Lightsail See the topic →
Create a Lightsail snapshot and restore it
Step-by-step guide to making a copy (snapshot) of a Lightsail machine, scheduling automatic copies and restoring it by creating a new machine. Includi…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Static IP and changing plan in Lightsail without losing anything
Why every Lightsail machine that serves anything needs a static IP, how to assign it, and how to move to a bigger plan (more CPU, RAM or disk) using a…
⏱ 25 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Copy a snapshot to another region, in case of disaster
Your backups in AWS live in the same region as your machines. If that region fails, both fail. Here we explain, for Lightsail and for EC2, how to copy…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Set up WordPress on Lightsail and do it properly
Create a WordPress website on Amazon Lightsail from scratch, using the blueprint Amazon provides, and do the five things almost everyone skips afterwa…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Free HTTPS padlock with Let's Encrypt on Lightsail
Get a free Let's Encrypt certificate for your website on a Lightsail machine, with automatic renewal, whether the machine is a Bitnami one (WordPress …
⏱ 20 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →What to do if you have lost the SSH key to your machine
You have lost the key file, changed computer or the person who had it has left. How to get back into a Lightsail machine with the browser terminal, se…
⏱ 25 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Add a data disk to a Lightsail machine
Your Lightsail machine's disk is full and you do not want to change plan. How to create an additional disk, attach it, prepare it from the terminal an…
⏱ 20 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Managed database in Lightsail and connecting your website
Move the database off your Lightsail machine to a managed database (MySQL or PostgreSQL) that Amazon maintains and backs up for you. Creating it, conn…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →The Lightsail transfer allowance and what happens if you use it up
Every Lightsail plan includes a certain amount of data per month. What counts and what doesn't, how to see how much you have used, what happens when y…
⏱ 7-minute read◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Open port 22 only to your IP in Lightsail
Close SSH access to your Lightsail machine from the whole internet and allow it only from your IP address, step by step, without locking yourself out.…
⏱ 5 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →A spare key so you never get locked out of your machine
Losing the SSH key or the Administrator password of a machine in AWS is easier than it seems, and when you run machines for several clients it is only…
⏱ 20 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Minimum backup plan for a small business
An AWS backup plan that fits on one sheet: the 3-2-1 rule in plain words, what to back up for each thing (machines, databases, files), sensible freque…
⏱ 40 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Test that a backup works: restore in another region
A backup that has never been restored is not a backup, it is a hope. How to copy a Lightsail snapshot to another region, create a test machine there, …
⏱ 45 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Move a Lightsail machine to another region or account without losing anything
How to move a Lightsail machine to another region with a snapshot: copy it, create the new machine with the same plan, static IP, change the DNS in go…
⏱ 1 hour (plus the DNS wait)◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →My website has been hacked: restore from a clean snapshot
What to do when someone has broken into your Lightsail server: isolate it without destroying evidence, choose a snapshot from before the attack, bring…
⏱ 1 hour◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Close the ports you do not use and open 22 only when needed
What a port is in plain words, which ports a website needs and which should never be open to the whole internet, how to review the Lightsail firewall …
⏱ 20 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →My machine is slow: reading CPU, burst and network
What the metrics of a Lightsail machine measure (CPU, burst capacity, inbound and outbound network, status checks), how to see them in the console and…
⏱ 20 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Windows on Lightsail: secure remote desktop and backups
Create a Windows Server machine on Amazon Lightsail, get the administrator password, connect by remote desktop from Windows and Mac, open port 3389 on…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Migrate a website from shared hosting to Lightsail
When it is worth moving from shared hosting to a Lightsail machine, how to choose the blueprint (LAMP or WordPress), copy files and database, test wit…
⏱ 90 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →You have lost the Administrator password of a Windows machine in AWS: what you can do
The Windows machine works, but nobody remembers the Administrator password, or the person who changed it is no longer around. What Lightsail offers yo…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Open a terminal for your AWS machine from the browser, on Linux and Windows
What options AWS gives you for having a console to the machine without installing an SSH client: the Lightsail web console, Session Manager in EC2 and…
⏱ 25 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →EC2 See the topic →
Stop an EC2 instance at night to save money
What you stop paying when you stop an EC2 instance, what you keep paying, how to schedule the shutdown and startup with EventBridge Scheduler without …
⏱ 30 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Create an image (AMI) of an EC2 instance and launch a copy
The difference between an EBS snapshot and an AMI, how to create the image of an EC2 instance without stopping the service, launch an identical machin…
⏱ 20 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Email alert if a machine stops or hits its limit
Set up alarms in AWS so you get an email if a machine stops responding or its processor runs flat out for too long. Explained for Lightsail (built-in …
⏱ 15 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Create an EC2 machine from scratch without getting lost
The form for creating an EC2 instance has twenty decisions. Here we explain which ones matter (image, type, key, firewall, disk) and what to put in ea…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Grow the disk of an EC2 instance without reinstalling
Your EC2 disk is full. How to make it bigger live from the console and then tell the system to use the new space, with two commands. Without stopping …
⏱ 10 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →EC2 security groups: open only what you need
What a security group is, why a machine can be "running" and not respond, and how to leave open only the website and administration access from your I…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →SSH certificates explained from scratch: log in without handing out keys
What an SSH certificate is, how it differs from the usual key and why large companies use them: a key that expires on its own, that does not have to b…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ IntermediateRead the guide →RDS See the topic →
Backups of an RDS database and how to restore them
The difference between automated backups and manual snapshots in Amazon RDS, how to set them up, how to restore to a point in time, and the detail tha…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Create an RDS database and connect your website
