Quick start guide: PrestaShop - Amazon Lightsail
Step 1: Get the default application password for your PrestaShop websiteStep 2: Attach a static IP address to your PrestaShop instanceStep 3: Sign in to the administration dashboard of your PrestaShop websiteStep 4: Route traffic for your registered domain name to your PrestaShop websiteStep 5: Configure HTTPS for your PrestaShop websiteStep 6: Configure SMTP for email notificationsStep 7: Read the Bitnami and PrestaShop documentationStep 8: Create a snapshot of your PrestaShop instance

Quick start guide: PrestaShop

Here are a few steps you should complete to get started after your PrestaShop instance is up and running on Amazon Lightsail.

Contents

Step 1: Get the default application password for your PrestaShop website

Complete the following steps to get the default application password for your PrestaShop website.

  1. On the instance management page, under the Connect tab, choose Connect using SSH.

    Connect using SSH in the Lightsail console

  2. After you're connected, enter the following command to get the default application password:

    cat $HOME/bitnami_application_password

    You should see a response similar to the following example, which contains the default application password. Store this password in a safe place. You will use it in the next section of this tutorial to sign in to the administration dashboard of your PrestaShop website.

    Default application password for Bitnami instances

For more information, see Getting the application user name and password for your Bitnami instance in Amazon Lightsail.

Step 2: Attach a static IP address to your PrestaShop instance

The public IP address assigned to your instance when you first create it will change every time you stop and start your instance. You should create and attach a static IP address to your instance to ensure its public IP address doesn't change. Later, when you use a registered domain name, such as example.com, with your instance, you don’t have to update your domain’s DNS records every time you stop and start your instance. You can attach one static IP to an instance.

On the instance management page, under the Networking tab, choose Create a static IP or Attach static IP (if you previously created a static IP that you can attach to your instance), then follow the instructions on the page.

Attach static IP address in the Lightsail console

For more information, see Create a static IP and attach it to an instance.

After the new static IP address is attached to your instance, you must complete the following steps to make the PrestaShop software aware of the new static IP address.

  1. Make a note of the static IP address of your instance. It's listed in the header section of your instance management page.

    Public or static IP address of a Lightsail instance

  2. On the instance management page, under the Connect tab, choose Connect using SSH.

    Connect to your instance using SSH

  3. After you're connected, enter the following command. Be sure to replace <StaticIP> with the new static IP address of your instance.

    sudo /opt/bitnami/configure_app_domain --domain <StaticIP>

    Example:

    sudo /opt/bitnami/configure_app_domain --domain 203.0.113.0

    You should see a response similar to the following example. The PrestaShop software should now be aware of the new static IP address.

    Result of the domain configuration tool
Note

PrestaShop does not currently support IPv6 addresses. You can enable IPv6 for the instance, but the PrestaShop software will not respond to requests over the IPv6 network.

Step 3: Sign in to the administration dashboard of your PrestaShop website

Complete the following step to access your PrestaShop website and sign in to its administration dashboard. To sign in, you will use the default user name (user@example.com) and the default application password that you got earlier in this guide.

  1. In the Lightsail console, make note of the public or static IP address that is listed in the header area of the instance management page.

    Public or static IP address of a Lightsail instance

  2. Browse to the following address to access the sign in page for the administration dashboard of your PrestaShop website. Be sure to replace <InstanceIpAddress> with the public or static IP address of your instance.

    http://<InstanceIpAddress>/administration

    Example: 

    http://203.0.113.0/administration

  3. Enter the default user name (user@example.com), the default application password you got earlier in this guide, and choose Log in.

    The PrestaShop administration dashboard sign in page

    The PrestaShop administration dashboard appears.

    PrestaShop administration dashboard

To change the default user name or password that you use to sign in to the administration dashboard of your PrestaShop website, choose Advanced Parameters in the navigation pane, and then choose Team. For more information, see User Guide PrestaShop in the PrestaShop documentation.

Advanced parameters in the PrestaShop navigation pane

For more information about the administration dashboard, see For more information, see User Guide PrestaShop in the PrestaShop documentation.

Step 4: Route traffic for your registered domain name to your PrestaShop website

To route traffic for your registered domain name, such as example.com, to your PrestaShop website, you add a record to the domain name system (DNS) of your domain. DNS records are typically managed and hosted at the registrar where you registered your domain. However, we recommend that you transfer management of your domain's DNS records to Lightsail so that you can administer it using the Lightsail console.

On the Lightsail console home page, under the Domains & DNS tab, choose Create DNS zone, then follow the instructions on the page.

For more information, see Creating a DNS zone to manage your domain’s DNS records in Lightsail.

After your domain name is routing traffic to your instance, you must complete the following steps to make the PrestaShop software aware of the domain name.

  1. On the instance management page, under the Connect tab, choose Connect using SSH.

    Connect to your instance using SSH

  2. After you're connected, enter the following command. Be sure to replace <DomainName> with the domain name that is routing traffic to your instance.

    sudo /opt/bitnami/configure_app_domain --domain <DomainName>

    Example:

    sudo /opt/bitnami/configure_app_domain --domain www.example.com

    You should see a response similar to the following example. The PrestaShop software should now be aware of the domain name.

    Result of the domain configuration tool

Step 5: Configure HTTPS for your PrestaShop website

Complete the following steps to configure HTTPS on your PrestaShop website. These steps show you how to use the Bitnami HTTPS configuration tool (bncert), which is a command line tool for requesting SSL/TLS certificates, setting up redirections (e.g. HTTP to HTTPS), and renewing certificates.

