<- Back

Migrating from LAMP to AWS

January 08, 2024
Diagram mapping LAMP stack components to AWS services
Migrating Apache to EC2, MySQL to RDS, PHP to Lambda, and Linux to Elastic Beanstalk

Linux (Compute Foundation)

Amazon EC2

  • Use-case: Lift-and-shift or custom AMI deployments
  • Why: Full control over OS, networking, and installed software

  • Notes:

    • Autoscale groups for horizontal scaling
    • Use EC2 Auto Recovery and EC2 Image Builder for resilience and patch management
    • Secure via IAM roles, security groups, and Session Manager instead of SSH
  • Learn more: EC2 User Guide • EC2 Details

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

  • Use-case: Managed platform for PHP / Apache workloads
  • Why: Simplifies deployments (just upload code), handles provisioning, scaling, updates

  • Notes:

    • Supports rolling deployments and blue/green swaps
    • Provides health dashboards and event logs
  • Learn more: Elastic Beanstalk Developer Guide • Elastic Beanstalk Details

AWS Fargate & Amazon ECS/EKS

  • Use-case: Containerized LAMP components
  • Why: Serverless containers (Fargate) or orchestrated clusters (ECS/EKS)

  • Notes:

    • Decouple compute from code, faster deployments
    • Integrate with Application Load Balancer and AWS App Mesh

AWS Lambda

  • Use-case: Serverless PHP via Lambda Layer (e.g., Bref) or micro-services
  • Why: No servers to manage, pay per execution

  • Notes:

    • Combine with API Gateway for REST/HTTP endpoints
    • Cold-start latency considerations for PHP

Apache (Web & Delivery)

Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)

  • Use-case: Distribute HTTP(s) traffic across EC2, containers, or Lambda
  • Why: Built-in health checks, SSL offload, sticky sessions
  • Learn more: ELB Details

Amazon CloudFront

  • Use-case: CDN for static assets (CSS, JS, images) and dynamic content caching
  • Why: Low latency, edge security (WAF integration), custom SSL
  • Learn more: CloudFront Details

Amazon S3 for Static Hosting

  • Use-case: Host images, media, or even a static single-page front end
  • Why: 99.99% durability, lifecycle policies, origin for CloudFront
  • Learn more: S3 User Guide

MySQL (Data Layer)

Amazon RDS for MySQL

  • Use-case: Managed MySQL with automated backups, patching, and replicas
  • Why: High availability via Multi-AZ, automated snapshots, easy scaling
  • Learn more: RDS User Guide • RDS Details

Amazon Aurora (MySQL-Compatible)

  • Use-case: High-performance, serverless, or provisioned cluster
  • Why: Up to 5× the throughput of standard MySQL, read replicas, Global Database
  • Learn more: Aurora Details

Amazon DynamoDB

  • Use-case: NoSQL for sessions, user profiles, or metadata
  • Why: Single-digit millisecond latency, serverless scaling
  • Learn more: DynamoDB Details

Amazon ElastiCache

  • Use-case: In-memory cache with Redis or Memcached
  • Why: Offload read traffic, accelerate session stores, full-page caching
  • Learn more: ElastiCache User Guide

PHP (Application Runtime)

Running PHP on AWS

  • EC2 / Beanstalk: Full Apache + PHP-FPM stacks
  • ECS/Fargate: Dockerized PHP containers
  • Lambda (Bref): PHP via Lambda layers for event-driven tasks or APIs

Dependency Management & CI/CD

  • AWS CodePipeline / CodeBuild: Automate build, test, and deploy of Composer projects
  • AWS CodeDeploy: Blue/green or canary deployments to EC2/ECS/Beanstalk
  • Learn more: AWS CodePipeline User Guide

Networking & Security

  • Amazon VPC: Isolate your resources in private and public subnets
  • Security Groups & NACLs: Fine-grained network access controls
  • AWS IAM: Least-privilege roles for EC2, Lambda, RDS, etc. IAM User Guide
  • AWS WAF & Shield: Protect against common web attacks (SQLi, XSS) and DDoS

Observability & Maintenance

  • Amazon CloudWatch: Metrics, logs, and alarms for EC2, RDS, Lambda, ELB, and custom PHP logs CloudWatch User Guide
  • AWS X-Ray: Distributed tracing for PHP applications to pinpoint performance bottlenecks
  • AWS Backup: Centralized backup for RDS, EFS, DynamoDB, and EC2 volumes AWS Backup User Guide

Scalability & High Availability

  • Auto Scaling Groups: Scale EC2 / ECS tasks based on CPU, memory, or custom metrics Auto Scaling User Guide
  • Aurora Serverless: Automatically scales the database compute layer
  • Global Accelerator: Low-latency, regional failover for global audiences

Cost Optimization

  • Reserved & Savings Plans: Commit to 1–3 years for significant EC2, Lambda, and RDS discounts
  • Spot Instances: Run non-critical batch jobs or container tasks at up to 90% off
  • S3 Lifecycle: Move infrequently accessed objects to Glacier Deep Archive

Reference Architectures

  1. Simple Web App: EC2 + ELB + RDS (MySQL) + CloudFront + S3
  2. Containerized Microservices: ECS/Fargate + ALB + Aurora Serverless + DynamoDB + X-Ray
  3. Serverless Backend: API Gateway + Lambda (PHP via Bref) + DynamoDB + CloudFront

For more information check the AWS Solutions Library.

By mapping each LAMP component to its AWS equivalent-and supplementing with security, scalability, and observability services-you can build a cloud-native architecture that’s more resilient, easier to manage, and ready to grow with your traffic.

  1. EC2 Instances Setup: EC2 User Guide
  2. Set Up RDS for MySQL: RDS User Guide
  3. Implement Elastic Beanstalk: Elastic Beanstalk Developer Guide
  4. Serverless with Lambda and API Gateway: Lambda Developer Guide and API Gateway Developer Guide
  5. Amazon S3: S3 User Guide
  6. IAM for Security: IAM User Guide
  7. Backup and Disaster Recovery: AWS Backup User Guide
  8. Scalability and High Availability: Auto Scaling User Guide
  9. Monitoring and Logging: CloudWatch User Guide
  10. CI/CD Integration: AWS CodePipeline User Guide
↑ Back To Top