
- Terraform Cli
- AWS Cli
- AWS Account
- VS Code Extension: HashiCorp Terraform

## Configure AWS

This will be the first step for this tutorial, you'll need to have AWS account and create user and have the access key, secret configured, so we can run the terraform with the correct configured aws later.

### Install AWS Cli

This blog is skipping how to install AWS Cli at your local, but you can reference here for (how to getting start with AWS Cli)['https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html'].

### Verify AWS Cli

Checking AWS Cli is working or not by typing below command.

```
aws --version
```

### Retrieve AWS access keys

If you don't have a AWS user created, you can login in to AWS and create a new user, once create a new user then go to the Security Credentials section and retrieve access key and secret key.

- Create a AWS User
- Create Security Credentials by retrieve AWS access keys
- Add Role to the AWS User (to make it simple at this blog, here adding the **_AmazonEC2FullAccess_** for testing.)

Once have the Access and Secret key, then use the `aws configure` to set access and secret key.

Now, for the below steps once run the terraform, will create resource under this AWS account.

## Visual Code Extension for HashiCorp Terraform

THis blog use VS Code to modify terraform, and use the VS Code extension `HashiCorp Terraform` for terraform editing. It is great tool, providing intellisense for editing Terraform.

- VS Code Extension: HashiCorp Terraform

List all the available commands for execute terraform.

```
terraform -help
```

The command to run, prepare the local directory for other commands.

```
terraform init
```

```
terraform validate
```

```
terraform fmt
```

```
terraform apply
```

```
terraform destroy
```

```
terraform show
```

```
terraform state list
```

### Other

Get public key by key pair name

```
aws ec2 describe-key-pairs --key-names test --include-public-key
```


This blog will demonstrate how to setup AWS EC2 with Terraform at local

How to Create AWS EC2 by Terraform


<p>
  This blog shows how to send application logs from Amazon Linux 2 EC2 Instance
  to AWS CloudWatch logs, it'll include how to set up and configure.
</p>
<p>
  Let's assume you have a running web server on EC2 instance, and the
  application had written logs to this web server, now you want to move this
  logs to the CloudWatch for further analysis, the following are steps how you
  can accomplish.&nbsp;
</p>
<h2>Pre requirement</h2>
<ul>
  <li>Set up an AWS account</li>
  <li>
    EC2 Instance is running and has application logs to
    <strong>/var/app/my-app/error.log</strong>
  </li>
  <li>EC2 Instance had attached a role, <strong>my-ec2-role</strong></li>
</ul>
<h2>Create new custom Policy</h2>
<p>
  Here, we'll create the following new custom policy for IAM and assign it to
  the role <strong>my-ec2-role</strong> for EC2. Once we attached this policy to
  the role EC2 is using, so our EC2 has permission to create logs into
  CloudWatch logs.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "logs:CreateLogGroup",
                "logs:CreateLogStream",
                "logs:PutLogEvents",
                "logs:DescribeLogStreams"
            ],
            "Resource": [
                "*"
            ]
        }
    ]
}</code></pre>
<h2>Install old CloudWatch logs agent</h2>
<p>Update Amazon Linux 2 instance with the latest repositories.</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>sudo yum update -y</code></pre>
<p>Install AWS logs to EC2 instance.</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>sudo yum install -y awslogs</code></pre>
<p>
  You'll need to cd to the following file to modify the AWS region if you're not
  using the default region
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>/etc/awslogs/awscli.conf</code></pre>
<p>
  open the awslogs.conf file to modify the configuration for the CloudWatch
  logs.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>cd /etc/awslogs/
nano awslogs.conf</code></pre>
<p>
  After opening the awslogs.conf file, you need to modify the file to specify
  the path of the logs, so the CloudWatch logs agent will look into that file
  and collect it into CloudWatch logs. Next, update the log_group_name, so when
  you go to the CloudWatch logs dashboard, the name you enter will appear.&nbsp;
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>datetime_format = %b %d %H:%M:%S
file = /var/www/my-app/error.log
buffer_duration = 5000
log_stream_name = {instance_id}
initial_position = start_of_file
log_group_name = my-web-logs</code></pre>
<p>
  After modifying the file, you can start the awslog service by the following
  command.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>sudo systemctl start awslogsd</code></pre>
<p>
  If you want to enable the awslog service after Amazon Linux 2 reboot, you can
  add the following command.
</p>
<pre
  class="language-markup"
><code>sudo systemctl enable awslogsd.service</code></pre>
<p>
  Now, that's it, your application logs should be able to push into the
  CloudWatch logs. You. can go to the AWS CloudWatch Logs and check the log
  group you added at the EC2 instance.&nbsp;
</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>
  Logs are important to the applications, especially when something went wrong,
  you can use the logs to identify what's the root cause and figure out what's
  going on.&nbsp;
</p>
<p>
  What's next, seems like there is a new way to use CloudWatch Agent for both
  CloudWatch logs and metric, so will create a blog about that next time. Also,
  this blog is about how to set up in running instance, will check how to
  install the CloudWatch Logs when set up the EC2 instance.&nbsp;
</p>


This blog shows how to send application logs from Amazon Linux 2 EC2 Instance to AWS CloudWatch logs, it'll include how to set upand configure.

