Amazon Lightsail
Step by step guide to automate Amazon Lightsail server and volume snapshots on a custom schedule, daily, hourly, weekly, etc.
Create your AWS credentials
In order for SimpleBackups to manage your Amazon Lightsail Snapshots, a IAM Users to be created with the right policies.
We will create a custom policy first to allow us to manage your Amazon Lightsail Snapshots. The policy will include the least required permissions to manage snapshots.
Create a custom Lightsail policy for snapshots
- Connect to your AWS Console
- Head to IAM/Policies management page
- Click on "Create policy"
- Click on JSON and paste the custom policy below:
![](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fsimplebackups.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fsimplebackups-aws-lightsail-snapshot_create-credentials_step1.png?table=block&id=af35ea95-d5f0-465f-bebc-e77455933c07&cache=v2)
For your reference, here is the policy to copy and paste:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "SimpleBackupsLightsailSnapshots",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"lightsail:GetInstance",
"lightsail:GetInstances",
"lightsail:GetInstanceSnapshot",
"lightsail:GetInstanceSnapshots",
"lightsail:CreateInstanceSnapshot",
"lightsail:DeleteInstanceSnapshot",
"lightsail:GetDisk",
"lightsail:GetDisks",
"lightsail:GetDiskSnapshot",
"lightsail:GetDiskSnapshots",
"lightsail:CreateDiskSnapshot",
"lightsail:DeleteDiskSnapshot",
"lightsail:TagResource",
"lightsail:UntagResource",
"lightsail:CopySnapshot"
],
"Resource": "*"
}
]
}
- Click on "Next: Tags" then "Next: Review"
- Give the policy a name, "LightsailSnapshotsPolicy" then click on "Create policy"
![](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fsimplebackups.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fsimplebackups-aws-lightsail-snapshot_create-credentials_step2.png?table=block&id=c75658e7-84c6-4cd1-94bb-71ad5ffae246&cache=v2)
Create a Lightsail user for snapshots
- Head to IAM/Users management page
- Click on "Add users"
In the "Add user" form fill in information shown below:
Step 1: Set user access
- Define a name to your user.
- Choose "Access key - Programmatic access" for "Select AWS Credential type".
![](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fsimplebackups.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fsimplebackups-aws-lightsail-snapshot_create-credentials_step3.png?table=block&id=34d3b5d0-e31f-492b-a88a-a275930d920e&cache=v2)
Step 2: Attach policy to user
- Select "Attach existing policies directly" and select "LightsailSnapshotsPolicy" (we created in the earlier step).
- Select "Create user without a permission boundary" in the "Set permissions boundary" section.
![](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fsimplebackups.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fsimplebackups-aws-lightsail-snapshot_create-credentials_step4.png?table=block&id=8a4105ed-4769-4a1c-ac11-d3e47f863864&cache=v2)
Step 3: Finalize user creation
- You don't have to add any specific tag, just click "Next".
- Review and create the user.
![](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fsimplebackups.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fsimplebackups-aws-lightsail-snapshot_create-credentials_step5.png?table=block&id=5d24e363-93aa-444d-a424-8b09c5bad5dc&cache=v2)
Step 4: Copy your access and secret keys
Copy your "access key id" and secret "access key".
![](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fsimplebackups.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fsimplebackups-aws-lightsail-snapshot_create-credentials_step6.png?table=block&id=eaf02a09-05a7-4cca-bad5-5612f43e0547&cache=v2)
Connect AWS Lightsail Account to SimpleBackups
With this done, you now have a IAM User with an access key and secret that we'll be able to use in SimpleBackups to automate your Amazon Lightsail Snapshots.
- Log in to your Lightsail account and navigate to the Lightsail instance you want to backup. Note which region your Lightsail instance is hosted on.
![Notion image](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F4917524d-6a5b-4e59-9060-015ef75d0ffc%2FScreenshot_2023-04-25_at_11.04.02_AM.png?table=block&id=e65444cd-251b-4073-a61d-900fc9f67667&cache=v2)
- Navigate to SimpleBackups new snapshot job creation page.
![Notion image](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F2d58fe36-1a2e-47bd-954a-41d42613627b%2FScreenshot_2023-04-25_at_10.57.13_AM.png?table=block&id=2a1c75ae-0da3-44da-a5b8-6a5a044d8836&cache=v2)
- Click on "Connect a new Provider" and select Amazon Lightsail from the provider dropdown menu.
![Notion image](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2Fb6c3c330-7aa2-4565-b88d-47fcc04c2c5d%2FScreenshot_2023-04-25_at_10.57.46_AM.png?table=block&id=6135121b-48ee-42ad-8b46-c531814d7752&cache=v2)
- Once you have selected your provider, give it a name and paste in the values for your Key and Secret. Then choose the region where your Lightsail instance is hosted and click on "Save provider."
![Notion image](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F6f5d7076-0d7c-4a5f-9373-5fac0da1fc6f%2FScreenshot_2023-04-25_at_10.58.51_AM.png?table=block&id=d3e39d2b-a42a-407b-9cc4-a8a8b88e9f59&cache=v2)
- Select your Lightsail instance.
![Notion image](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F59ec9730-088d-41b3-ae02-4d57b51c0e61%2FScreenshot_2023-04-25_at_10.59.05_AM.png?table=block&id=bc7dab0d-9375-42a6-82ce-e8c85404bb21&cache=v2)
- Give your snapshot job a schedule, the number of snapshots to retain, and a friendly name you can remember.
![Notion image](https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F58b8203d-2044-4796-b863-9134117d7fe1%2FScreenshot_2023-04-25_at_10.59.15_AM.png?table=block&id=0f74c4cb-c99f-400d-9428-e91b7f048bdb&cache=v2)
That's it! Your AWS Lightsail instance is now set up with SimpleBackups!
Last updated on June 5, 2023