Tutorial: AWS - Setup Nginx reverse proxy on EC2 Instance and deploy NodeJs Application

aws-tutorial-configure-nginx-reverse-proxy-and-deploy-nodejs-application-on-ec2-instance.md

1. (Optional) Follow the link to learn How to create AWS EC2 Instance

2. Open terminal, connect to your ec2 instance using ssh command, e.g. sudo ssh -i fungyaan-frankfurt.pem ubuntu@ec2-18-195-20-82.eu-central-1.compute.amazonaws.com

   1. If prompted password, write your computer user's password and press enter
   2. You have successfully logged in as ubuntu user in your EC2 instance.

3. Switch to superuser

   sudo su
   

   1. Update the package index files on the system

      apt-get update --fix-missing
      apt upgrade -y
      

   2. Install the build-essential package

      apt install build-essential -y
      

   3. Install Nginx reverse proxy

      apt install nginx -y
      

   4. Install curl

      apt install curl
      

   5. Install nvm

      curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.3/install.sh | bash
      

      export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
      

      [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
      

      [ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # This loads nvm bash_completion
      

   6. Install node using nvm

      nvm install 18
      

   7. Install git

      apt install git -y
      

   8. Suppose you want to run your NodeJs application on port 8000

      1. Update default profile of sites-available

         Delete the existing code of the profile

         nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
         

         1. Paste the following using Ctrl+V

            server {
               listen 80 default_server;
               listen [::]:80 default_server;
            
               root /var/www/html;
               index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
            
               server_name _;
            
               location / {
                  proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
                  proxy_set_header Host $host;
                  proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
               }
            }
            

            Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl+X to exit, then when prompted to save, Y and then Enter
   9. Restart Nginx

      service nginx restart
      

   10. Exit superuser

       exit
       

4. Clone node application

   git clone https://<username>:<password>@github.com/<username>/express-mongodb-boilerplate.git
   

   1. For the pupose of this tutorial, lets create a mini NodeJs application
      1. Create nodejs-server.js

         mkdir nodejs-application
         touch nodejs-application/nodejs-server.js
         

      2. Update the nodejs-server.js

         cd nodejs-application
         nano nodejs-server.js
         

         1. Paste the following using Ctrl+V

            var http = require('http');
            http.createServer(function (req, res) {
               res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
               res.end('Hello World!');
            }).listen(8000);
            

            Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl+X to exit, then when prompted to save, Y and then Enter
      3. Start the NodeJs application/server

         node nodejs-server.js
         

5. Copy the Public IPv4 address of the EC2 Instance, e.g. 18.188.31.8

   1. Open http://18.188.31.8 in the browser
   2. Congratulations! You have successfully hosted a NodeJs application/server on AWS EC2

   Note:- Open https://18.188.31.8 won't work because SSL isn't configured. That's for later. Cheers 🥂