How to Send Application Logs from EC2 to CloudWatch Logs


#### Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Requirements
3. Setup Simple Express.js Web Server by Using Linux EC2
4. SSH into the EC2
5. Test the Express.js Web App
6. Use PM2 to Run Express.js App
7. Test PM2 App
8. Test by Using the EC2 Public IP
9. Create SSL/TLS Certificate via AWS ACM
10. Hosted zones - create new hosted zone with domain name example.com
11. Update Registered domain's name servers
12. Request AWS Certificate
13. Setup AWS Application Load Balancer
14. Create Target Group for Application Load Balancer
15. configure Route 53 with AWS Application Load Balancer
16. Conclusion

### Introduction

This blog is a guide that shows how to set up HTTPS node.js web server on EC2 from beginning to end. It'll include how to set up a simple Express.js web app on EC2, how to create an SSL/TSL certificate by using AWS Certificate Manager, how to setup AWS application load balancer and create redirect rule from non-www to www, HTTP to HTTPS, and how to use Route 53 to configure a route from your custom domain to the AWS application load balancer. This blog will assume the domain name is `example.com`, at the end of the blog, we'd like all the `http://example.com`, `http://www.example.com`, `https://example.com` traffic redirect to `https://www.example.com`.

### Requirements

- **AWS Account**
  - First of all you'll need an AWS account, if you don't have one already you can create one should be get an AWS free tier for a year.
- **Custom Domain**
  - Another requirement is the **domain name** if you wish to walk through with this blog's steps.
  - Purchase from AWS
    - So if you don't have a domain name but you wish to get one, you could get one from AWS route 53 to register a domain. AWS has the ability to purchase a domain name similar to the Godaddy and any other domain hosting company, below is the page at AWS where you can search and purchase domain name.
    - ![AWS Route 53 Register Domain](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img1.png)
    - Once purchased new domain is done, later at this blog we'll connect this domain's name server to the route 53 `NS` record. You'll need to create route 53 Hosted zoned with the domain you just purchased.

Below is example of domain name's name server

```
ns-111.awsdns-11.co.uk.
ns-234.awsdns-22.net.
ns-12312asd.awsdns-33.org.
ns-123a.awsdns-44.com.
```

If you already have a domain name at another domain hosting company and want
to use that at AWS route 53, most likely what you have to do is use the domain name at `route53` to create new public host record, once you created the hosted zone, you will get `NS` and `SOA` records, then you'll use the `NS` record and enter that at your domain hosting's site. (e.g. GoDaddy) In this way, the name server at your hosting site will redirect the traffic to the AWS `route53` account.

For example, if you have a custom domain, example.com at Godaddy, then go to the GoDaddy DNS management and choose to enter your own nameservers for the example.com, then adding the above 4 NS records to the GoDaddy, after entering all of the name servers from AWS route 53 to Godaddy, Godaddy should be able to route the domain to your AWS route 53, but how to point Godaddy domain name to AWS Route 53 is not included for this blog.

## Setup Simple Express.js Web Server by Using Linux EC2

The first step of the route53 configure is done, at here, we'll try to set up the express.js web app at the EC2 manually.
Go to **EC2**, click **Launch Instances** and Choose **Amazon Linux 2 AMI**, choose **t2.micro** as Instance type, at the **Configure Instance Details**' User data section, paste following section.

- enter the EC2 name
- create key pair if don't have
- other leave default
- ![Create EC2 Instance](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img4.png)

Put below code to the **User Data** section, we specific the `node.js` to be 14 cause at the moment create this blog that's the version which had verified it is working.

```
sudo yum update -y
#!/bin/bash -ex
# output user data logs into a separate place for debugging
exec > >(tee /var/log/user-data.log|logger -t user-data -s 2>/dev/console) 2>&1 | sudo bash -
# get node into yum - with version 14.16.1
curl -fsSL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo bash -
# install node (and npm) with yum
sudo yum install -y nodejs
# install pm2 to restart node app
npm i -g pm2@2.4.3
```

Click Launch Instance to create a new Instance, should be done pretty quickly.

### Set Inbound Rule for port `80`

After setup the EC2 instance, make sure the inbound rule has `80` , Type is `HTTP` and Source is `0.0.0.0/0`.

- ![Create EC2 Instance](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img7.png)

At the next step, we'll Configure Security Group, make sure to open HTTP, HTTPS, and SSH, because later we'll have to ssh into this instance.

