AWS Lightsail is an entry-level service for hosting small web applications. This article explains everything you need to know about AWS LightSail.
AWS is a cloud computing giant. The company is the world’s largest and most used cloud provider, offering more than 200 services. If you’re familiar with AWS, you’ve probably heard about the AWS service Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2). EC2 is one of AWS’s oldest services, launched in 2006.
You can use AWS EC2 services to create virtual private servers that you can use for any use case, including hosting web applications and data processing apps. Although EC2 is cost-effective and very easy to use, it has a large number of features and parameters that can be overwhelming for beginners. This is why AWS launched AWS LightSail, a new service for provisioning virtual private servers, in late 2016.
AWS LightSail encapsulates many of the overly complex features of EC2 and simplifies overall infrastructure provisioning and application deployment. So, if your requirement is simply to host a WordPress web app or a custom web app without too much effort, LightSail is your best choice. To better understand LightSail, let’s take a look at its features.
AWS LightSail features
fast and easy
AWS LightSail is designed to be the easiest service for provisioning virtual private servers. Create a VPS in just a few clicks by choosing a pre-configured template to suit your requirements, such as WordPress, Magneto, or LAMP. AWS LightSail also automatically configures security and networking features, making the entire process easier.
cost and efficiency
AWS LightSail is inexpensive and a better choice than EC2 instances for small applications. Even the most affordable Lightsail pricing plan includes everything you need to get your project started, including virtual machines, SSDs, data transfer capabilities, DNS management, and static IP addresses. LightSail is free for three months and then costs as little as $3.50 per month.
AWS Cloud
AWS LightSail is built on AWS, the world’s leading cloud. This allows you to easily integrate your LightSail applications with many other AWS services, such as RDS databases, AWS Lambda, and SQS queues. The possible combinations of integrations and applications are endless.
Simplified load balancer
AWS Lightsail’s simplified load balancing routes web traffic across virtual private servers to accommodate traffic fluctuations and provide a seamless user experience.
database
This is a little-known feature of LightSail. In addition to providing a server to host your application, we also provide a fully configured MySQL or PostgreSQL database plan.
storage
LightSail provides seamless integration with SSD-based block storage devices for Linux and Windows machines. Depending on your object storage requirements, you can connect your application to an S3 bucket in your account at any time.
Upgrade to EC2
As you become more familiar with AWS, you may want to move your LightSail applications to EC2. LightSail provides guided instructions for migrating your LightSail app to an EC2 instance. To first migrate your application to EC2, you need to take a snapshot of your instance and export this snapshot from the LightSail console to the EC2 console. AWS has a great article to help you with this upgrade. Once the snapshot has been exported, you can start your LightSail application on EC2 using the Upgrade to EC2 wizard.
Differences between AWS LightSail and EC2
AWS LightSail and EC2 are both services for provisioning virtual private servers. To best understand AWS LightSail, you need to understand the differences between LightSail and EC2. This will help you make an informed decision between the two parties if necessary.
| AWS Light Sail | AWS EC2 |
| Used for simple web applications. | used for enterprise applications |
| There are preconfigured templates for your website. | EC2 instances must be manually configured. |
| Application is limited to one server. | Applications can span any number of servers. |
| There are no discount models. | We offer multiple pricing models and discounts. |
| It is an all-in-one service that provides a load balancer and database. | We only provide virtual private servers. (Can be manually configured as a load balancer or database) |
| You have less control over instance configuration. | It gives you complete control to configure your VPS to suit all your requirements. |
| Networking and security are automatically configured. | Networking and security must be configured by the user. |
| We only offer instances for light workloads. | Offers instance types optimized for specific workloads. |
Both LightSail and EC2 are very powerful, and their mature services are aimed at completely different use cases. EC2 instances are highly configurable and can be used for all kinds of use cases. EC2 also has different instance families, each optimized for specific workloads.
The list of EC2 features is endless, but this also means that EC2 is a complex service. LightSail, on the other hand, is aimed at smaller applications and workloads. You don’t have much control over the configuration of your instance. However, even those new to AWS can use LightSail to jumpstart their applications.
conclusion
AWS LightSail is a great choice for hosting development and test environments or small production environments. This is a simple and convenient service that you can use at an extremely low price.
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