AWS: How to Resolve Bitnami WordPress SSH Access Issues

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If your Lightsail WordPress website isn’t loading, but you can still connect to your server through SSH, don’t worry. This is a common issue, and there are a few simple steps you can follow to get your site back online.

First, check if your web server is running. The most common web servers for WordPress are Apache and Nginx. You can verify if they are active by running this command in your SSH terminal:

bash
sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh status

This will show the status of all services. If you notice that the web server isn’t running, restart it with this command:

bash
sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

If you want to restart all services at once, use:

bash
sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart

Next, look into potential database connection problems. WordPress needs to connect to its database to display your site. If the database isn’t accessible, your website won’t load even if your server seems fine. Checking your logs can help identify if this is the problem.

Resource limitations can also cause this issue. If your server is running low on CPU, memory, or disk space, it might struggle to serve your website. You can review your Lightsail console metrics to see if your server is running out of resources. If it is, upgrading to a larger plan may be necessary.

Finally, consider if there might be issues with your WordPress configuration or plugins. Although your initial error logs don’t show specific errors, checking the WordPress error logs—usually located in your WordPress root directory—can provide additional clues.

If your site is still not loading after these checks, it’s a good idea to verify your DNS settings, especially if you’re accessing through a domain name. Since you mentioned that even your public IP address isn’t working, DNS issues are less likely to be the cause.

Start by confirming all server services are up and running, then investigate database connectivity, and review your resource usage. If your server consistently runs out of CPU, memory, or disk space, upgrading to a bigger Lightsail plan might be the best solution to keep your website accessible.