Also, once you create the instance, we'll manually SSH into the instance and install the node.js and PM2 package.

### SSH into the EC2

There're few way to SSH into the instance as show below, the easiest one is **EC2 Instance Connect** which will be using the browser.

- ![Choice to SSH into the EC2](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img5.png)

After ssh into the EC2, let's run the following script, run the **sudo su** to make sure everything is easier. Then, we'll create an app folder and create **app.js** file to start express.js.

First, let's check the version by run following command, you should see node version is `v14.21.0`, npm version is `6.14.17`, and pm2 is `2.4.3`.

```
npm -v
node -v
pm2 -v
```

If you see some error from output that can not recognize npm command, maybe run the below command again.

```
sudo yum update -y
exec > >(tee /var/log/user-data.log|logger -t user-data -s 2>/dev/console) 2>&1 | sudo bash -
curl -fsSL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo bash -
sudo yum install -y nodejs
npm i -g pm2@2.4.3
```

Now, once `npm` or `node` command confirmed running, let's run the below script to install the `express`.

```
sudo su
# create app folder
mkdir -p /var/www/app && cd /var/www/app
npm init -y
npm install express --save
nano app.js
```

`nano app.js` will try to create file `app.js`, so next add below code to the command window.

### Add code to app.js

Following code is a sample to start express.js, when you type URL will return the **Hello World!** message.

```Javascript
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});
app.listen(80, function () {
  console.log('Example app listening on port 80!');
});
```

### Test the Express.js Web App

Run the following command to test if the express.js app is able to run on the local of the Linux window. If you see this log from command window 'Example app listening on port 80!', our test is done.

```
node app.js
```

### Use PM2 to Run Express.js App

Use the above command can't keep the express.js run forever, when you exist the SSH window, the node.js is close. So we'll use `PM2` at here, PM2 is production process manager for nod.js and can keep application alive forever.

To run `pm2` simply just run below command at the linux.

```
pm2 start app.js
```

![PM2 status](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img6.png)

### Test PM2 App

Now, if the above pm2 success, the express.js should running on the Amazon
Linux EC2 with port 80 even if you stop ssh into this instance. Let's run the
following command to test it out inside the linux instance, If return the same
message that's good.

```
curl http://localhost:80
```

### Test by Using the EC2 Public IP

Another test you should test is to copy the EC2 public instance IP to the browser to make sure you see the same message **Hello World!** or not. If it does mean the EC2 part is finished, now we can create an HTTPS certificate, Load balancer, and Configure route 53 now.

### Create Public Hosted Zone

Here we start creating public hosted zone and assume either you have registered domain name from AWS or route from other register domain host.

Create public hosted zone

![Create hosted zone](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img2.png)

Verified 2 Record created, one is **NS** and another is **SOA** \*\*.

![Create hosted zone](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img3.png)

## Create SSL/TLS Certificate via AWS ACM

Now, before creating the ACM, we assume we'll use the custom domain **example.com**, we would also expect to see the following URL and they should all go to the same Linux EC2 instance we created earlier.

- http://example.com
- http://www.example.com
- https://example.com
- https://www.example.com

As you can see, we'll have to create an SSL certificate and should be able to use it by https://example.com and https://www.example.com.

Here, we assume the domain is registered at AWS so we can continue with below steps.

## Hosted zones - create new hosted zone with domain name `example.com`

Once you create a `example.com`, you should see 2 records, `NS` and `SOA` type, the `NS` should has 4 values, probably something looks like below.

```
......com.
......org.
......co.uk.
......net.
```

Now, this 2 value are important, since we use registered our domain at AWS, we need to update above 4 value to the registered domain.

## Update Registered domain's name servers

go to the registered domains, click the **Add or edit name servers**, update the Name servers value from NS records' value.
![Update Name servers](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img11.png)

**name servers -> NS records**
Once above steps had confirmed, then we can go to ACM to create certificate, otherwise might see error during the process.

## Request AWS Certificate

Go to the AWS ACM, click Request a certificate and choose Request a public certificate, at the windows of Add domain names, add **\*.example.com**, then also add the following 2 as another name to this certificate, **example.com**, **www.example.com**. In this way, you can create one certification and will be valid for both example.com and www.example.com.

**Request a public certificate**

![Request a Public certificate](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img8.png)

**List of domain name and validation method**

![Request a Public certificate](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img9.png)

**Click the Create records in Route 53**

![Create records in Route 53](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img10.png)

At the validation method, choose DNS validation, and click Create a record in Route 53, so it will create an HTTPS record into route 53.

