This document summarizes a discussion between Andreas Chatzakis and Chris Pitchford about optimizing WordPress websites on AWS. Some key points include: - Using AWS services like S3, CloudFront, Route 53, and EC2 with auto scaling to host WordPress sites for high performance and availability. - Configuring CloudFront caching rules for static, dynamic admin, and dynamic front-end content. - Leveraging RDS for the database with read replicas and ElastiCache for caching to improve database performance. - Monitoring with CloudWatch and auto scaling EC2 instances when CPU usage is high. - Implementing best practices like separating databases and web servers, using IAM roles

1. November 12, 2014 | Las Vegas, NV
Andreas Chatzakis, Solutions Architect, AWS
Chris Pitchford, Lead Platform Owner, News UK

5. DIY or AWS Marketplace
$ sudo yum update -y
$ sudo yum groupinstall -y "Web Server"
"MySQL Database" "PHP Support"
$ sudo yum install -y php-mysql
$ sudo service httpd start
Starting httpd:
[ OK ]
$ sudo chkconfig httpd on
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/install-LAMP.html

6. WordPress server
(Apache, MySQL)
Elastic IP
www.example.com
Amazon Route 53
DNS service
WordPress server
image (AMI)

9. WordPress Server
(Apache, MySQL)
Elastic IP
WordPress server
image (AMI)
www.example.com
Amazon Route 53
DNS service
EBS volume
EBS snapshot
/var/www/html/wp-config.php
/var/www/html/wp-content/
/var/lib/mysql/

11. WEB401 - Optimizing Your Web Server on AWS
Thursday, Nov 13, 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Level 4 - Lando 4301A

14. S3 bucket for
static assets
http://<bucketname>.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/aws.jpg

15. Watch 2013 re:Invent session recording:
ARC309 Dynamic Content Acceleration
CloudFront

16. Amazon
Route 53
EC2 instance(s)
S3 bucket
Static content
Dynamic content
wp-content/*
wp-includes/*
wp-admin/*
wp-login.php
Default(*)
CloudFront
distribution

17. Route 53 S3 bucket
Static content
wp-content/*
wp-includes/*
CloudFront
distribution
m1.example.com
m2.example.com
m3.example.com

18. CloudFront
Static Dynamic (admin) Dynamic (front end)
Paths
wp-content/*
wp-includes/*
wp-admin/*
wp-login.php
default (*)
Protocols HTTP and HTTPS Redirect to HTTPS HTTP and HTTPS
HTTP methods GET, HEAD ALL ALL
Query strings YES (invalidation) YES YES
Cookies
NONE ALL wordpress_*
wp-settings-*
comment_*
Headers
NONE ALL CloudFront-Forwarded-Proto
Cloudfront-Is-Desktop-Viewer
Cloudfront-Is-Mobile-Viewer
Cloudfront-Is-Tablet-Viewer
/wp-content/themes/my-theme/style.css?version=3410bf

19. CloudFront
Static Dynamic (admin) Dynamic (front end)
Paths
wp-content/*
wp-includes/*
wp-admin/*
wp-login.php
default (*)
Protocols HTTP and HTTPS Redirect to HTTPS HTTP and HTTPS
HTTP methods GET, HEAD ALL ALL
Query strings YES (invalidation) YES YES
Cookies
NONE ALL wordpress_*
wp-settings-*
comment_*
Headers
NONE ALL CloudFront-Forwarded-Proto
Cloudfront-Is-Desktop-Viewer
Cloudfront-Is-Mobile-Viewer
Cloudfront-Is-Tablet-Viewer

20. CloudFront
Static Dynamic (admin) Dynamic (front end)
Paths
wp-content/*
wp-includes/*
wp-admin/*
wp-login.php
default (*)
Protocols HTTP and HTTPS Redirect to HTTPS HTTP and HTTPS
HTTP methods GET, HEAD ALL ALL
Query strings YES (invalidation) YES YES
Cookies
NONE ALL wordpress_*
wp-settings-*
comment_*
Headers
NONE ALL CloudFront-Forwarded-Proto
Cloudfront-Is-Desktop-Viewer
Cloudfront-Is-Mobile-Viewer
Cloudfront-Is-Tablet-Viewer

21. CloudFront

22. seafood.jpg
seafood-300x225.jpg
seafood-150x150.jpg

23. $_SERVER['HTTP_CLOUDFRONT_IS_DESKTOP_VIEWER']
$_SERVER['HTTP_CLOUDFRONT_IS_TABLET_VIEWER']
$_SERVER['HTTP_CLOUDFRONT_IS_MOBILE_VIEWER']
CloudFront

25. WordPress web
server
1. If data in cache,
return result
2. If not in cache,
read from DB
RDS database
Amazon ElastiCache
3. And store
in cache

27. Availability Zone a
RDS DB
instance
ElastiCache
node 1
Availability Zone b
S3 bucket for
static assets
www.example.com
Amazon Route 53
DNS service
Elastic Load
Balancing
Web
server
Web
server

29. Availability Zone a
RDS DB
instance
ElastiCache
node 1
Availability Zone b
S3 bucket for
static assets
www.example.com
Amazon Route 53
DNS service
Elastic Load
Balancing
Web
server
Web
server
RDS DB
standby
ElastiCache
node 2

31. CPU>60%
CloudWatch
Availability Zone a
RDS DB
instance
ElastiCache
Node 1
Availability Zone b
S3 bucket for
static assets
www.example.com
Amazon Route 53
DNS service
Elastic Load
Balancing
RDS DB
standby
ElastiCache
Node 2
Web
server
Web
server

32. Web
server
Web
server
Web
server
Web
server
Alarm Auto Scaling
Availability Zone a
RDS DB
instance
Availability Zone b
S3 bucket for
static assets
www.example.com
Amazon Route 53
DNS service
Elastic Load
Balancing
RDS DB
standby
ElastiCache
Node 1
ElastiCache
Node 2

34. Web
server
Web
server
Web
server
Web
server
Availability Zone a
RDS DB
instance
ElastiCache
node 1
Availability Zone b
S3 bucket for
static assets
www.example.com
Amazon Route 53
DNS service
Elastic Load
Balancing
RDS DB
standby
ElastiCache
node 2
RDS read
replica
RDS read
replica

37. $_SERVER["RDS_DB_NAME"]
$_SERVER["RDS_USERNAME"]
$_SERVER["RDS_PASSWORD"]
$_SERVER["RDS_HOSTNAME"]

38. DBAppELB
https://prod.elasticbeanstalk.com
DBApp
https://staging.elasticbeanstalk.com
v1
1. Install plugin
v2
2. Generate
new zip file
3. Deploy in
production
4. Trigger DB updates

39. November 12, 2014 | Las Vegas, NV
Chris Pitchford, Lead Platform Owner, News UK

45. • Base application containing all plugins
– Let website pick from menu
• Plugins adhere to WordPress VIP standards
– Automated testing and code review

46. • Config in DB, EC2 User Data or CloudFormation
– No hard coded values
• AWS credentials: IAM roles and session tokens
– No IAM user credentials

50. www.site.com test-b.site.com cache.site.com

52. www.mysite.com/mywordpress/

53. Pushing to open source. Native support for
Apache 2.4 and Varnish 4 (and Nginx maybe)

55. http://bit.ly/awsevals