AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner / Other Compute Services: ECS, Lambda, Batch, Lightsail

Lightsail Hands On

💰 Important: Read this before proceeding

This hands-on may create AWS resources that incur charges if left running. Delete all resources after completing the exercise.

🚀 Step 1: Open Amazon Lightsail

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console.

  2. Search for Lightsail.

  3. Open the Amazon Lightsail console.

You'll immediately notice a much simpler interface than the standard AWS console — Lightsail is built for deploying fast without juggling many AWS services.

🌍 Step 2: Create a New Instance

  • Click Create instance.

  • Choose an AWS Region (and Availability Zone if desired) — Lightsail offers a limited, simplified selection compared to EC2.

  • Choose an image type:

    • Linux apps (pre-configured blueprints)

    • Linux OS (OS-only)

    • Microsoft Windows

  • Select Linux apps → WordPress.

WordPress installs and configures itself automatically — no manual OS setup or app configuration needed, unlike EC2.

⚙️ Step 3: Settings & Instance Plan

Review the few optional settings available — a launch script (like EC2 User Data) and SSH key pair selection. Most advanced infrastructure settings are hidden by design.

Scroll to Instance Plan. Instead of EC2 instance types (t3.micro, etc.), Lightsail shows simple fixed-price plans.

Each listing monthly cost, RAM, vCPUs, SSD storage, and network transfer. Pick a Free Tier–eligible plan if applicable.

📝 Step 4: Name and Launch

Name the instance (e.g. WordPress-1) and click Create Instance.

Lightsail will begin provisioning your virtual server.

While it provisions, notice what you're not configuring: Security Groups, VPC networking, Elastic IPs, EBS volumes, Route Tables, or Internet Gateways — Lightsail handles all of that behind the scenes.

🗄️ Step 5: Explore Databases, Networking & Storage

Databases — Create Database, choosing region, AZ, engine, credentials, Standard or High Availability, and a pricing plan

You'll notice a similar simplified setup process:

  • Choose Region

  • Choose Availability Zone

  • Select database engine

  • Configure login credentials

  • Choose either:

    • Standard Database

    • High Availability Database

  • Select a pricing plan

Networking — Create Static IPs or Load Balancers, a much simpler setup than Amazon VPC

Storage — Add extra disks or snapshots for backups, without exposing EBS-level complexity

💻 Step 6: Connect & View Your Site

Once the instance shows Running:

  1. Click the instance → Connect using SSH. Lightsail opens a browser-based terminal — no SSH key download needed, unlike EC2.

  1. Grab the instance's Public IP and open it in your browser to see the default WordPress site — deployed automatically at instance creation.

🧹 Clean Up

  1. Return to the Lightsail console.

  2. Select your instance → Delete → confirm.

  3. Delete any other resources you created (databases, storage disks, snapshots) to avoid ongoing charges.

🎓 Exam Tips

  • Lightsail is for users with little or no cloud experience

  • Simple, all-in-one platform with predictable monthly pricing

  • Deploys apps like WordPress, LAMP, Node.js, Magento, Joomla, MEAN Stack via blueprints

  • Limited AWS integrations, no Auto Scaling, fewer networking options than EC2

  • Common exam distractor: "simple deployment," "predictable pricing," "minimal configuration" → Lightsail

✅ Hands-On Summary

You:

  • Launched a Lightsail instance and deployed WordPress via blueprint

  • Explored Lightsail's simplified pricing, databases, networking, and storage

  • Connected via browser-based SSH

  • Viewed the deployed site through its public IP

  • Cleaned up resources to avoid charges