WHO NEEDS A SERVER? SETTING UP WORDPRESS IN AWS

WITHOUT A SERVER

Carel Bekker @ClickHOST & @carelbekker

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 a VPS, or dedicated server for WordPress.

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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.

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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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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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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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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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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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.9

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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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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Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST

DEMO

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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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Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST

Areas of research

• Aka, limitations.• No dynamic / server side code• 3 common areas & solutions:

1. Forms: use Lambda or wufoo2. Comments: use Facebook & Disqus3. Search: use Google Search or Aliquo

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Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST

What next?

•Cloudfront for caching•Automate the publishing•Publish only changed content

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Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST

Q&A

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Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST

Resources

•AWS Overview•AWS S3 Static Website Hosting •ClickHOST AWS Blog Posts•ClickHOST Managed AWS Hosting

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Carel Bekker - @ClickHOST

Carel Bekker

President&Owner

carel@clickhost.com

Twitter: @clickhost, @carelbekker

Tel: 404.220.8110

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