Last modified: November 22, 2024

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Overview

This document describes common instance management tasks that your cPanel & WHM instance on Amazon Lightsail™ may require.

Access your instance

1. Log in to your Amazon Lightsail account.

2. The dashboard will display your instance on the Instances tab.

Manage instances

To start, stop, reboot, or terminate an instance, perform the following steps:

1. Log in to your Amazon Lightsail account.

2. Click the three dot menu icon next to your instance’s name.

3. Select the desired action from the menu:

   • Connect — Connect to your instance with a browser based SSH client.
   • Manage — Open your instance in the Amazon Lightsail interface. You can also click your instance’s name.
   • Stop — Pause the instance and retain some, but not all, of its data. This action is only available while an instance is running.
   • Start — Restart a previously stopped instance.
   • Reboot — Reboot the instance. You may need to reboot your instance after making changes.
   • Delete — Delete the instance. If you attached a static IP address to your instance the IP address will remain on your account. You can attach it to a different instance or delete it separately.
     Warning:

     When you delete an instance, the system will delete the instance’s data. You cannot restore a deleted instance.

A confirmation message will appear once you select an action. Confirm your action.

Manage firewall ports

When you first create an Amazon Lightsail instance, the setup process only opens a select few ports. This is to provide the safest possible experience to novice users. However, some core functionality requires you to manually open further ports.

The following firewall ports are open by default:

Service	Protocol	Port number
SSH	TCP	22
DNS	UDP	53
DNS	TCP	53
HTTP	TCP	80
HTTPS	TCP	443
WebDAV SSL	TCP	2078
cPanel SSL	TCP	2083
WHM SSL	TCP	2087
cPanel Licensing	TCP	2089

Open a firewall port

To open ports and enable further features, perform the following actions:

1. Determine which ports are necessary.

2. Log in to your Amazon Lightsail account.

3. Click your instance’s name.

4. Click the Networking tab. Your instance’s Networking interface will appear.

5. Scroll to the Firewall section and click Add rule.

6. Enter the port information in the appropriate boxes.

   Note:

   The necessary Protocol and Port or range information can be found in the table in our How to Configure Your Firewall for cPanel & WHM Services documentation. You can leave the Application field set to custom.

7. Click Create.

Close a firewall port

To close firewall ports, perform the following actions:

1. Determine which ports are necessary.

2. Log in to your Amazon Lightsail account.

3. Click your instance’s name.

4. Click the Networking tab. Your virtual machine’s Networking interface will appear.

5. Scroll to the Firewall section and locate the port to close.

6. Click the trash can icon in that port’s row.

Manage or delete static IP addresses

To manage or delete IP addresses, perform the following:

1. Log in to your Amazon Lightsail account.

2. Click the Networking tab. The Networking interface will appear.

3. Click the three dot menu icon next to the Static IP address’s name.

4. Select the desired action from the menu:

   • Manage — Open the IP address interface. From that interface you can attach, detach, or view the details of your IP address.
   • Delete — Delete this IP address.
     Note:

     Static IP addresses are free when attached to an instance but incur charges when detached. We recommend you delete static IP addresses you do not intend to reuse.

Delete an instance

To delete an instance, perform the following:

1. Log in to your Amazon Lightsail account.

2. Click your instance’s name. The management interface will appear.

3. Click the Delete tab.

4. Click Delete instance. A confirmation message will appear.

5. Click Yes, delete. Once the deletion process starts, you will return to the Amazon Lightsail console.

6. If you had attached a static IP address to the instance, it will remain on your account. Static IP addresses are free when attached to an instance but incur charges when detached. You can attach the static IP address to a different instance or delete it to avoid charges.