Important

The bncert tool will issue certificates only for domains that are currently routing traffic to the public IP address of your PrestaShop instance. Before starting with these steps, make sure that you add DNS records to the DNS of all domains that you want to use with your PrestaShop website.

  1. On the instance management page, under the Connect tab, choose Connect using SSH.

    Connect using SSH in the Lightsail console

  2. After you're connected, enter the following command to start the bncert-tool.

    sudo /opt/bitnami/bncert-tool

    You should see a response similar to the following example:

    Running the bncert tool

  3. Enter your primary domain name and alternate domain names separated by a space as shown in the following example.

    Entering the primary and alternate domain names

  4. The bncert tool will ask how you want your website's redirection to be configured. These are the options available:

    • Enable HTTP to HTTPS redirection - Specifies whether users who browse to the HTTP version of your website (i.e., http:/example.com) are automatically redirected to the HTTPS version (i.e., https://example.com). We recommend enabling this option because it forces all visitors to use the encrypted connection. Type Y and press Enter to enable it.

    • Enable non-www to www redirection - Specifies whether users who browse to the apex of your domain (i.e., https://example.com) are automatically redirected to your domain's www subdomain (i.e., https://www.example.com). We recommend enabling this option. However, you may want to disable it and enable the alternate option (enable www to non-www redirection) if you have specified the apex of your domain as your preferred website address in search engine tools like Google's webmaster tools, or if your apex points directly to your IP and your www subdomain references your apex via a CNAME record. Type Y and press Enter to enable it.

    • Enable www to non-www redirection - Specifies whether users who browse to your domain's www subdomain (i.e., https://www.example.com) are automatically redirected to the apex of your domain (i.e., https://example.com). We recommend disabling this, if you enabled non-www redirection to www. Type N and press Enter to disable it.

    Your selections should look like the following example.

    Website redirection options

  5. The changes that are going to be made are listed. Type Y and press Enter to confirm and continue.

    Confirming the changes

  6. Enter your email address to associate with your Let's Encrypt certificate and press Enter.

    Associating your email address with your Let's Encrypt certificate

  7. Review the Let's Encrypt Subscriber Agreement. Type Y and press Enter to accept the agreement and continue.

    Review the Let's Encrypt subscriber agreement

    The actions are performed to enable HTTPS on your instance, including requesting the certificate and configuring the redirections you specified.

    Actions being performed

    Your certificate is successfully issued and validated, and the redirections are successfully configured on your instance if you see a message similar to the following example.

    Actions successfully completed

    The bncert tool will perform an automatic renewal of your certificate every 80 days before it expires. Continue to the next set of steps to finish enabling HTTPS on your PrestaShop website.

  8. Browse to the following address to access the sign in page for the administration dashboard of your PrestaShop website. Be sure to replace <DomainName> with the registered domain name that is routing traffic to your instance.

    http://<DomainName>/administration

    Example: 

    http://www.example.com/administration

  9. Enter the default user name (user@example.com), the default application password you got earlier in this guide, and choose Log in.

    The PrestaShop administration dashboard sign in page

    The PrestaShop administration dashboard appears.

    PrestaShop administration dashboard

  10. Choose Shop Parameters in the navigation pane, and then choose General.

    General parameters in the PrestaShop navigation pane

  11. Choose Yes next to Enable SSL.

    Enable SSL in the PrestaShop administration dashboard

  12. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose Save.

  13. When the General page reloads, choose Yes next to Enable SSL on all pages.

    Enable SSL for all pages in the PrestaShop administration dashboard

  14. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose Save.

    HTTPS is now configured for your PrestaShop website. When customers browse to the HTTP version (e.g., http://www.example.com) of your PrestaShop website, they will be automatically redirected to the HTTPS version (e.g., https://www.example.com).

Step 6: Configure SMTP for email notifications

Configure the SMTP settings of your PrestaShop website to enable email notifications for it. To do so, sign in to the administration dashboard of your PrestaShop website. Choose Advanced Parameters in the navigation pane, and then choose E-mail. You should also adjust your email contacts accordingly. To do so, choose Shop Parameters in the navigation pane, and then choose Contact.

Email option in the navigation pane

For more information, For more information, see User Guide PrestaShop in the PrestaShop documentation and Configure SMTP for outbound emails in the Bitnami documentation.

Important

If you configure SMTP to use ports 25, 465, or 587, then you must open those ports in the firewall of your instance in the Lightsail console. For more information, see Adding and editing instance firewall rules in Amazon Lightsail.

If you configure your Gmail account to send email on your PrestaShop website, then you must use an app password instead of using the standard password that you use to sign in to Gmail. For more information, see Sign in with App Passwords.

Step 7: Read the Bitnami and PrestaShop documentation

Read the Bitnami documentation to learn how to perform administrative tasks on your PrestaShop instance and website, such as install plugins and customize the theme. For more information, see Bitnami PrestaShop Stack for AWS Cloud in the Bitnami documentation.

You should also read the PrestaShop documentation to learn how to administer your PrestaShop website. For more information, see the User Guide PrestaShop in the PrestaShop documentation.

Step 8: Create a snapshot of your PrestaShop instance

After you configure your PrestaShop website the way you want it, create periodic snapshots of your instance to back it up. You can create snapshots manually, or enable automatic snapshots to have Lightsail create daily snapshots for you. If something goes wrong with your instance, you can create a new replacement instance using the snapshot. For more information, see Snapshots.

On the instance management page, under the Snapshot tab, choose Create a snapshot or choose to enable automatic snapshots.

Create an instance snapshot in the Lightsail console

For more information, see Creating a snapshot of your Linux or Unix instance in Amazon Lightsail or Enabling or disabling automatic snapshots for instances or disks in Amazon Lightsail.