How to Launch a cPanel & WHM Instance on Amazon Lightsail

1. Overview

This guide explains how to launch a cPanel & WHM instance on Amazon Lightsail™, a simple and fast virtual machine service.

2. Launch an Amazon Lightsail Instance

Navigate to the Amazon Lightsail website and sign in to your AWS account. If you do not have an account, create one.

Click Create instance. The instance creation interface will appear.

2.1 Select Your Instance Location

Amazon suggests a default region. You can change it by clicking Change AWS Region and Availability Zone.

Select a region in the Select a Region section.
Optionally choose a specific availability zone.

2.2 Select Your Instance Image and Blueprint

Select the Linux/Unix platform.
Under Select a blueprint, choose cPanel & WHM for AlmaLinux.

Important: cPanel & WHM requires a valid license. New installations can activate a free 15‑day trial license.

Additional options include:

Add launch script — to customize your instance.
Change SSH key pair — options include:

Create New — Generates a new SSH key pair.
Upload New — Upload an existing public key.
Download — Download the private key of the default key pair.

You may also enable Automatic Snapshots to create daily backups.

2.3 Choose Your Instance Plan

Select a plan based on memory, processing, storage, or transfer.

Warning: You must choose a plan with at least 1 GB RAM. Otherwise, cPanel & WHM installation will fail.

2.4 Identify Your Instance

Enter a name for your instance. This name cannot be changed later.

You may also add tags:

Key‑only tags
Key‑value tags

2.5 Create the Instance

Click Create instance. You will return to the Lightsail console, where the instance creation process begins.

3. cPanel & WHM Installation Process

Installation begins automatically in the background.

Warning: Installation takes 10–15 minutes. You cannot log in to WHM until it completes.

3.1 Watch Installation Progress

Open the Instances page.
Click your instance name.
Go to the Connect tab.
Click Connect using SSH to view installation progress.

After installation, a one‑time startup process and the post_snapshot script will run.

4. Setting Up WHM on Your Instance

4.1 Change the Root Password

Open your instance.
Go to the Connect tab.
Click Connect using SSH.
Run the following command:

sudo passwd

Enter and confirm your new password.

4.2 Attach a Static IP Address

Lightsail assigns dynamic IPs by default. Restarting the instance changes the IP.

Important: Your cPanel & WHM license is tied to your IP address. Always assign a static IP before activating a license.

Open your instance.
Go to the Networking tab.
Click Create static IP.
Select your instance.
Enter a name and click Create.

4.3 Log In to WHM

Navigate to:

https://IPADDRESS:2087/

Enter:

Username: root
Password: your new password

Agree to the license, then enter your contact and nameserver information.

5. Configure WHM

For full configuration steps, refer to the WebHost Manager documentation.

To quickly build a website on your new server, see the From WHM to Website guide.

6. Manage Your Instance

To use certain cPanel & WHM services, you must manually open specific firewall ports.

Conclusion

This guide walks you through launching, configuring, and managing a cPanel & WHM instance on Amazon Lightsail. With the correct setup—especially assigning a static IP and configuring WHM—you can deploy a reliable hosting environment quickly and efficiently.