The proflehman.com website is officially migrated to AWS!

All data files, about 9 GB, were backed up from IONIS via FTP. Most of that space came from archived family reunion photos (2012, 2014, and 2016) I’d been hosting on the site.

After confirming that both proflehman.com and basingerlehman.com were transferred to AWS, I submitted the online request to cancel my IONIS contract (required a quick phone call for verification). I had been a customer since 2007 and had no issues with IONIS (formerly 1and1.com), but I wasn’t using their resources and wanted to gain experience with AWS.

In AWS Route 53, I created a hosted zone for proflehman.com and updated the name servers. I also added an entry for www.proflehman.com. Using DNS Checker , I could see propagation begin within 5–10 minutes.

I used ChatGPT to guide me through the migration steps, which was very helpful for understanding the process. I also used the bncert-tool to quickly request and install a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate for my WordPress site (It’s running on a Bitnami pre-configured WordPress stack in AWS Lightsail.).

While I’m using Route 53 for DNS, AWS Lightsail appears to offer free DNS for associated domains, unlike Route 53’s $0.50/month hosted zone fee. I haven’t set up DNS for basingerlehman.com yet and am still deciding how to handle it.

Now time to update the WordPress design and maybe start posting more often.