How to SFTP into Your AWS EC2 Bitnami WordPress Server

If you’ve already setup your AWS EC2 instance based on a Bitnami image (AMI), you might be wondering how to get FTP or SFTP access to your new server. Luckily for us, it’s pretty simple!

In the guide below, we’ll assume you’ve got three things already prepared:

1. Your server’s IP address (which you can find in the AWS EC2 control panel)
2. Your SSH key file (which you downloaded when you first setup the EC2 instance)
3. An FTP client such as FileZilla (download here)

Accessing SFTP Using a Key File

To start, let’s load up FileZilla. We should be presented with the default screen where we’re not connected to any server so no files are showing on the right-hand side.

We then want to click on the left-most icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen to open up the Site Manager.

This is where we’re going to want to add our server details and store them for connecting more quickly in future.

To start with, click the ‘New site’ button in the group of buttons towards the bottom left of this window and set a name for your site (perhaps the domain name) so that you can easily recognise it in future. Once that’s done, it’s time to configure the connection details on the right-hand side of the window.

There’s just five fields we need to configure:

1. Protocol – select “SFTP – SSH File Transfer Protocol”
2. Host – input your server’s IP address
3. Logon Type – select “Key file
4. User – enter “bitnami”
5. Key file – click the “Browse” button and select your key file

Now click the “Connect” button at the bottom of the window and your connection details will have saved and FileZilla will now attempt to make a connection.

If the connection is successful, you should see your files in the area on the right-hand side.

If it’s unsuccessful, check the log in the area at the top of FileZilla for a clue in the error (which will appear in red).

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If you found this helpful, experienced an issue or have a question, just comment below!