**Success in ACM creation**
We want to create these 3 domain name, once domain created and new records add to route 53, you will see as below.
![Success in ACM ](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img12.png)

## Setup AWS Application Load Balancer

Once the EC2 and SSL/TLS certificates are ready, we can set up an AWS
Application load balancer now. The reason we use an application load balancer
is the SSL certificate, if we want to use an AWS ACM certificate, you can't
directly use it for the EC2 instance at this moment. You'll have to use either
AWS Load Balancer or AWS CloudFront. Also, we'll use the Application load
balancer to write redirect rules from HTTP to HTTPS, non-www to www.

### Configure AWS Application Load Balancer

Go to EC2 and click the Load Balancers section, click to create Application
Load Balancer. Enter following at the configure load balancer window.

- Enter a name for this application load balancer
- choose for internet-facing
- Use IPv4
- make sure has HTTP with port 80
- make sure has HTTPS with port 443
- choose your VPC and select the availability zone

At the window for the select default certificate, we'll choose the certificate we create at ACM. Choose the Choose a certificate from ACM and select the certificate we create, should be **\*.example.com**.Leave everything else as default and choose the security group, make sure the security group has the port open for HTTP and HTTPS because we'll have our load balancer open to the public.

In summary, below is what we just setup for application load balancer, note if you didn't config ACM correctly, you won't see any choice at SSL/TLS certificate section.
![Application Load Balancer Summary](/images/how-to-setup-a-https-nodejs/img13.png)

### Create Target Group for Application Load Balancer

As part of the process of creating AWS Application Load Balancer, it will require creating a target group, you'll need to add the EC2 instance and set up health check configure, so when we launch the application load balancer it will use the EC2 instance we created before. Here, add the EC2 instance we created earlier at this blog, and leave the health check as default as well.

### Test Load Balancer Access

To test load balancer setup, copy the ALB's DNS name we just created and put it to the browser, if you're able to see the **Hello World!**, that means we are able to setup the load balancer and underneath is using the EC2 Instance.

### How to add rules for AWS application load balancer

At here, we'll add a redirect rule for AWS application load balancer to
handler HTTP to HTTPS, none-www to www, so at the end, all traffic should go
to https://www.example.com.

First, choose the load balancer, click Listeners and click the **View/edit rules** at HTTP:80. At the rule page, choose to add a new rule, and add the following for the if area.

- Choose **Host header**,
- and add **example.com** and **www.example.com**

At the Then area, add the following

- Choose **Redirect**
- Choose **HTTPS**, and port set as **443**
- Choose **Custom host, path, query**
- Modify the **Host** as, **www.example.com**
- Choose **301**, as permanently moved

Click confirm and update button to update your change, above change is for HTTP port direct for the example.com, so
http://example.com and http://www.example.com will redirect to https://www.example.com. Now, let's go to the 443 HTTPS port to modify the rule.

At the HTTPS rule's if area, add the following

- Choose Host
- Add example.com

At the then area, add the following

- Choose **Redirect**
- Choose **HTTPS**, and port set as **443**
- Choose **Custom host, path, query**
- Modify the **Host** to, **www.example.com**
- Choose **301**, as permanently moved

Click confirm and update button to update your change, above change is for HTTPS port redirect for the example.com, so
https://example.com will redirect to https://www.example.com. That's all the redirect rules we'll need for setup at AWS application load balancer.

Now, the last part is we'll configure route53 to route traffic to the application load balancer.

## configure Route 53 with AWS Application Load Balancer

At this point, the EC2 and the application load balancer should all be running, but if you type www.example.com at your browser you still get "This site can't be reached" DNS errors. We'll fix it here, we'll configure Route 53 to route to the AWS application load balancer we just created.

Let's go to AWS Route 53 and click the Hosted zones for your custom domain, on this blog we've been using example.com, so you should see 3 records at the hosted zone. NS, SOA when first create the hosted zone, and CNAME created by the ACM certificate.

Now, create one record as following, this will route traffic for www.example.com to the application load balancer, after creating this record, if you type the http://www.example.com or https://www.example.com, you should see the same page when directly open the EC2 or application load balancer.

- Record names, www.example.com
- Type, A
- Route traffic to, choose Alias
  - Choose the Application and Classic Load Balancer, then select the application we just configured
- Routing policy, choose Simple routing

Now, we need to create the last one record, this will route traffic for example.com to the application load
balancer, after creating this record, if you type the http://example.com or https://example.com, you should see it
redirect to the get www.example.com.

- Record names, leave as example.com
- Type, A
- Route traffic to, choose Alias
  - Choose as Alias to another record in this hosted zone
  - type, www.example.com
- Routing policy, choose Simple routing

That's all for setting up Route 53, now, if you type http://example.com, http://www.example.com, https://example.com will all go to the https://www.example.com.

## Conclusion

It requires some steps to set up HTTPS node.js on AWS EC2, with AWS Application Load Balancer and Route 53, next we'll see how we can automate this steps.


