.