Creating a database in Amazon RDS looks easy until the website will not connect. This guide walks through the form, explains why the database must not…
⏱ 30 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Stop an RDS database so you stop paying for it
An RDS database is billed by the hour even if nobody uses it. How to stop the development one or the one from a paused project, what you keep paying f…
⏱ 10 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →IAM See the topic →
Create an IAM user with minimal permissions from CloudShell
Create in AWS an access key that can only do the essentials (view, start and stop Lightsail machines, for example) to hand to a panel or an external t…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Access for an external tool with an IAM role, no keys
Create in your AWS account a role that another account can assume, with minimal permissions and an external ID, so that an external panel or service w…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Protect your AWS account: two-factor and no root user
The four measures that stop someone stealing your AWS account and leaving you a bill for thousands of euros: two-factor on the root account, stop usin…
⏱ 20 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Know who did what in your AWS account
A stopped machine, a deleted file, a DNS change nobody owns up to. AWS records everything that happens in your account in CloudTrail; this guide expla…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Give a colleague access without sharing your password
A colleague, an outside technician or your accountant needs to get into AWS. How to create their own user with only the permissions they need (view on…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →What permissions to give a new employee in AWS (and which not to)
How to give a new person access to AWS without turning them into an administrator: IAM groups by role (view, operate, administer), the AWS policies th…
⏱ 25 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →SES See the topic →
Verify a domain in SES with DKIM, SPF and DMARC in Route 53
Step by step so that your domain can send email from Amazon SES and land in the inbox: verification, DKIM, MAIL FROM domain with SPF and a DMARC polic…
⏱ 30 minutes (plus DNS propagation)◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Get out of the Amazon SES sandbox
What the Amazon SES sandbox limits, what you need to have ready before requesting production access and how to fill in the request so that AWS approve…
⏱ 20 minutes (plus the AWS response)◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Handle SES bounces and complaints with SNS
What bounces and complaints are in Amazon SES, why AWS can pause your sending if you do not keep them under control, and how to receive them in an SNS…
⏱ 25 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Make your website send email through Amazon SES
The emails your website sends (forms, orders, password reminders) land in spam or never arrive. Here is how to create SMTP credentials in Amazon SES a…
⏱ 20 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Costs See the topic →
Understanding the AWS bill
Where to look at the AWS bill, how to use Cost Explorer to know which service each euro goes to, why charges appear for things you thought were switch…
⏱ 8-minute read◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Create a budget in AWS Budgets with alerts
Set up a monthly cost budget in AWS Budgets with alerts at 80 % of actual spend and 100 % of the forecast, so you learn about a rise in your AWS bill …
⏱ 5 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Stop paying for AWS: everything you need to delete
You finish a project or switch providers and want the AWS bill to drop to zero. The complete list, region by region, of what keeps charging even when …
⏱ 30 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →The AWS Free Tier without surprises
AWS gives new accounts free usage, but with small print: for a limited time, with monthly caps and no warning when you go over. What it includes depen…
⏱ 8-minute read◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Which AWS region to choose from Spain
Spain, Paris, Ireland, Frankfurt... AWS makes you choose a region before creating anything, and the choice affects speed, price, which services you ha…
⏱ 7-minute read◎ For everyoneRead the guide →What a Lightsail machine really costs per month
The price of the Lightsail plan is only the beginning: unattached static IPs, snapshots, additional disks, traffic above the quota, stopped machines, …
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Set a per-user budget so nobody creates too many machines
When several people create machines, databases and snapshots in the same AWS account, spending shoots up without anyone deciding it. How to set a mont…
⏱ 40 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Your AWS bill has gone up: where to look in 10 minutes
A short walk through Billing and Cost Explorer to find what has pushed your AWS bill up: group by service, region and tag, narrow down to the last few…
⏱ 10 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →S3 See the topic →
Private S3 bucket and sharing a file with a temporary link
Create an Amazon S3 bucket that nobody can see from outside, upload a file and share it with a link that expires (presigned URL), from the console or …
⏱ 10 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Copy a folder to S3 every night with aws s3 sync
Backups of your website's files to an S3 bucket without paid software: install the AWS tool on the machine, give it a key with permissions only for th…
⏱ 25 minutes◎ Intermediate levelRead the guide →Let S3 delete old files on its own (lifecycle rules)
Your S3 bucket grows every month and nobody deletes anything. How to create a lifecycle rule that removes old backups, previous versions and half-fini…
⏱ 10 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Route 53 See the topic →
Point a domain to your server with Route 53
Move your domain's DNS to Amazon Route 53 and point it to your machine's IP: hosted zone, name servers at the registrar, A record, www, TTL and how to…
⏱ 20 minutes (plus propagation)◎ Basic levelRead the guide →When does your domain expire and who manages it
An expired domain takes down your website and your email in one go, and getting it back can be expensive or impossible. How to find the expiry date an…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Subdomains and www redirect in Route 53
You want app.midominio.com pointing at another machine, or www.midominio.com and midominio.com opening the same website. How to create the records in …
⏱ 15 minutes◎ Basic levelRead the guide →Lambda See the topic →
Give a Lambda function a public URL
Explained from scratch: what a Lambda function is, what a function URL is and how to turn it on so that your code answers when someone opens a web add…
⏱ 10 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Schedule a Lambda function to run every night
You have a task that must happen every day at a set time: cleaning up, sending a summary, checking something. How to make a Lambda function run on its…
⏱ 15 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Move a Lambda function to another region without losing its schedules
You want a Lambda function to be in another region (closer to your data, for price or for compliance) and you are afraid of breaking whatever runs it …
⏱ 25 minutes◎ For everyoneRead the guide →Missing a task? Tell us and we will write it.