This blog is a complete guide that shows how to set up HTTPS node.js web server on EC2 from beginning to end. It'll include how to set up a simple Express.js web app on EC2, how to create an SSL/TSL certificate by using AWS Certificate Manager, how to setup AWS application load balancer and create redirect rule from non-www to www, HTTP to HTTPS, and how to use Route 53 to configure a route from your custom domain to the AWS application load balancer. This blog will assume using example.com, at the end of the blog, we'd like all the `http://example.com`, `http://www.example.com`, `https://example.com` redirect to `https://www.example.com`.

How to Setup a HTTPS Node JS Server on Amazon EC2


<p>
  Next.js is a React-based web application framework built on top of Node.js web
  application, AWS EC2 is Amazon AWS Service's cloud computing which hosts the
  VM in the cloud. In this tutorial, we will manually create an EC2 instance and
  then SSH into the instance and install and set up the Next.js.&nbsp;
</p>
<h2>Create AWS EC2 Instance</h2>
<p>
  <img
    src="https://d1p0mp3f1fx0hz.cloudfront.net/upload/2022/3/3PwJEv1hz4cieCLQjUJYbC-h6khs85ldj20220121003150/750-h6khs85ldj20220121003150.png"
    width="750"
    height="256"
    alt=""
  />
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="https://d1p0mp3f1fx0hz.cloudfront.net/upload/2022/3/rJUarQRMQEdtxMjxAr6Zmp-1n4bu44bmal20220121003431/750-1n4bu44bmal20220121003431.png"
    width="750"
    height="352"
    alt=""
  />
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="https://d1p0mp3f1fx0hz.cloudfront.net/upload/2022/3/qwgZnGrTA12GLFY7DN5C9X-2g35uyafizh20220121003511/750-2g35uyafizh20220121003511.png"
    width="750"
    height="457"
    alt=""
  />
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="https://d1p0mp3f1fx0hz.cloudfront.net/upload/2022/3/6JakhL8hCrY7qS7MkUkiZk-26y67gh0er20220305184121/750-26y67gh0er20220305184121.png"
    width="750"
    height="456"
    alt=""
  />
</p>
<p></p>
<h2>Setup Next.js at EC2</h2>
<p>
  After setup the EC2 instance, choose the instance we just created and connect
  to the instance by using the EC2 instance Connect.
</p>
<h3>Install Node.js at EC2</h3>
<p>SSH into the EC2, then run the following to install the node.js.</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code>sudo yum update -y
curl -fsSL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo bash -
sudo yum install -y nodejs</code></pre>
<h4>Create Next App</h4>
<p>
  We'll use the Next.js app command <code>create-next-app</code> to setup the
  default app, after finish the steps mentioned at the command line, run the
  <code>npm run dev</code>. This will start the server on
  <code>localhost:3000</code>
</p>
<pre class="language-bash"><code>npx create-next-app</code></pre>
<h2>Verify Next.js at EC2</h2>
<p>
  Since we setup the security group and open the 3000 port, so you can type the
  EC2's public ip address with port 3000 to load the page.
</p>
<p><code>http://EC2-Public-IPAddress:3000</code></p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>
  This blog provide simple steps of how to setup Next.js at AWS EC2 instance,
  hopefully this can help you get familiar with EC2 with Next.js.&nbsp;
</p>


Next.js is a React-based web application framework built on top of Node.js web application, AWS EC2 is Amazon AWS Service's cloudcomputing which hosts the VM in the cloud. In this tutorial, we will manually create an EC2 instance and then SSH into theinstance and install and set up the Next.js.

Setting Up Next.js on AWS EC2 Instance


<p>
  This blog shows how to backup EC2 instance and create another instance to the
  same region or different region.
</p>
<h3>Create a snapshot from EC2 EBS volume</h3>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/zvpertivi2hqamhip8sd"
  />
</p>
<h3>Create snapshot</h3>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/efqfd1igxmsipmrbmwip"
  />
</p>
<p>Once the snapshot is complete should be able to check from the dashboard.</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/eyr7mv7k9msemxqngbv3"
  />
</p>
<h3>Create an image from snapshot</h3>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/vayevryakv8cem8lluf9"
  />
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/c6k2wntndey8bovwmxoa"
  />
</p>
<p>
  Once create an Image, then you can launch the EC2 instance from the image in
  the current region. If you want to deploy the image to different regions, you
  can copy the image to the region then create an instance in that region.
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/vozitamqrargicff8svs"
  />
</p>


This blog shows how to backup EC2 instance and create another instance to the same region or different region.

