Who needs a server? Setting up WordPress in AWS (Amazon Web Services) with a server. We use S3, Route 53, SES Lambda, and API Gateway.

1. WHO NEEDS A SERVER?
SETTING UP WORDPRESS IN AWS
WITHOUT A SERVER
Carel Bekker
@ClickHOST & @carelbekker

2. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Overview
In this session we’ll be exploring how to
setup WordPress in AWS (Amazon
Web Services) without using a server.
It is also referred to as serverless
computing. It takes the pain out of
having to setup and manage aVPS, or
dedicated server for WordPress.
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3. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
What we’ll cover
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• Serverless definition
• WordPress architecture & installation
• Why Serverless ?
• Use cases
• Serverless WordPress & Demo
• Opportunities for growth (aka limitations)
• What next?
• Q&A and Discussion.

4. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Serverless Definition
• No servers to manage
• No software to manage
• No software to upgrade
• Pay for execution time only
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5. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
WordPress Architecture
• How does it currently work?
• Backend & Website hosted on the same server.
• Hosted on a LAMP stack.
• Pages generated dynamically.
• Without caching or CDN it may be slow.
• Data written to a local MySQL DB.
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6. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Why Serverless?
• Security:
• Can’t hack backend
• Can’t hack PHP/plugins
• Less urgent to keep versions up-to-date
• Speed:
• Fast local editing of backend.
• Static HTML loads very fast vs dynamically generated pages.
• Cost:
• No server costs. Minimal storage & Lambda execution cost.
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7. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Serverless use cases
• WordPress serverless use cases:
• Fairly static business websites.
• Smaller websites < 1,000 pages.This is a
limitation of the Static Page generation plugin.
• Don’t need dynamic server side processing.
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8. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Serverless Architecture
• OK, cool, how can we do this?
• In 3 stages:
1. Install local Mac/PC LAMP stack & install
WordPress
2. Setup AWS S3 to host static website files.
3. Generate static WordPress files & upload to S3.
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9. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Install Local LAMP stack
• Many ways to setup a local LAMP stack.
• I used Softaculous ampps software.
• Quick & easy to install
• Free
• Includes WordPress installer
• Design your WordPress site on your local Mac/PC.
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10. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Setup your AWS env.
• Create an S3 bucket.
• Setup S3 bucket for static hosting.
• Important: bucket name should match domain
name, e.g., carelbekker.com is the bucket and
domain name.
• Setup Route 53 entries.
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11. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Generate static pages
• Now the magic happens…
• Install Simply Static or Simply Static S3 Plugin.
• Generate static files.
• Copy these files to S3.
• WHAM!
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12. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
DEMO
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13. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Contact Us Page
• Use the following AWS services:
• SES — Simple Email Service to send email.
• API Gateway — API endpoint that can be used
to activate a Lambda function.
• Lambda — Uses SES to send email containing
data from Contact Us Page.
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14. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Areas of research
• Aka, limitations.
• No dynamic / server side code
• 3 common areas & solutions:
1. Forms: use Lambda or wufoo
2. Comments: use Facebook & Disqus
3. Search: use Google Search or Aliquo
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15. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
What next?
•Cloudfront for caching
•Automate the publishing
•Publish only changed content
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16. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Q&A
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17. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Resources
•AWS Overview
•AWS S3 Static Website Hosting
•ClickHOST AWS Blog Posts
•ClickHOST Managed AWS Hosting
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18. Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST
Carel Bekker
President&Owner
carel@clickhost.com
Twitter: @clickhost, @carelbekker
Tel: 404.220.8110
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