WordPress in the Cloud with Amazon EC2 and the Microsoft Web Platform Article

First, browse to http://aws.amazon.com/. Clickon the Create AWS Account link, as shown in Figure 1, “Creating an AWS account”.

Figure 1. Creating an AWS account

If you’ve made a purchase from Amazon in the past you can use yourexisting account information, as shown in Figure 2, “Using your existing Amazon sign-in”. If not, choose the I am a newuser option and follow the instructions.

Figure 2. Using your existing Amazon sign-in

The sign-up process is fairly simple; after this just specify yourcontact information and you’re done!Next, you’ll want to register with Amazon EC2. To do this, browse tohttp://aws.amazon.com/ec2/ and click theSign Up For Amazon EC2 link. This will take you toa pricing details page, where you can review pricing options and pay bycredit card at the bottom of the page.

Amazon will want to now verify that you’re a real human being. Theydo this by calling a phone number you specify and asking you to enter aPIN they provide on the website via the telephone. It’s quite slick toenter a phone number, see your phone ring about ten seconds later, enter afour-digit number after the friendly Amazon lady prompts you, and thenwatch the web page refresh to show you’ve been authenticated. Great jobAmazon, that was painless!

Figure 3. Amazon’s telephone verification

Click continue at the bottom of this page, then clickComplete Sign Up on the following page. Amazon willnow activate your subscription, making sure your account has access tocreate new instances. In a few minutes you’ll receive an email saying thatactivation is complete, and you can start your first cloud server!

To do this you’ll want to browse to the AWS Management Console here:http://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/. You may be askedto log in again,; if so provide your credentials and you’ll end up on theAmazon EC2 Console Dashboard, as shown in Figure 4, “The EC2 Console Dashboard”.

Figure 4. The EC2 Console Dashboard

First, you’ll need to make sure that the selected region (at the topof the left-hand sidebar) is US West—this will benecessary so that you have access to the WordPress image we’ll be usingfor this tutorial. Then go ahead and click LaunchInstance. Amazon provides a list of preconfigured images—orAMIs (Amazon Machine Images)—from the Quick Starttab. These are vanilla Windows and Linux images you can use to start aserver from scratch. To make the task of setting up server instances eveneasier, Microsoft has provided Amazon with a few preconfigured images thathave the Microsoft Web Platform Installer installed and ready to go. Clickon the Community AMIs tab and search for “MicrosoftWeb Platform,” as shown in Figure 5, “Microsoft Web Platform AMIs”.

Figure 5. Microsoft Web Platform AMIs

Microsoft has provided four server images:

You’ll now be guided through a series of steps (five in all) toconfigure your image before it starts. First specify how many servers(instances) you want to create, and choose an instance type. There are twoavailable: “Small” has one core and limited memory, while “High-CPUMedium” has additional cores and greater memory, but costs more.

Figure 6. Instance details

The next step gives you more extensive configuration options foryour instance, but I find the defaults work really well.Now you’re prompted to create a new key pair (or alternately choosean existing one if you’ve already created one). Just enter a name, andthen click to Create & Download your Key Pair,as shown in Figure 7, “Creating a new Key Pair”. A key pair is a file thatcontains information that Amazon uses to authenticate you. You’ll want tostore this in a safe place on your computer.

Figure 7. Creating a new Key Pair

Next we need to specify firewall information. This isimportant—without this step, no one would be able to access your website,and you would be unable to connect via remote desktop into your machine!Click Create a new Security Group, and then open upthe ports required as shown in Figure 8, “Configuring the firewall for our new instance”. You’llwant HTTP and HTTPS for your web server, and you may want to open up MySQLso that you can remotely manage your MySQL database (if you prefer tomanage it locally you can skip this one). We’ll also add RDP so that wecan remotely access the server’s desktop.

Figure 8. Configuring the firewall for our new instance

The last screen, shown in Figure 9, “Reviewing the chosen configuration”, summarizesall your configuration info. If you’re happy with the settings, just clickLaunch at the bottom of the screen.

Figure 9. Reviewing the chosen configuration

Now we’re cooking! Click the View your instances on theInstances page link.From here you’ll see a list of the instances you created. It willtake a few minutes to start up the new machine, so now’s a good time tograb a snack.