How to Backup EC2 EBS Volume


<p>
  This blog shows few ways of use AWS Network ACLs to block traffic to your
  site.
</p>
<h2>How to blocking traffic from a Specific IP address</h2>
<p>
  AWS has few ways to block specific targets to access your site, for example,
  Network ACL or WAF. So let's assume one of the examples, you have a web site
  running in EC2 instance as one web server, now there's one IP address you
  noticed and want to block the traffic. You can use the Network ACL as
  following.
</p>
<h3>Find the Network ACL from EC2</h3>
<p>
  First, you need to find out the Network ACL from EC2 instance. You can click
  <strong>Subnet</strong> from EC2, then click <strong>Network ACL</strong>.
</p>
<h3>Find the IP address</h3>
<p>
  Next, you need to have an IP address. If you want to test your own machine's
  IPv4 Address, you can either google that
  <strong>what's my IP address</strong> or go to
  <strong
    >https://whatismyipaddress.com/<strong>
      to check your Public IP address.</strong
    ></strong
  >
</p>
<h3>Create a new rule to block traffic</h3>
<p>Create a new inbound rule as following</p>
<ul>
  <li>Rule#: small number than allow traffic.&nbsp;</li>
  <li>Type: ALL Traffic</li>
  <li>Protocol: ALL</li>
  <li>Port Range: ALL</li>
  <li>Source: {Your IP address}/32</li>
  <li>Allow/Deny: Deny</li>
</ul>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/ydnzxu0ey3zlnfzabuld"
  />
</p>
<p>
  Now, you should be able to block the IP address to access your EC2 instance.
</p>


This blog shows few ways of use AWS Network ACLs to block traffic to your site.

Blocking Traffic from Specific IP Address with AWS Network ACL


<p>
  This blog shows how to set up a MongoDB database environment on the cloud, AWS
  EC2 with Amazon Linux.&nbsp;
</p>
<h2>Pre requirement</h2>
<ul>
  <li>
    You'll need an AWS account, if you never set up an AWS account before, go
    <a
      href="https://aws.amazon.com/free/?all-free-tier.sort-by=item.additionalFields.SortRank&amp;all-free-tier.sort-order=asc&amp;awsf.Free%20Tier%20Types=*all&amp;awsf.Free%20Tier%20Categories=*all"
      title="AWS Free Tier"
      target="_blank"
      rel="noopener"
      >here</a
    >
    to create an AWS account.
  </li>
</ul>
<h2>Create EC2 Instance</h2>
<p>
  First, we'll need to set up an EC2 instance, then we'll SSH into the EC2
  instance and set up the MongoDB database.
</p>
<p>Create EC2 Instance with AWS Linux AMI.</p>
<p>Choose t2.micro.</p>
<p>
  During the setup everything as default is fine for this blog, we'll use
  default VPC, as long as the new EC2 can access the internet.&nbsp;
</p>
<p>
  For the security group, we'll just open port 22, so we can SSH later to into
  EC2 for setup MongoDB.
</p>
<h2>Setup MongoDB at EC2 AWS Linux</h2>
<p>
  After SSH into EC2, we'll need to create mongodb-org-4.4.repo file at location
  /ect/yum.repos.d.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>cd /etc/yum.repos.d</code></pre>
<p>Then, let's create mongodb-org-4.4.repo file.</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>nano mongodb-org-4.4.repo</code></pre>
<p>
  &nbsp;This will open the file window, copy the following mongod repo at the
  file and save it.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>[mongodb-org-4.4]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/amazon/2/mongodb-org/4.4/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-4.4.asc</code></pre>
<p>
  Now, mongod 4.4 repo is ready, you should be able to install mongodb package.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>sudo yum install -y mongodb-org</code></pre>
<p>
  Once you see start downloading mongodb packages, that's a good sign. Once
  install MongoDB package is finish, you can verify by checking this folder is
  exist or not. If the folder exists, means MongoDB installation is done and you
  should be good to run MongoDB.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>cd /var/lib/mongo</code></pre>
<h2>Enable MongoDB on Linux</h2>
<p>Run following command will start MongoDB process at the EC2 Instance</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>sudo systemctl start mongod</code></pre>
<p>Run this command will enable mongod, even after reboot the EC2</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>sudo systemctl enable mongod</code></pre>
<p>
  Now, at this point, your MongoDB on Linux Server should be ready. If you have
  data you can import or restore it to the MongoDB server.
</p>
<h2>Create Database, Collection, and Record</h2>
<p>
  Type mongo then it will start MongoDB shell, now let's play around at the
  server to check everything works.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>mongo</code></pre>
<h3>Create Database</h3>
<p>
  The first command will show all the databases, then trying to create a new
  database <strong>myDB</strong>.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>show dbs
use myDB</code></pre>
<h3>Create Table and Record</h3>
<p>
  This command will create <strong>myUser</strong> table and insert a new
  record.
</p>
<pre
  class="language-markup"
><code>db.myUser.insert({name: "john"});</code></pre>
<h3>Use mongoexport&nbsp; to export data to JSON</h3>
<p>
  We'll use mongoexport to export the data we just add to the
  <strong>myUser</strong> table. By default, the mongoexport tools are not
  installed. You'll need to install by run following command.
</p>
<pre
  class="language-markup"
><code>sudo yum list installed mongodb-database-tools</code></pre>
<p>
  Now, all other tools mongodump, mongorestore, mongoimport, mongoexport,
  bsondump, mongostat, mongotop, mongofiles should be available to use.
</p>
<p>
  The following command will output <strong>myUser</strong> table and generate
  data to myUser.json file.
</p>
<pre
  class="language-markup"
><code>mongoexport --collection=myUser --db=myDB --out=myUser.json</code></pre>
<h2>To Summarize</h2>
<p>
  This blog is about how to set up MongoDB on Amazon Linux and will use database
  tools for backup or restore data. Following are all the steps.
</p>
<pre class="language-markup"><code>cd /etc/yum.repos.d

