Lightsail could be a good fit for you if you want to run your application on AWS’s extremely reliable network but don’t want to deal with the complexities.
It offers a completely new method to rent servers, with clear pricing tiers.
Lightsail is a simple alternative to EC2 that includes everything you’ll need to create websites and simple web apps.
AWS Lightsail
Amazon Lightsail is the quickest way to get started with AWS for developers who need to construct websites or online apps.
For a low, predictable monthly fee, it includes everything you need to get your project up and running quickly, including instances (virtual private servers), container services, managed databases, content delivery network (CDN) distributions, load balancers, SSD-based block storage, static IP addresses, DNS management of registered domains, and resource snapshots (backups).
A virtual private server (VPS) is a software representation of a physical or virtual server. Customers that use a virtual private server (VPS) assign resources to run jobs while remaining disconnected from the physical server.
Features of AWS Lightsail
Here we have certain features that Lightsail provides –
- With only a few clicks, Amazon Lightsail delivers simple cloud resources to get your web application or websites up and running.
- Every Lightsail instance includes a built-in firewall that consequently lets you control traffic to your instances depending on the sender’s IP, port, and protocol.
- Above all, Lightsail provides virtual servers that are simple to set up and are supported by AWS’s reliability. In addition, you can launch your website, web application, or project, and maintain it using the Lightsail console or API.
- Lightsail-based applications can simply be scaled up or down in order to meet the needs of the user.
- However, Customers can use Lightsail Containers to run Docker containers in the cloud directly from their developer processes. It builds containers from Docker images provided by developers, while we handle the infrastructure management issues.
- Moreover, You can simply scale your databases independently of your virtual servers or run standalone databases in the cloud with Lightsail managed databases.
- With lightsail, you can effortlessly extend your storage for your Linux or Windows virtual server with highly available SSD-backed storage.
- Above all, Lightsail’s easy load balancing distributes web traffic among your instances, therefore, allowing your websites and apps to adapt to traffic fluctuations.
Benefits of using AWS Lightsail
Simple User Interface
Lightsail uses pre-installed software, so newcomers won’t have to learn complicated ideas or methods. Therefore, users who are using it for the first time will have less difficulty using it.
Fixed Pricing
Customers frequently complained about unexpected EC2 costs, even in their development environments, so a server with a fixed pricing plan was a game-changer for AWS.
Lightsail solves this problem by offering a monthly subscription that runs from $3.5 to $160, with the latter offering 32 GB of RAM and a 640 GB SSD.
In addition to the capacity given in your monthly plan, you can add more storage space.
Easy Upgrade to EC2
You can quickly switch to EC2 as your cloud ideas grow. With this feature, Lightsail gives you the peace of mind that as your website or application grows, we’ll be there to help you scale in a way that works for you.
Reliable
Because LightSail’s services are delivered through Amazon’s cloud infrastructure and data centers, there is a lower risk of failure and the need for replacements.
24*7 Support
The huge Amazon Web Service ecosystem benefits Lightsail. There’s also 24*7 customer service and unified billing.
Drawbacks
- Lightsail is ideal for small-scale applications and websites, but it is not recommended for enterprise workloads.
- Only use Lightsail for applications where downtime is acceptable. Therefore, It is suggested that you use EC2 if your application is used by thousands of users on a regular basis.
- Lightsail is limited to the computational power you’ve purchased. Even while Lightsail gives you the choice to upgrade to a larger instance, it does not happen immediately.
Pricing
You pay a predictable price with Amazon Lightsail.
Free tier –
Once you will signup under the Lightsail Free tier policy, you will get the following benefits –
- Firstly, Sign up for a free year of 50 GB content delivery network (CDN) distributions,
- Secondly, a free year of 5 GB of objects storage,
- Moreover, three months of the free container, instance, and database bundles.
- For AWS Organizations, the Free Tier offerings are limited to one account per organization.
Note – Lightsail is extending its free tier to include three months free on some bundles for a limited period.
For further details about the Lightsail Free tier, please visit the Free tier.
AWS Lightsail costs vary depending on the operating system. So let’s compare the cost of Windows with Linux/Unix.
For further details about lightsail pricing, please visit Pricing.
AWS Lightsail vs AWS EC2
AWS offers two solutions: Amazon Lightsail and EC2. So, let’s see compare Lightsail and EC2 –
| AWS Lightsail | AWS EC2 |
| Although AWS Lightsail is less expensive than EC2, you get what you pay for. | EC2 is more expensive, but it has a lot more computing power. |
| When a Lightsail instance is stopped, AWS continues to bill for it. | But when an EC2 instance is stopped, AWS does not charge anything. |
| There are 7 Lightsail instance types, with the most powerful having 32 GB of RAM and 640 GB of storage. | There are 250 different EC2 instance types, and the high-end of these instances can considerably outperform Lightsail in terms of computing and storage. |
| If you want to try using containers for the first time, Lightsail is the preferable alternative. | However, combining EC2 with EKS, ECS, or possibly Fargate in the future will provide additional flexibility. |
| It’s a single VPS that can be customized. | Work on migrations from on-premises settings, multiple VMs, and BYOL (Bring Your Own License) |
| For applications that require a highly flexible environment or high CPU performance, lightsail may not be the best choice. | For applications that require a highly flexible environment or high CPU performance, EC2 would be the best choice. |
| For small developers, lightsail would be ideal. | In comparison to lightsail, EC2 would be excellent for large enterprises. |
How to create a Fresh Lightsail Instance
Here are the steps that you can follow to create a new AWS Lightsail instance –
Step 1 – Sign in to your AWS Console and navigate for Lighsail.
Then click to ‘Create instance’ button to create a fresh instance.
Step 2 – Then you can select the OS type either Linux or Windows.
After choosing the OS, you can choose the instance blueprint.
Step 3 – Now, you can create an SSH key pair so that you can use it to SSH into your server.
Step 4 – After creating the SSH key, now you can choose the monthly plan on the basis of your requirement. You can try choosing plans which are free for the first 3 months.
Step 5 – You need to give a unique name to your instance. And then click on the ‘create instance’ button to finish the process.
Conclusion
AWS Lightsail is an excellent Amazon tool that enables you to quickly get up and running using the AWS infrastructure.
Lightsail provides servers at a fixed monthly cost, as well as networking and managed database solutions, all wrapped together in a user-friendly UI.
Due to its lack of auto-scaling capabilities, Lightsail is not recommended for enterprise workloads, but it is an excellent solution for hosting WordPress blogs, API servers, and staging environments.
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