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I am trying to revamp a website for a non-profit and have not used AWS prior. The original website I'm trying to copy/download is hosted on AWS, and I was planning on moving it to hosting I already control elsewhere. I thought I would be able to find a way to FTP into AWS' web hosting and have the whole Wordpress file system downloaded in a few minutes (I really just need the pictures and content; the originals are no longer available as far as I can tell, and I don't need to replicate the sight plugin-for-plugin).

Unfortunately, AWS Console is clogged with dozens of uninformative product names and no clear path even to see an in-browser listing of the hosted files.

Can anyone tell me how to FTP into AWS or point me to where these tool are hiding in AWS console?

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    Unfirtunately this is off-topic. That aside - why? Why not just get a Wordpress plugin and do a backup from wuthin Wirdpress (Updraft, Backupbuddy spring to mind). It us unlikely you can do what yoy want vua the AWS console - it is fir controlling hardware and startup - it knows block devices (drives) not files...
    – davidgo
    Apr 26, 2021 at 19:05
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    Alternatives could include using scp/sftp as this allows file access and is based on the ssh protocol used on most vm's, or to install an FTP server (you may need to adjust the AWS firewall settings to allow this), or to add some kind if file explorer/cms web interface.
    – davidgo
    Apr 26, 2021 at 19:09
  • Why? Because most of the stuff you're talking about doesn't mean much to me. The last website I made for money was in 1995, but I still use FTP on a regular basis.
    – Bort
    Apr 28, 2021 at 0:27
  • That said, I will try your backup plugin idea. Thank you.
    – Bort
    Apr 28, 2021 at 0:33
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    You might need to know that a) Wordpress keeps the web page text in a MySQL database, not file system, b) The images are generally in (DocumentRoot)/wp-content/uploads and c) AWS is a virtual machine control panel, not a web hosting control panel. Its entirely common to run CPanel or equivalent on an AWS virtual machine (ec2) instance - in which case you want the control panel, not aws login to do the kind of things you are trying to do - although as I said, it can also be achieved within Wordpress by using appropriate plugins.
    – davidgo
    Apr 28, 2021 at 1:07

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AWS is a very large collection of web services that offer multiple ways to host a WordPress website.

  • An EC2 instance (virtual private server) running WordPress and the database
  • An EC2 instance with a separate managed database hosted in relation database service (RDS).
  • Same as above, but all created through Lightsail
  • Multiple EC2 instances behind a load balancer with an RDS database and a shared S3 bucket for files
  • Same as above but using elastic file system (EFS) for shared files
  • Containerized WordPress instances running on ECS or EKS with files in EFS or S3 with the database in RDS.

I would suggest checking your account's AWS Billing Dashboard to figure out what services you are using. The method you will need to use to copy everything is going to be dependent on what services are running.

Bottom line, AWS is way more complicated than your average shared hosting account. There is no one-size-fits-all way to use AWS and as a result there can be no simple or comprehensive instructions for exporting a WordPress site from it.

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