This site runs on AWS and was created using a WordPress Bitnami AMI from the AWS Marketplace. Over time I will forget the specifics of what I’ve done, so I’ll add the details on the TECH-NOIR site build out for my reference and your entertainment.
TL;DR
- TECH-NOIR is running on the Bitnami AWS Marktplace AMI WordPress with NGINX and SSL Version 5.6-1 2020-12-16.
Why use AWS?
AWS is the major cloud provider and I want to more know about its tech; plus I like AWS and I own Amazon stock. To gain proficiency as well as practical hands-on experience I wanted to leverage AWS to create and deploy an live web site. I also want to see if you can run a site cheaper on AWS than with a hosting vendor like Bluehost (I think I can, we’ll see). I certainly will have more control over the stack which as a tech guy is what I want.
Why do a website in WordPress?
Cuz WordPress is awesome and is a great and flexible framework. Plus it has a community where I can get support. I do like Jamstack and other static site generators and think they are cool, but for me at this time it is WordPress.
What is Bitnami?
They say their mission is to make awesome software available to everyone, everywhere. We make it possible for anyone to quickly deploy software on the platform of their choice. And also they state that Bitnami makes it easy to get your favorite open source software up and running on any platform, including your laptop, Kubernetes and all the major clouds.
Basically they make VMs available for download with the entire WordPress stack on it. I can run it on my laptop with Virtual Box for local development for $0 and can do it really fast. I can then deploy the same stack on AWS thus keeping my local and cloud instances identical. That is really cool and makes it easier/quicker for me cuz I ain’t got a ton of free time. I used the Bitnami virtual machine WordPress with NGINX and SSL and here is the changelog and this is particular VM TECH-NOIR is running on:
Version 5.6-1 2020-12-16
* Removed generate-certificates.sh script
* Updated OpenSSL to 1.1.1i
* Updated SQLite to 3.34.0 The AWS Marketplace AMI for this is here. I have deployed the AMI on a t3a.micro EC2 instance which seems to running just fine.
TurnKey Linux is another outfit offering pre-built WordPress VMs similar to Bitnami. I have used TurnKey in the past and they are very good in my opinion. Bitnami got bought by VMWare so Bitnami will be better supported ongoing so I went with them. In the past TurnKey Linux charged a fee to simply use their AMI which was on top of any AWS fees (EC2/S3/Route53, etc.). Bitnami’s AMIs have no such fees so lower overall cost was another factor in my switching to Bitnami AMIs.