AWS Lightsail is a VPS service from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that you can connect to using FileZilla Pro for secure file transfers via SFTP.
What you’ll need:
- An AWS Lightsail account;
- The SSH private key associated with your instance;
- The public IP address of your Lightsail instance;
- FileZilla Pro installed on your local computer.
To connect via SFTP, you need your instance’s private key. Follow these steps to obtain it:
- Sign in to the AWS Lightsail console.
- Click on your user or role in the top navigation menu.
- Select Account from the dropdown menu.
- Navigate to the SSH Keys tab.
- Locate the Default keys section and download the private key for your instance’s AWS Region.
Note: Save this key in a secure location on your local drive. If you created your own key pair, use your private key instead.
To set up FileZilla Pro for connecting to your Lightsail instance, follow these steps below:
- Download and install FileZilla Pro from the official website.
- Open FileZilla Pro and go to File > Site Manager…. (See Using Site Manager for more details.)
- Click New Site and give it a descriptive name.
- In the Protocol dropdown, select SFTP – SSH File Transfer Protocol.
- In the Host field, enter your instance’s public IP address.
- In the Logon Type dropdown, select Key File.
- In the User field, enter the appropriate default username for your instance’s OS:
- Amazon Linux, AlmaLinux, CentOS Stream 9, FreeBSD, openSUSE:
ec2-user - Debian:
admin - Ubuntu, Plesk:
ubuntu - Bitnami:
bitnami - cPanel & WHM:
centos - Click Browse next to the Key File field and select the private key file you downloaded earlier.
- Choose Open.
- Click on Connect.
- Click on OK to trust the host and connect.
Note: Windows users: Ensure you change the file type to All Files when selecting the .pem file.
You may see an Unkown host key dialog box.
You can now transfer files between your local machine and your Lightsail instance.
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