nano mongodb-org-4.4.repo

[mongodb-org-4.4]
name=MongoDB Repository
baseurl=https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/amazon/2/mongodb-org/4.4/x86_64/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-4.4.asc

sudo yum install -y mongodb-org

sudo systemctl start mongod</code></pre>


This blog shows how to set up a MongoDB database environment on the cloud, AWS EC2 with Amazon Linux.

How to Setup MongoDB on Amazon Linux EC2


<h2>SSH into EC2 instance</h2>
<p>
  To retrieve EC2 instance meta information, once SSH into EC2 instance type
  following command.
</p>
<p><strong>run with root privileges</strong></p>
<pre><code>
sudo su
</code>
</pre>
<p><strong>list all the metadata</strong></p>
<pre><code>
curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data
</code>
</pre>
<p><strong>Get EC2's hostname</strong></p>
<pre><code>
curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/local-hostname
</code>
</pre>
<p><strong>Get EC2's user data</strong></p>
<pre><code>
curl http://169.254.169.254/latest/user-data
</code>
</pre>


Few commands to get information for EC2 meta information.

How to Retrieve EC2 Instance Meta Information


<p>This blog shows how to create VPC in scratch</p>
<ol>
  <li>Create VPC</li>
  <li>Create 2 Subnets</li>
  <ul>
    <li>one for public Subnet and another for a private Subnet</li>
  </ul>
  <li>Create Internet Gateway</li>
  <li>Create a Route Table</li>
  <li>Create 2 EC2 Instances</li>
  <ul>
    <li>one public instance and another one is a private instance</li>
  </ul>
  <li>Setup NAT Gateway for private EC2 instance</li>
</ol>
<h2>Create a VPC</h2>
<p>Go to VPC and click create VPC, start to enter information to create VPC.</p>
<ul>
  <li>Enter any name for the name field</li>
  <li>IPv4 CIDR, enter IPv4 range as <code>10.0.0.0/16</code></li>
  <li>Choose <code>Amazon provided IPv6 CIDR block</code></li>
  <li>Tenancy, choose Default if wish to use as Tenancy</li>
</ul>
<p>after creating VPC, AWS will generate following AWS default services.</p>
<ul>
  <li>Default route table</li>
  <li>Network ACL</li>
  <li>Default Security Group</li>
</ul>
<h2>Create 2 Subnets</h2>
<p>Create a public subnet, click the Subnets link, and click Create subnet.</p>
<ul>
  <li>Name, enter any meaningful name.</li>
  <li><strong>VPC</strong>, choose the VPC just created</li>
  <li><strong>Availability Zone</strong>, choose the AZ for this subnet</li>
  <li>
    <strong>IPv4 CIDR block</strong>, enter <strong>10.0.1.0/24</strong> as IPv4
    CIDR block
  </li>
  <li>
    <strong>Modify auto-assign IP settings</strong>, enable auto-assign IP
    address for the public subnet
  </li>
</ul>
<p>
  Create a private subnet, by click the <strong>Create subnet</strong> button.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Name, enter any meaningful name.</li>
  <li><strong>VPC</strong>, choose the VPC just created</li>
  <li><strong>Availability Zone</strong>, choose the AZ for this subnet</li>
  <li>
    <strong>IPv4 CIDR block</strong>, enter <strong>10.0.2.0/24</strong> as IPv4
    CIDR block
  </li>
  <li>
    <strong>Modify auto-assign IP settings</strong>, private subnet doesn't need
    to enable public IP address
  </li>
</ul>
<h2>Create an Internet gateway</h2>
<p>
  Create Internet gateway so public subnet is able to access to the Internet.
  Click the <strong>Internet Gateways</strong> and click the Create Internet
  gateway button.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Name, enter any value for this internet gateway.</li>
  <li>Attach this internet gateway to the <strong>VPC</strong> just created</li>
</ul>
<h2>Create NAT Gateway</h2>
<p>
  Create NAT Gateway so private EC2 will be able to connect to the Internet and
  download software if need. Click
  <strong>Create NAT Gateway</strong> button
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Click <strong>Create NAT Gateway</strong> button</li>
  <li><strong>Subnet</strong>, choose the public subnet</li>
  <li>click allocate the IP address</li>
  <li>Click <strong>Edit route table</strong></li>
  <li>Click <strong>Add route</strong></li>
  <li><strong>Destination</strong>, enter <strong>0.0.0.0/0</strong></li>
  <li><strong>Target</strong>, choose NAT Gateway just create</li>
</ul>
<h2>Create and Update Route Tables</h2>
<p>
  Use default route table as default main route table, and associate to the
