# Configure WordPress with a Lightsail content delivery network
<a name="amazon-lightsail-configure-wordpress-for-distribution"></a>

In this guide, we show you how to configure your WordPress instance to work with a Amazon Lightsail distribution.

All Lightsail distributions have HTTPS enabled by default for their default domain (for example, `123456abcdef.cloudfront.net`). The configuration of your distribution determines whether the connection between your distribution and your instance is encrypted.
+ **Your WordPress website uses HTTP only** – If your website uses HTTP only and is not configured for HTTPS, you can configure your distribution to terminate SSL/TLS. The distribution forwards all content requests to your instance using an unencrypted connection.
+ **Your WordPress website uses HTTPS** – If your website uses HTTPS as the origin, you can configure your distribution to forward all content requests to your instance using an encrypted connection. This configuration is known as end-to-end encryption.

## Create the distribution
<a name="create-distribution-wordpress"></a>

Complete the following steps to configure a Lightsail distribution for your WordPress instance. For more information, see [Create a Lightsail content delivery network distribution](amazon-lightsail-creating-content-delivery-network-distribution.md).

**Prerequisite**  
Create and configure a WordPress instance as described in [Launch and configure a WordPress instance](amazon-lightsail-launch-and-configure-wordpress.md).

**To create a distribution for your WordPress instance**

1. In the left navigation pane, choose **Networking**.

1. Choose **Create distribution**.

1. For **Choose your origin**, choose the Region where you're running your WordPress instance and then choose your WordPress instance. We automatically use the static IP address that you attached to the instance.

1. For **Caching behavior**, choose **Best for WordPress**.

1. (Optional) To configure end-to-end encryption, change the origin protocol policy to **HTTPS only**. For more information, see [Origin protocol policy](amazon-lightsail-changing-distribution-origin.md#changing-distribution-origin-protocol-policy).

1. Configure the remaining options and then choose **Create distribution**.

1. On the **Custom domains** tab, choose **Create certificate**. Enter a unique name for the certificate, enter the names of your domain and subdomains, and then choose **Create certificate**.

1. Choose **Attach certificate**.

1. For **Update DNS records**, choose **I understand**.

## Update DNS records
<a name="update-dns-records-wordpress"></a>

Complete the following steps to update the DNS records for your Lightsail DNS zone.

**To update the DNS records for your distribution**

1. In the left navigation pane, choose **Domains & DNS**.

1. Choose your DNS zone and then choose the **DNS records** tab.

1. Delete the A and AAAA records for the domain that you specified in your certificate.

1. Choose **Add record** and create a CNAME record that resolves your domain to the domain for your distribution (for example, d2vbec9EXAMPLE.cloudfront.net).

1. Choose **Save**.

## Allow static content to be cached by the distribution
<a name="allow-static-content-caching-wordpress"></a>

Complete the following procedure to edit the `wp-config.php` file in your WordPress instance so that it works with your distribution.

**Note**  
We recommend that you create a snapshot of your WordPress instance before getting started with this procedure. The snapshot can be used as a backup from which you can create another instance in case something goes wrong. For more information, see [Create a snapshot of your Linux or Unix instance](lightsail-how-to-create-a-snapshot-of-your-instance.md).

1. Sign in to the [Lightsail console](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/).

1. In the left navigation pane, choose the browser-based SSH client icon that is displayed next to your WordPress instance.

1. After you're connected to your instance, enter the following command to create a backup of the `wp-config.php` file. If something goes wrong, you can restore the file using the backup.

   ```
   sudo cp /var/www/wp-config.php /var/www/wp-config.php.backup
   ```

1. Enter the following command to open the `wp-config.php` file using Vim.

   ```
   sudo vim /var/www/wp-config.php
   ```

1. Press `I` to enter insert mode in Vim.

1. Delete the following lines of code in the file.

   ```
   define('WP_SITEURL', 'http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . '/');
   define('WP_HOME', 'http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . '/');
   ```

1. Add the following lines of code to the file where you previously deleted the code:

   ```
   define('WP_SITEURL', 'http://DOMAIN/');
   define('WP_HOME', 'http://DOMAIN/');
   if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_CLOUDFRONT_FORWARDED_PROTO'])
   && $_SERVER['HTTP_CLOUDFRONT_FORWARDED_PROTO'] === 'https') {
   $_SERVER['HTTPS'] = 'on';
   }
   ```

1. Press the **Esc** key to exit insert mode in Vim, then type `:wq!` and press **Enter** to save your edits (write) and quit Vim.

1. Enter the following command to restart the Apache service on your instance.

   ```
   sudo systemctl restart apache2
   ```

1. Wait a few moments for your the Apache service to restart, then test that your distribution is caching your content. For more information, see [Test your Amazon Lightsail distribution](amazon-lightsail-testing-distribution.md).

1. If something went wrong, re-connect to your instance using the browser-based SSH client. Run the following command to restore the `wp-config.php` file using the backup you created earlier in this guide.

   ```
   sudo cp /var/www/wp-config.php.backup /var/www/wp-config.php
   ```

   After you restore the file, enter the following command to restart the Apache service: 

   ```
   sudo systemctl restart apache2
   ```

## Additional information about distributions
<a name="distribution-wordpress-additional-information"></a>

Here are some articles to help you manage distributions in Lightsail:
+ [Content delivery network distributions](amazon-lightsail-content-delivery-network-distributions.md)
+ [Creating distributions](amazon-lightsail-creating-content-delivery-network-distribution.md)
+ [Understand request and response behaviors of a distribution](amazon-lightsail-distribution-request-and-response.md)
+ [Test your distribution](amazon-lightsail-testing-distribution.md)
+ [Change the origin of your distribution](amazon-lightsail-changing-distribution-origin.md)
+ [Change the caching behavior of your distribution](amazon-lightsail-changing-default-cache-behavior.md)
+ [Reset the cache of your distribution](amazon-lightsail-resetting-distribution-cache.md)
+ [Change the plan of your distribution](amazon-lighstail-changing-distribution-plan.md)
+ [Enable custom domains for your distribution](amazon-lightsail-enabling-distribution-custom-domains.md)
+ [Point your domains to your distribution](amazon-lightsail-point-domain-to-distribution.md)
+ [Change custom domains for your distribution](amazon-lightsail-changing-distribution-custom-domains.md)
+ [Disable custom domains for your distributions](amazon-lightsail-disabling-distribution-custom-domains.md)
+ [View distribution metrics](amazon-lightsail-viewing-distribution-health-metrics.md)
+ [Delete your distribution](amazon-lightsail-deleting-distribution.md)