What is Lightsail and How Does it Work with WordPress?
Amazon Lightsail is a virtual private server (VPS) hosting solution offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It provides users with a simple and cost-effective way to launch and manage virtual servers on the AWS platform. Lightsail comes with a user-friendly interface and pre-configured server options
When it comes to WordPress, Lightsail offers a pre-configured blueprint for launching a WordPress instance in just a few clicks. The blueprint comes with a WordPress stack that works out of the box, you can also use something like GridPane or Runcloud. There are several different sizes of instances to choose from.
One of the benefits of using Lightsail for WordPress is that it offers a simplified management experience compared to using AWS and EC2 instances. With Lightsail, you don’t need to worry about server administration tasks like installing updates, managing security patches, or configuring backups. These tasks are handled by Lightsail.
Amazon Lightsail and Burst CPU: How it Affects Performance
One of the unique features of Amazon Lightsail is its burstable performance capability, which allows users to temporarily use additional CPU power beyond their instance’s baseline performance level. This feature can be particularly useful for websites that experience periodic spikes in traffic or workload.
When you launch a Lightsail instance, you’re assigned a baseline CPU performance level based on the instance size you’ve chosen. This baseline performance is guaranteed and is always available to your instance. In addition, you’re also allocated a certain number of CPU credits that accumulate over time. These credits can be used to burst above the baseline performance level for short periods of time when your instance needs more CPU power.
The amount of CPU credits you accumulate depends on the size of your instance and the length of time it has been running. For example, a Lightsail instance with 1 vCPU and 512 MB of RAM earns CPU credits at a rate of 6 credits per hour, up to a maximum of 432 credits per day. If your instance runs out of CPU credits, it will revert to its baseline performance level until more credits are accumulated.
While the burstable CPU feature can provide additional performance when needed, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not a replacement for a consistently high CPU performance level. If your website consistently requires high levels of CPU power, it may be better to consider an instance with a higher baseline CPU level.
Additionally, it’s important to monitor your CPU credit usage to ensure that your instance doesn’t run out of credits during a spike in workload. If your instance runs out of CPU credits, it may experience performance degradation or even temporary unavailability.
AWS Baseline CPU Performance vs. EC2
When it comes to Amazon Web Services (AWS), there are several different hosting options available for running WordPress sites, including Lightsail and EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud).
AWS Lightsail instances offer a pre-configured baseline CPU performance level that is guaranteed and always available to your instance. This baseline level is based on the instance size you’ve chosen and is suitable for many common workloads. In addition, Lightsail instances also have a burstable performance capability, which allows you to temporarily use additional CPU power beyond the baseline level when needed.
In contrast, EC2 instances offer a wide range of CPU options, including instances that are optimized for high CPU performance or instances that provide a balance of CPU and memory resources. EC2 instances tend to offer higher baseline CPU performance levels compared to Lightsail instances. For example, an EC2 instance optimized for compute performance may offer a higher baseline CPU performance level than a similarly sized Lightsail instance.
Potential Issues with Lightsail Burst CPU for WordPress Sites
While Lightsail’s burstable performance capability can provide additional CPU power when needed, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not a guaranteed replacement for consistently high CPU performance. This can potentially cause issues for WordPress sites that require high and consistent CPU performance.
For example, if your WordPress site experiences consistently high traffic, it may require a high and stable CPU performance level to handle the workload. If your site is hosted on a Lightsail instance with a lower baseline CPU performance level, relying on burst CPU alone may not provide sufficient performance for your site, resulting in slower page load times and degraded user experience.
In addition, relying too heavily on burst CPU can result in running out of CPU credits during periods of high workload, which can cause your site to slow down or become temporarily unavailable until more credits are accumulated. If your site consistently requires high CPU performance, it may be better to consider a Lightsail instance with a higher baseline CPU level to ensure consistent performance.
Lightsail Is Just..Easy
AWS Lightsail has a user-friendly interface, users can launch and manage virtual servers in the cloud with just a few clicks without the need for advanced technical knowledge or server administration skills. Lightsail offers several pre-configured server options which can be useful for users who want to quickly launch and deploy their own applications without the need for complex configuration or setup.
You can also set up automatic snapshots for easy backups and restores, as well as easy integration with other AWS services, including load balancers, content delivery networks (CDNs), and more.
Overall, AWS Lightsail can be a great option for users who want a simple and cost-effective way to deploy and manage their own virtual servers in the cloud. With its user-friendly interface and pre-configured server options, Lightsail makes it easy to get started with cloud hosting, without the need for advanced technical skills or server administration experience.
Conclusion
Lightsail is great if you don’t use 100% CPU over long periods of time. So a brochure site with infrequency admin logins and cached heavily would be perfect for Lightsail. You could spend more money and host a WooCommerce site that doesn’t get more than 10 orders a day. But you would be paying more than going to a VPS provider like DigitalOcean, Vultr, OVH or Upcloud of which you get full access to CPU cores.
So putting a busy WordPress site on Lightsail would cause issues, and would cost more than VPS or Baremteal. However, Lightsail is easier to set up and manage than other platforms. Granted, you can use a SaaS or Self-hosted Control Panel or application stack. Lightsail seems to do it a little bit better.