Try Lightsail free for 3 months","headline":"Amazon Lightsail FAQs","breadcrumbs":"

NA"},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What are Lightsail's managed databases?","id":"product-faqs#what-are-lightsail-s-managed-databases","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail's managed databases are instances that are dedicated to running databases, instead of other workloads like webserver, mail server, etc. A Lightsail database can contain multiple user-created databases, and you can access it by using the same tools and applications that you use with a stand-alone database. Lightsail maintains the security and health of your database’s underlying infrastructure and operating system, so that you can run a database without deep expertise in infrastructure management. \n

Like regular Lightsail instances, Lightsail databases come with a fixed amount of memory, computing power, and SSD based storage in their plans that you can scale up over time. Lightsail will automatically install and configure your chosen database for you upon creation."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#managed-databases","name":"Managed databases","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Managed databases","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What is Upgrade to EC2?","id":"product-faqs#what-is-upgrade-to-ec2","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Upgrade to EC2 is a feature that allows you to create a copy of your Lightsail instance in Amazon EC2. When you upgrade to EC2, you can pick among the wide set of instance types, configurations, and pricing models that EC2 offers, and have even more fine-tuned control over your networking, storage, and compute environment."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#upgrade-to-ec2","name":"Upgrade to EC2","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Upgrade to EC2","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How can I use Lightsail-provisioned certificates?","id":"product-faqs#how-can-i-use-lightsail-provisioned-certificates","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

SSL/TLS certificates are used to establish the identity of your website or application and secure connections between browsers and your website. Lightsail provides a signed certificate to use with your load balancer, and the load balancer provides SSL/TLS termination before routing verified traffic to your target instances over the secure AWS network. Lightsail certificates can only be used with Lightsail load balancers, not with individual Lightsail instances."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#certificate-management","name":"Certificate management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Certificate management","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What can I do with Lightsail load balancers?","id":"product-faqs#what-can-i-do-with-lightsail-load-balancers","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail load balancers allow you to build highly available websites and applications. By distributing traffic across instances in different Availability Zones and pointing traffic to only healthy target instances, Lightsail load balancers reduce the risk of your application going down due to an issue with your instance or to a datacenter outage. With Lightsail load balancers and multiple target instances, your website or application can also accommodate increases in web traffic and maintain good performance for your visitors during peak load times. \n

In addition, you can use Lightsail load balancers to build secure applications and accept HTTPS traffic. Lightsail takes the complexity out of requesting, provisioning, and maintaining SSL/TLS certificates. The built-in certificate management requests and renews certificates on your behalf and adds the certificate to your load balancer automatically."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-load-balancer","name":"Lightsail load balancer","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail load balancer","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What can I do with Lightsail block storage?","id":"product-faqs#what-can-i-do-with-lightsail-block-storage","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail block storage provides additional storage volumes (called “attached disks” in Lightsail) that you can attach to your Lightsail instance, similar to an individual hard drive. Attached disks are useful for applications or software that need to separate out specific data from their core service and to protect application data in case of a failure or other issue with your instance and system disk. Attached disks offer consistent performance and low latency needed for applications or software that frequently access their stored data. \n

Lightsail block storage uses solid-state drives (SSD). This type of block storage balances a low price and good performance and is intended to support the vast majority of workloads that run on Lightsail. For customers with applications that require sustained IOPS performance, high amounts of throughput per disk, or that are running large databases like MongoDB, Cassandra, etc., we recommend using EC2 with GP2 or Provisioned IOPS SSD storage instead of Lightsail."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-block-storage","name":"Lightsail block storage","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail block storage","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How do Lightsail instances perform?","id":"product-faqs#how-do-lightsail-instances-perform","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail instances are specifically engineered by AWS for web servers, developer environments, and small database use cases. Such workloads don't use the full CPU often or consistently, but occasionally need a performance burst. Lightsail uses burstable performance instances that provide a baseline level of CPU performance with the additional ability to burst above the baseline. This design enables you to get the performance you need, when you need it, while protecting you from the variable performance or other common side effects that you might typically experience from over-subscription in other environments. For more information on burstable performance, go here. \n

If you need highly configurable environments and instances with consistently high CPU performance for applications such as video encoding or HPC applications, we recommend you use Amazon EC2."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-resources","name":"Lightsail resources","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail resources","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What can I do with Lightsail object storage?","id":"product-faqs#what-can-i-do-with-lightsail-object-storage","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail now provides you with the ability to store your static content such as images, videos or HTML files in an object storage that can be used for your websites and applications. Lightsail object storage can be associated to your Lightsail CDN distribution with a few simple clicks, making it quick and easy to accelerate the delivery of your content to a global audience. It can also be used as a low cost, secure backup solution."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#object-storage","name":"Object storage","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Object storage","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What can I do with Lightsail container services?","id":"product-faqs#what-can-i-do-with-lightsail-container-services","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail container services provide an easy way to run containerized applications in the cloud. You can run a variety of applications on a container service, ranging from simple web apps to multi-tiered micro services. You just specify the container image, power (CPU, RAM) and scale (number of nodes) required for your container service. Lightsail takes care of running the container service without you having to manage any underlying infrastructure. Lightsail will provide you with a load balanced TLS endpoint to access the application running on the container service."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#containers","name":"Containers","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Containers","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What can I do with Lightsail CDN distributions?","id":"product-faqs#what-can-i-do-with-lightsail-cdn-distributions","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail content delivery network (CDN) distributions make it easy for you to accelerate the delivery of content hosted on your Lightsail resources by storing and serving it on Amazon’s global delivery network, powered by Amazon CloudFront. Distributions also help you enable your website to support HTTPS traffic by providing simple SSL certificate creation and hosting. Finally, distributions can help reduce the load on your Lightsail resources and help your website handle large traffic spikes. Like all of Lightsail’s features, setup can be completed with just a few clicks, and you pay a simple monthly price."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-cdn-distributions","name":"Lightsail CDN distributions","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail CDN distributions","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What can I do with Lightsail for Research?","id":"product-faqs#what-can-i-do-with-lightsail-for-research","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Lightsail for Research makes it easy for you to create powerful virtual computers on the cloud with your preferred applications like Scilab, RStudio, and Jupyter pre-installed. You can access the applications running on these virtual computers and upload or download data directly through a web browser from anywhere via internet. You can create and terminate these virtual computers at any time, meaning you can access virtual computers on-demand while paying only for the duration you use the virtual computers."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-for-research","name":"Lightsail for Research","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail for Research","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What is Lightsail's free tier?","id":"product-faqs#what-is-lightsail-s-free-tier","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

For a limited time, Lightsail is extending its free tier to include three months free on select bundles. The offer applies to new or existing AWS accounts who started Lightsail usage on or after 7/8/2021. Offer only applies to one bundle per account. Standard charges apply after first 750 hours of usage of the selected bundle each month. Check out the pricing page to learn more. "},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#billing-and-account-management","name":"Billing and account management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Billing and account management","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What is Amazon Lightsail?","id":"product-faqs#what-is-amazon-lightsail","customSortOrder":"1","content":"

Amazon Lightsail is a virtual private server (VPS) provider and is the easiest way to get started with AWS for developers, small businesses, students, and other users who need a solution to build and host their applications on cloud. Lightsail provides developers compute, storage, and networking capacity and capabilities to deploy and manage websites and web applications in the cloud. Lightsail includes everything you need to launch your project quickly – virtual machines, containers, databases, CDN, load balancers, DNS management etc. – for a low, predictable monthly price."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#general","name":"General","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"General","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What can I do with Lightsail's managed databases?","id":"product-faqs#what-can-i-do-with-lightsail-s-managed-databases","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail managed databases provide an easy, low maintenance way to store your data in the cloud. You can run Lightsail databases either as a new databases or by migrating from an existing on-premises or hosted database to Lightsail. \n

They can also allow you to scale your application to accept larger amounts of traffic and more intensive loads, by separating out your database into a dedicated instance. Lightsail databases are especially useful for stateful applications – like WordPress and most common CMSs – that need data to be kept in sync when you scale beyond a single instance. Lightsail databases can be paired with a Lightsail load balancer and two or more Lightsail instances to create a powerful, scaled application. By using Lightsail High Availability plans, you can also create add redundancy to your database, helping to ensure high uptime for your application."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#managed-databases","name":"Managed databases","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Managed databases","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"Why would I want to upgrade to EC2?","id":"product-faqs#why-would-i-want-to-upgrade-to-ec2","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail offers you an easy way to run and scale a wide set of cloud-based applications, at a bundled, predictable, and low price. Lightsail also automatically sets up your cloud environment configurations such as networking and access management. \n

Upgrading to EC2 allows you to run your application on a wider set of instance types, ranging from virtual machines with more CPU power, memory, and networking capabilities, to specialized or accelerated instances with FPGAs and GPUs. In addition, EC2 performs less automatic management and set-up, allowing you more control over how you configure your cloud environment, such as your VPC."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#upgrade-to-ec2","name":"Upgrade to EC2","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Upgrade to EC2","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How do I validate my certificate?","id":"product-faqs#how-do-i-validate-my-certificate","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail certificates are domain validated, meaning that you need to provide proof of identity by validating that you own or have access to your website’s domain before the certificate can be provisioned by the certificate authority. When you request a new certificate, Lightsail will prompt you to add a CNAME to the DNS zone(s) of the domain or domains you are validating. You will add this CNAME wherever you currently manage your DNS zones – either Lightsail DNS management or an external DNS hosting provider (e.g., Route 53, GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.). Once your certificate is validated, you can remove the CNAME record from your DNS zone, if desired."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#certificate-management","name":"Certificate management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Certificate management","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"Can I use load balancers with instances in different AWS Regions or different Availability Zones?","id":"product-faqs#can-i-use-load-balancers-with-instances-in-different-aws-regions-or-different-availability-zones","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

You cannot use load balancers with instances running in different AWS Regions. You can, however, use target instances across different Availability Zones with your load balancer. In fact, we recommend that you distribute your target instances across Availability Zones to maximize the availability of your application."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-load-balancer","name":"Lightsail load balancer","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail load balancer","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How large can I make my attached disk?","id":"product-faqs#how-large-can-i-make-my-attached-disk","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Each attached disk can be up to 16 TB."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-block-storage","name":"Lightsail block storage","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail block storage","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What applications are pre-installed for my research needs?","id":"product-faqs#what-applications-are-pre-installed-for-my-research-needs","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail offers popular pre-installed applications such as Scilab, RStudio, and Jupyter. Learn about all pre-installed applications available in Lightsail for Research documentation. You can also install additional packages and extensions through the interface of these applications. Moreover, you have access to the underlying virtual computer and can configure the environment."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-for-research","name":"Lightsail for Research","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail for Research","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What is a Virtual Private Server?","id":"product-faqs#what-is-a-virtual-private-server","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

A virtual private server, also known as an \"instance\", allows users to run websites and web applications in a highly secure and available environment, while being cost effective."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#general","name":"General","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"General","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How do I connect to a Lightsail instance?","id":"product-faqs#how-do-i-connect-to-a-lightsail-instance","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail offers a 1-click secure connection to your instance's terminal right from your browser, supporting SSH access for Linux/Unix-based instances and RDP access for Windows-based instances. To use 1-click connections, launch your instance management screens, click Connect using SSH or Connect using RDP, and a new browser window opens and automatically connects to your instance. \n

If you prefer to connect to your Linux/Unix-based instance using your own client, Lightsail will do the SSH key storing and management work for you, and provide you with a secure key to use in your SSH client."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-resources","name":"Lightsail resources","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail resources","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What does Lightsail object storage cost?","id":"product-faqs#what-does-lightsail-object-storage-cost","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail object storage has three different fixed-priced bundles in all AWS Regions where Lightsail is available. The first bundle is $1 per month and is free for the first 12 months. This bundle includes 5 GB storage capacity and 25 GB data transfer. The second bundle is $3 per month and includes 100 GB storage capacity and 250 GB data transfer. Lastly, the third bundle is $5 per month and includes 250 GB of storage capacity and 500 GB of data transfer. Lightsail object storage includes unlimited data transfer into your bucket, as the bundled data transfer allowance is used only for data transfer out from your bucket."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#object-storage","name":"Object storage","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Object storage","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"Can Lightsail container service run Docker containers?","id":"product-faqs#can-lightsail-container-service-run-docker-containers","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Yes. Lightsail supports Linux-based Docker containers. Windows containers are currently not supported."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#containers","name":"Containers","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Containers","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What types of resources can I use as the origin of my distributions?","id":"product-faqs#what-types-of-resources-can-i-use-as-the-origin-of-my-distributions","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail distributions allow you to use your Lightsail instances, containers, load balancers, or Lightsail buckets as origins."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-cdn-distributions","name":"Lightsail CDN distributions","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail CDN distributions","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What do Lightsail plans cost?","id":"product-faqs#what-do-lightsail-plans-cost","customSortOrder":"2","content":"

Lightsail plans are billed on an on-demand hourly rate, so you pay only for what you use. For every Lightsail plan you use, we charge you the fixed hourly price, up to the maximum monthly plan cost. The least expensive Lightsail plan starts at $0.0047 USD/hour ($3.50 USD/month). Lightsail plans that include a Windows Server license start at $0.01075 USD/hour ($8 USD/month)."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#billing-and-account-management","name":"Billing and account management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Billing and account management","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What resources are included in a Lightsail for Research bundle?","id":"product-faqs#what-resources-are-included-in-a-lightsail-for-research-bundle","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

A Lightsail for Research bundle (virtual computer) includes a virtual private server with a fixed amount of memory (RAM) and compute (vCPUs), SSD-based storage (disks), and a data transfer allowance. Lightsail features such as block storage, instance and disk snapshots, SSH access, remote desktop access (using Amazon DCV), and APIs can be used with Lightsail for Research virtual computers. Lightsail features such as static IPs, DNS management, object storage, load balancers, containers, databases, and CDN distributions are not applicable and cannot be used with Lightsail for Research virtual computers."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-for-research","name":"Lightsail for Research","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail for Research","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What does Lightsail manage for me on my managed database?","id":"product-faqs#what-does-lightsail-manage-for-me-on-my-managed-database","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

Lightsail manages a range of maintenance activities and security for your database and its underlying infrastructure. Lightsail automatically backs up your database and allows point in time restore from the past 7 days using the database restore tool, to help protect against data loss or component failure. Lightsail also automatically encrypts your data at rest and in motion for increased security and stores your database password for easy and secure connections to your database. On the maintenance side, Lightsail runs maintenance on your database during your set maintenance window. This maintenance include automatic upgrades to the latest minor database version and all management of the underlying infrastructure and operating system."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#managed-databases","name":"Managed databases","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Managed databases","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How does it work?","id":"product-faqs#how-does-it-work","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

To get started, you need to export your Lightsail instance manual snapshot. You'll then use the Upgrade to EC2 wizard to create an instance in EC2. \n

Customers who are comfortable with EC2 can then use the EC2 creation wizard or API to create a new EC2 instance as they would from an existing EC2 AMI. Alternatively, Lightsail also provides a guided Lightsail console experience to help you easily create a new EC2 instance. \n

Note: Exporting Ghost and Django instance manual snapshots to Amazon EC2 is not supported at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#upgrade-to-ec2","name":"Upgrade to EC2","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Upgrade to EC2","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What happens if I cannot validate my domain?","id":"product-faqs#what-happens-if-i-cannot-validate-my-domain","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

You must be able to validate that you own a domain for security purposes. This means if you or someone in your organization cannot add a DNS record to validate your certificate for any reason, you will not be able to use an HTTPS-enabled load balancer with Lightsail."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#certificate-management","name":"Certificate management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Certificate management","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How does my Lightsail load balancer deal with traffic spikes?","id":"product-faqs#how-does-my-lightsail-load-balancer-deal-with-traffic-spikes","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

Lightsail load balancers scale automatically to handle traffic spikes to your application without you having to manually adjust them. If your application experiences a transient spike in traffic, your Lightsail load balancer will automatically scale and continue to efficiently direct traffic to your Lightsail instances. While your Lightsail load balancer is designed to easily manage traffic spikes, applications that consistently experience very high volume levels of traffic may experience performance degradation or throttling. If you expect your application consistently to manage more than 5 GB/hour of data or consistently to have a large number of connections (>400k new connections/hour, >15k active, concurrent connections), we recommend using Amazon EC2 with Application Load Balancing instead."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-load-balancer","name":"Lightsail load balancer","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail load balancer","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How many disks can I attach per Lightsail instance?","id":"product-faqs#how-many-disks-can-i-attach-per-lightsail-instance","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

You can attach up to 15 disks per Lightsail instance."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-block-storage","name":"Lightsail block storage","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail block storage","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"When am I getting charged for a plan?","id":"product-faqs#when-am-i-getting-charged-for-a-plan","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

Your Lightsail instances are charged only when they're in the running or stopped state. If you delete your Lightsail instance before the end of the month, we only charge you a prorated cost, based on the total number of hours that you used your Lightsail instance. For example, if you use the least expensive Lightsail plan for 100 hours in a month, you will be charged 47 cents (100*0.0047)."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#billing-and-account-management","name":"Billing and account management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Billing and account management","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What are the benefits of a VPS?","id":"product-faqs#what-are-the-benefits-of-a-vps","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

There are many benefits to using a virtual private server, including affordability, scalability, security, and customizable resources."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#general","name":"General","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"General","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"Does Lightsail object storage have overage charges?","id":"product-faqs#does-lightsail-object-storage-have-overage-charges","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

