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How to Install WordPress on AWS EC2 (Amazon Linux 2023)

By Ravindra Bagale, AWS & DevOps trainer · LinkedIn · Published: 29 September 2026 · Last updated: 29 September 2026

To install WordPress on AWS EC2 with Amazon Linux 2023, install Apache, PHP and MariaDB with sudo yum install -y httpd mariadb105-server php php-fpm php-mysqlnd ..., create a wordpress database and user, download WordPress to /var/www/wordpress, set the database details in wp-config.php, give the files to the apache user and add an Apache virtual host. Then open http://<ELASTIC_IP>/ and finish the five-field installer. Attach an Elastic IP first, because WordPress stores the site URL in its database.

sudo yum install -y httpd mariadb105-server php php-fpm php-mysqlnd php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-intl php-opcache wget
sudo service httpd start && sudo service mariadb start && sudo service php-fpm start
sudo systemctl enable httpd mariadb php-fpm
# create DB "wordpress" + user "wpuser" (Step 2), then:
cd /tmp && wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz && tar -xzf latest.tar.gz && sudo mv wordpress /var/www/wordpress
# wp-config.php (Step 4), ownership (Step 5), virtual host (Step 6), then open http://<ELASTIC_IP>/

What do I need before installing WordPress?

• An Amazon Linux 2023 instance — a free-tier eligible t3.micro works for learning (WordPress needs about 1 GB of RAM; add swap if needed). See How to Launch an EC2 Instance in AWS.
• An Elastic IP attached before you start — see How to Attach an Elastic IP to an EC2 Instance.
• HTTP 80 (and HTTPS 443) open — see How to Open Port 80 and 443 in an EC2 Security Group.
• SSH access and nothing else on port 80 (stop Nginx if you installed it: sudo service nginx stop). Apache basics: How to Install Apache (httpd) on Amazon Linux 2023.

How does WordPress serve a page on EC2?

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP that stores posts, users and settings in a MySQL/MariaDB database. Requirements: PHP 7.4+ (8.x recommended), MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.5+, and a web server with URL rewriting.

How do I install WordPress on Amazon Linux 2023?

Step 1 — Install Apache, PHP and MariaDB (LAMP)

sudo yum install -y httpd mariadb105-server php php-fpm php-mysqlnd \
  php-gd php-mbstring php-xml php-intl php-opcache wget
sudo service httpd start
sudo service mariadb start
sudo service php-fpm start
sudo systemctl enable httpd mariadb php-fpm
sudo mysql_secure_installation          # answer the questions; remove anonymous users and the test DB

Step 2 — Create the WordPress database and user

Replace Wp@Pass123 with your own strong password here and in Step 4:

sudo mysql <<'SQL'
CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'Wp@Pass123';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
SQL

Step 3 — Download and extract WordPress

cd /tmp
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar -xzf latest.tar.gz
sudo mv wordpress /var/www/wordpress
ls /var/www/wordpress

Step 4 — Configure wp-config.php

cd /var/www/wordpress
sudo cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php
sudo sed -i "s/database_name_here/wordpress/" wp-config.php
sudo sed -i "s/username_here/wpuser/" wp-config.php
sudo sed -i "s/password_here/Wp@Pass123/" wp-config.php
grep DB_ wp-config.php

Add unique security keys (salts) from the official generator:

curl -s https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/
sudo nano /var/www/wordpress/wp-config.php

In nano, delete the eight lines that contain put your unique phrase here and paste the eight lines printed by curl. Save (Ctrl+O, Enter) and exit (Ctrl+X).

Step 5 — Set ownership and permissions

On Amazon Linux 2023 Apache and PHP-FPM run as the user apache:

sudo chown -R apache:apache /var/www/wordpress
sudo find /var/www/wordpress -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/wordpress -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
sudo chmod 640 /var/www/wordpress/wp-config.php

Step 6 — Add the Apache virtual host

sudo tee /etc/httpd/conf.d/wordpress.conf > /dev/null <<'VHOST'
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName blog.local
    DocumentRoot /var/www/wordpress
    DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
    <Directory /var/www/wordpress>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    ErrorLog  /var/log/httpd/wordpress_error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/wordpress_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
VHOST
sudo apachectl configtest && sudo service httpd reload

mod_rewrite is enabled by default on Amazon Linux 2023, and AllowOverride All lets WordPress's .htaccess create pretty permalinks. Because this is the only vhost, it also answers requests to the Elastic IP; when you have a domain, set ServerName to it.

Step 7 — Finish the installation in the browser

Open http://<ELASTIC_IP>/ → choose a language → enter the Site Title, an admin Username (not admin), a strong Password and your Email → Install WordPress → log in at http://<ELASTIC_IP>/wp-admin. Your blog is live! 🎉

How do I secure WordPress after installing it?

• Strong admin password; never the username admin.
• Keep WordPress core, themes and plugins updated; delete unused ones.
• wp-config.php at 640, and disable file editing in the dashboard: add define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); to wp-config.php.
• Point a domain to the server and enable HTTPS — see How to Connect a GoDaddy Domain to AWS EC2 and How to Install a Free SSL Certificate on EC2 (use certbot --apache).
• Back up the database (mysqldump wordpress) and wp-content regularly, and take EBS snapshots.
• Bigger media uploads: raise upload_max_filesize and post_max_size in /etc/php.ini, then sudo service php-fpm restart.

How do I fix common WordPress errors on EC2?

Ghabru naka 😅 — these are the usual ones: