Deploy WordPress on AWS EC2 with ALB, Route 53 & SSL | Real-World AWS Architecture Guide

A lot of people deploy WordPress on a single EC2 instance and stop there.

That’s completely fine for learning initially.

But in real-world environments, production applications are usually designed differently:

• proper networking
• database isolation
• load balancing
• SSL
• controlled traffic flow

Once I started learning AWS architecture more deeply, I wanted to understand how these components actually work together in a practical deployment.

So in this project, I built a multi-tier WordPress setup on AWS using:

• VPC
• EC2
• RDS
• Application Load Balancer
• Route 53
• ACM SSL

This ended up being one of the best projects for understanding AWS networking and production-style infrastructure design.

The Architecture

The setup was divided into multiple layers.

Traffic flow looked like this:

Route 53 → ALB → EC2 → RDS

The goal was:

• secure architecture
• proper subnet separation
• HTTPS support
• scalable structure

instead of hosting everything on one public server.

Step 1: Create a Custom VPC

The first step was creating a custom VPC.

Instead of using the default VPC,
I wanted to understand:

• subnetting
• routing
• internet access
• private networking

more practically.

Subnet Design

The architecture included:

• 2 Public Subnets
• 2 Private Subnets

spread across different availability zones.

Why Separate Public & Private Subnets?

Public subnets were used for:

• Load Balancer
• Web server access

Private subnets were used for:

• RDS database

This improves security because the database is not exposed directly to the internet.

That’s a very common production architecture pattern.

Internet Gateway & Route Tables

To allow internet connectivity:

• an Internet Gateway was attached to the VPC.

Then:

• Route Tables
• subnet associations

were configured properly so traffic could flow correctly.

Initially this part felt confusing,
but once I started visualizing the network architecture, it became much easier.

Step 2: Configure Security Groups

Security Groups act like virtual firewalls in AWS.

Separate Security Groups were created for:

• EC2
• RDS
• Application Load Balancer

Security Design

The Security Group rules were designed carefully:

Resource	Allowed Traffic
ALB	HTTP & HTTPS from internet
EC2	Traffic only from ALB
RDS	MySQL only from EC2
SSH	Only from your IP

This layered setup helps reduce unnecessary exposure.

Step 3: Launch EC2 Instance

Next, I launched an Amazon Linux EC2 instance inside a public subnet.

This instance would host:

• Apache
• PHP
• WordPress

and serve as the application server.

Step 4: Configure RDS MySQL

Instead of storing the database locally on EC2,
I used Amazon RDS for MySQL.

This is much closer to real-world deployments because:

• backups become easier
• management becomes simpler
• scaling improves
• database remains isolated

One Important Thing I Learned

Initially, I almost placed the database in a public subnet.

That would have exposed the database unnecessarily.

Keeping RDS private is much safer.

This is why understanding subnet architecture matters.

Step 5: Install WordPress

After connecting to the EC2 instance through SSH,
I installed:

• Apache
• PHP
• MySQL client
• WordPress packages

Basic setup example:

sudo yum install httpd php php-mysqlnd -y

Then Apache was started and enabled.

Connecting WordPress to RDS

Inside:

wp-config.php

I added:

• RDS endpoint
• database name
• username
• password

This connects the WordPress application to the external MySQL database.

Step 6: Configure Application Load Balancer

Instead of exposing EC2 directly,
an Application Load Balancer (ALB) was deployed.

The ALB acts as:
👉 the public entry point for the application.

Why ALB Matters

Application Load Balancers help with:

• traffic distribution
• SSL termination
• scalability
• high availability
• health checks

This makes the infrastructure much more flexible compared to a single public EC2 instance.

Step 7: Configure Route 53

After the ALB was working,
the domain was connected using:
Amazon Route 53

DNS records were pointed toward the Load Balancer.

That allowed traffic to flow properly from the domain into the infrastructure.

Step 8: Enable SSL with ACM

One of the most important steps was enabling HTTPS.

I used:
AWS Certificate Manager

to request a free SSL certificate.

HTTP → HTTPS Redirect

After attaching the certificate to the ALB,
listener rules were configured to:

redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS

This ensures encrypted communication for all visitors.

Why HTTPS Matters

HTTPS improves:

• security
• trust
• browser compatibility
• SEO

Modern production applications should always use SSL/TLS.

High Availability Concept

One thing I liked about this architecture:

Different services were separated properly.

• Database isolated privately
• ALB handling traffic
• Route 53 managing DNS
• EC2 focused on application layer

This separation makes infrastructure much easier to scale later.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Some common mistakes I noticed during setup:

• incorrect Security Group rules
• wrong Route Table associations
• database placed publicly
• SSL validation issues
• ALB health check failures

Most AWS networking problems usually come down to:

• routing
• permissions
• Security Groups

Important AWS Cost Reminder

One important thing beginners should remember:

AWS resources continue generating charges until deleted.

This includes:

• EC2
• RDS
• ALB
• Elastic IPs
• Hosted Zones

Even small labs can generate costs if forgotten.

Cleanup Process

After testing:

• terminate EC2
• delete RDS
• remove ALB
• clean Route 53 resources

especially while practicing.

This is something I personally try to keep in mind while testing infrastructure.

Full Practical Video Walkthrough

I also created a complete walkthrough covering:

• VPC setup
• public/private subnet creation
• Security Groups
• EC2 launch
• RDS configuration
• WordPress installation
• Application Load Balancer
• Route 53 setup
• SSL configuration with ACM
• HTTP to HTTPS redirect

along with practical AWS console demonstrations and troubleshooting explanations.

👉 Watch the full video walkthrough here:

What Helped Me Understand AWS Better

Honestly, building projects like this taught me AWS much faster than only reading documentation.

Once you:

• configure networking,
• troubleshoot routes,
• connect databases,
• and secure traffic,

cloud concepts start making much more sense.

Why This Project is Valuable

This type of project teaches several important AWS concepts together:

• networking
• security
• DNS
• SSL
• load balancing
• database isolation
• application hosting

Instead of learning services separately,
you understand how real infrastructure works as a system.

Final Thoughts

Deploying WordPress this way may initially feel more complicated than a simple single-server setup.

But it teaches:

• architecture thinking
• cloud networking
• traffic flow
• security best practices

which are extremely useful in DevOps and cloud engineering roles.

What You Should Learn Next

After understanding this setup, explore:

• Auto Scaling Groups
• Dockerized WordPress deployments
• Terraform automation
• Kubernetes ingress
• CloudFront CDN integration
• AWS WAF security protection

Those concepts become much easier once the fundamentals are clear.

Bonus Tip

Whenever learning AWS,
don’t just deploy services blindly.

Try understanding:

• how traffic flows,
• how components communicate,
• and why architectures are designed a certain way.

That mindset changes everything.

Related Guides

If you’re learning AWS and DevOps, also check:

• AWS Auto Scaling Explained
• OpenVPN + VPC Peering
• AWS WAF Explained
• S3 + CloudFront Setup
• Kubernetes Architecture Explained

About the Author

Madhukar Reddy is a DevOps engineer focused on AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, and cyber security. He shares practical cloud and DevOps content based on hands-on deployments, infrastructure troubleshooting, and real-world learning projects.