When you use AWS Lightsail, you probably have WordPress packed by Bitnami. And that one is considered by many as not production ready because when you need to upgrade PHP, you have to create a new instance and migrate your entire WordPress blog or Multisite blog network.

But there is also an alternative way.

Without Migration

Here’s how to upgrade to any version of PHP on Bitnami without migration. Also works for WordPress or WordPress Multisite. I use AWS Lightsail for simplicity.

Quick overview

• Install the PHP
• Update php.ini to use the non-default MySQL socket location used by the Bitnami server
• Create a php-fpm pool that runs as the “daemon” user
• Update the Apache configuration to use the new PHP version

Let’s do it!

Enable PHP repository

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install lsb-release ca-certificates curl
sudo curl -sSLo /usr/share/keyrings/deb.sury.org-php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/deb.sury.org-php.gpg] https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php.list'
sudo apt-get update

Install PHP 8.2

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y php8.2-bcmath php8.2-cli php8.2-common php8.2-curl php8.2-gd php8.2-imap php8.2-intl php8.2-mbstring php8.2-mysql php8.2-readline php8.2-soap php8.2-xml php8.2-xmlrpc php8.2-zip php8.2-fpm

If you need a different version of PHP, change 8.2 with whatever version you need.

sudo vi /etc/php/8.2/fpm/php.ini

[Pdo_mysql] 
; Default socket name for local MySQL connects. If empty, uses the built-in 
; MySQL defaults. 
pdo_mysql.default_socket=

[Pdo_mysql] 
; Default socket name for local MySQL connects. If empty, uses the built-in 
; MySQL defaults. 
pdo_mysql.default_socket= "/opt/bitnami/mariadb/tmp/mysql.sock"

[Pdo_mysql] 
; Default socket name for local MySQL connects. If empty, uses the built-in 
; MySQL defaults. 
pdo_mysql.default_socket= "/opt/bitnami/mysql/tmp/mysql.sock"

mysqli.default_socket =

mysqli.default_socket = "/opt/bitnami/mariadb/tmp/mysql.sock"

mysqli.default_socket = "/opt/bitnami/mysql/tmp/mysql.sock"

Enable php-fpm

Create php-fpm pool file

sudo vi /etc/php/8.2/fpm/pool.d/wp.conf

Add

[wordpress]
listen=/opt/bitnami/php/var/run/ww2.sock
user=daemon
group=daemon
listen.owner=daemon
listen.group=daemon
pm=dynamic
pm.max_children=5
pm.start_servers=2
pm.min_spare_servers=1
pm.max_spare_servers=3
pm.max_requests=5000

This pool will listen on unix socket “/opt/bitnami/php/var/run/ww2.sock”.

Enable and restart PHP 8.2 fpm service

sudo systemctl enable php8.2-fpm 
sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm

Edit file

sudo vi /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/php-fpm.conf

For some installations, file is located at

sudo vi /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/php-fpm-apache.conf

Inside the file find

<IfDefine USE_PHP_FPM>
  <Proxy "unix:/opt/bitnami/php/var/run/www.sock|fcgi://www-fpm" timeout=30
  </Proxy>
  <FilesMatch \.php$>
    <If "-f %{REQUEST_FILENAME}">
      SetHandler "proxy:fcgi://www-fpm"
    </If>
  </FilesMatch>

Find

www.sock

Replace with

ww2.sock

Restart Apache

sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Check installed PHP version

Method 1

Go to WordPress admin -> Tools -> Site Health -> Server

Method 2

Create phpinfo.php file at

/opt/bitnami/wordpress/phpinfo.php

Add

<?php
phpinfo();

Check in browser

"https://yourwebsite.com/phpinfo.php"

With Migration

For WordPress Multisite, use plugin MigrateGuru. It’s the best and free.