When you exceed the monthly storage capacity or data transfer allowance of your object storage plan, you will get charged for the additional amount. For more information, see the Lightsail pricing page."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#object-storage","name":"Object storage","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Object storage","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How do I use my Docker container images with Lightsail container service?","id":"product-faqs#how-do-i-use-my-docker-container-images-with-lightsail-container-service","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

You can use either container images on registries like Docker Hub or build your own custom image and push it to Lightsail in a few easy steps using the AWS CLI. For more information, see Pushing and managing container images on your Amazon Lightsail container services."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#containers","name":"Containers","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Containers","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"Do I need to attach a static IP to my Lightsail instance in order to use it as an origin for my Lightsail distribution?","id":"product-faqs#do-i-need-to-attach-a-static-ip-to-my-lightsail-instance-in-order-to-use-it-as-an-origin-for-my-lightsail-distribution","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

Yes, static IPs are required to be attached to instances that are specified as origins."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-cdn-distributions","name":"Lightsail CDN distributions","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail CDN distributions","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How do I use IPs in Lightsail?","id":"product-faqs#how-do-i-use-ips-in-lightsail","customSortOrder":"3","content":"

Each Lightsail instance automatically gets a private IP address and a public IP address. You can use the private IP to transmit data between Lightsail instances and AWS resources privately, for free. You can use the public IP to connect to your instance from the Internet, such as through a registered domain name or through an SSH or RDP connection from your local computer. You can also attach a static IP to the instance, which substitutes the public IP with an IP address that doesn't change even if the instance is stopped and started."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-resources","name":"Lightsail resources","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail resources","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What do Lightsail static IPs cost?","id":"product-faqs#what-do-lightsail-static-ips-cost","customSortOrder":"4","content":"

Static IPs are not charged extra when attached to a Lightsail instance. Static IPs cannot be attached to IPv6-only instances. IPv4 addresses are a scarce resource and Lightsail is committed to helping to use them efficiently, so we charge a small $0.005 USD/hour fee for static IPs not attached to an instance for more than 1 hour."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#billing-and-account-management","name":"Billing and account management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Billing and account management","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What managed database plans does Lightsail offer?","id":"product-faqs#what-managed-database-plans-does-lightsail-offer","customSortOrder":"4","content":"

Lightsail offers 4 sizes of databases in Standard and High Availability plans. Each plan comes with a fixed amount of storage and a monthly allowance of data transfer. You can also scale up to larger plans over time, as needed, and switch between Standard and High Availability plans. High Availability plans mirror the same resources as Standard plans and additionally include a standby database running in a separate Availability Zones from your primary database for redundancy."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#managed-databases","name":"Managed databases","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Managed databases","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How many domains and subdomains can I add to my certificate?","id":"product-faqs#how-many-domains-and-subdomains-can-i-add-to-my-certificate","customSortOrder":"4","content":"

You can add up to 10 domains or subdomains per certificate. Lightsail does not currently support wild card domains."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#certificate-management","name":"Certificate management","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Certificate management","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How do Lightsail load balancers route traffic to my target instances?","id":"product-faqs#how-do-lightsail-load-balancers-route-traffic-to-my-target-instances","customSortOrder":"4","content":"

Lightsail load balancers direct traffic to your healthy target instances based on a round robin algorithm."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-load-balancer","name":"Lightsail load balancer","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail load balancer","metadata":{}},{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"Can I attach a disk to more than 1 instance?","id":"product-faqs#can-i-attach-a-disk-to-more-than-1-instance","customSortOrder":"4","content":"

No, disks can only be attached to one instance at a time."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-block-storage","name":"Lightsail block storage","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail block storage","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"What type of virtual computers does Lightsail offer?","id":"product-faqs#what-type-of-virtual-computers-does-lightsail-offer","customSortOrder":"4","content":"

Lightsail for Research offers two types of virtual computers: non-GPU and GPU. For researchers who are using applications or analyzing data that do not need a GPU, we recommend using the non-GPU virtual computer. For researchers who are using analytical techniques like neural networks or are running advanced simulations, we recommend the GPU virtual computer."},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"GLOBAL#product#lightsail","name":"Amazon Lightsail","namespaceId":"GLOBAL#product","description":"Amazon Lightsail","metadata":{}},{"id":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs#lightsail-for-research","name":"Lightsail for Research","namespaceId":"product-faqs#lightsail-faqs","description":"Lightsail for Research","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"topic":"How does my data transfer allowance work with object storage?","id":"product-faqs#how-does-my-data-transfer-allowance-work-with-object-storage","customSortOrder":"4","content":"

You can consume your data transfer allowance by transfering data into and out of Lightsail object storage, except for the following: \n