Getting Started with WordPress on AWS

The CloudSOE WordPress image gives you a complete WordPress stack — Apache, PHP, MariaDB, phpMyAdmin and SFTP — on a hardened Ubuntu base. The image contains no baked-in passwords: on its first boot your instance generates its own database credentials and a per-instance TLS certificate, then hands you a fresh WordPress installer.

What you’ll need

• An AWS account subscribed to the CloudSOE WordPress listing on AWS Marketplace
• An EC2 key pair in your target region (SSH is key-based only; password login is disabled)
• About ten minutes

Step 1 — Launch the instance

1. Open the WordPress listing on AWS Marketplace and click Continue to Subscribe, then Continue to Configuration.
2. Pick your region and click Continue to Launch → Launch through EC2.
3. Choose an instance type. t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) is a good starting point for a typical site; t3.small works for low-traffic blogs.
4. Select your key pair, and give the root volume at least 30 GB.

Prefer the CLI? Once subscribed:

aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id <ami-id-from-the-listing> \
  --instance-type t3.medium \
  --key-name my-key \
  --security-group-ids sg-xxxxxxxx \
  --subnet-id subnet-xxxxxxxx \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=instance,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=wordpress-01}]'

Step 2 — Open the firewall ports

Your security group needs exactly three inbound rules:

Restrict port 22 to your own IP range where possible.

Step 3 — Let first boot finish

On the very first boot the instance runs a one-time setup service that:

• creates the WordPress database and a unique database password,
• writes wp-config.php with fresh authentication salts,
• generates a self-signed TLS certificate for your instance’s public IP,
• saves the generated credentials to a root-protected file.

This usually completes within a minute of the instance entering the running state. You can watch it:

ssh ubuntu@<public-ip>
systemctl status wordpress-firstboot

Step 4 — Retrieve your credentials

SSH in as the ubuntu user. The login banner (MOTD) shows your instance’s public IP and points at the credentials file:

sudo cat /opt/wordpress/default-wordpress-credentials.txt

This file (mode 600) holds the generated MariaDB password for the wordpress database user — you’ll rarely need it day-to-day, but keep it safe.

Step 5 — Complete the WordPress installer

Browse to https://<public-ip>/. Your browser will warn about the self-signed certificate — that’s expected on a fresh instance; see the configuration guide for switching to a trusted certificate and your own domain.

The famous five-minute WordPress installer appears: choose your language, set your site title and create your WordPress admin account. That admin account is yours — it is never stored in the image.

Next steps

• Configure WordPress — file locations, database access, HTTPS and domains
• Tips & tricks — backups, Let’s Encrypt, performance and troubleshooting