  private subnet.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>
    Choose the main route table and click the
    <strong>Subnet Associations</strong>
  </li>
  <li>Choose the private subnet</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Create a route table</strong> to use as a public route.</p>
<ul>
  <li>Name, enter any name for this new route table</li>
  <li>Choose the VPC just created earlier</li>
  <li>Click subnet associations and choose the public subnet</li>
  <li>
    <strong>Click Edit routes</strong> and click <strong>Add route</strong>
  </li>
  <li>Destination, enter <code>0.0.0.0/0</code> for IPv4 address</li>
  <li>Target, choose the <strong>Internet gateway created earlier</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>
  That's all for set up public and a private subnet for VPC, now we'll need to
  create EC2 and attach to use this VPC
</p>
<h2>Create public and private EC2 Instance</h2>
<p>
  Let's create public EC2 instance first, go to EC2, and click instance to
  create a new EC2 instance.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Enter configure instance details</li>
  <li><strong>Network</strong>, choose the custom VPC just created</li>
  <li><strong>Subnet</strong>, choose the public subnet created earlier</li>
  <li>The rest just using the default settings and create a new instance</li>
</ul>
<p>
  Let's create private EC2 instance, go to EC2, and click instance to create a
  new EC2 instance.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Enter configure instance details</li>
  <li><strong>Network</strong>, choose the custom VPC just created</li>
  <li><strong>Subnet</strong>, choose the private subnet created earlier</li>
  <li>The rest just using the default settings and create a new instance</li>
</ul>
<h2>SSH to public EC2</h2>
<p>
  Testing the EC2 by SSH into Public EC2 instance and download software from the
  internet. The following are examples of how to SSH into EC2 from Mac OS.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>
    cd to the location has the&nbsp;<strong>private key</strong>, something
    looks like <strong>mykey.pem</strong>.
  </li>
  &lt;
  <li><code>chmod 400 {your_private_key.pem}</code></li>
  <li>
    SSH into EC2 by
    <code>ssh ec2-user@{ec2 public IP address} -i {your_private_key.pem}</code>
  </li>
  <li>run <code>sudo yum update</code> to download software</li>
  <li>
    if able to download the software then this EC2 is able to connect to the
    Internet
  </li>
</ul>
<h2>SSH to private EC2</h2>
<p>
  Testing the EC2 by SSH into private EC2 instance and download software from
  the internet. Following is an example of how to SSH into EC2 from Mac OS.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>ssh into the public EC2 instance</li>
  <li>download the private key</li>
  <li>ssh into the private EC2 by using the private IP</li>
  <li><code>chmod 400 {your_private_key.pem}</code></li>
  <li>
    SSH into EC2 by
    <code>ssh ec2-user@{ec2 private IP address} -i {your_private_key.pem}</code>
  </li>
  <li>run <code>sudo yum update</code> to download software</li>
  <li>
    if able to download the software then this EC2 is able to connect to the
    Internet
  </li>
</ul>


This blog shows how to create AWS VPC from scratch.

How to Create VPC with Public and Private Subnet


<p>This blog shows how to connect to AWS Linux or Ubuntu from Mac OS</p>
<ul>
  <li>
    First, make sure you have the EC2 Instance and have the following 2 things.
  </li>
  <ul>
    <li>
      have the private key pair available in the Mac OS. (I.E. should be
      something looks like *.pem)
    </li>
    <li>note the AWS EC2 instance public IP address</li>
  </ul>
  <li>
    At mac open your terminal window and go to the location has *.pem file
  </li>
  <li>type command as following</li>
  <li><code>chmod 400 {yourem.pem} </code></li>
  <li>Should be looks like this</li>
  <li><code>chmod 400 my-test.pem</code></li>
  <li>Following is for connecting to Linux</li>
  <li><code>ssh ec2-user@{EC2 Public IP address} -i {YourPem.pem}</code></li>
  <li>Should be looks like this</li>
  <li><code>ssh ec2-user@123.123.123.123 -i my-test.pem</code></li>
  <li>Following is for connecting to Ubuntu</li>
  <li><code>ssh ubuntu@{EC2 Public IP address} -i {YourPem.pem}</code></li>
  <li><code>ssh ubuntu@123.123.123.123 -i my-test.pem</code></li>
  <li>
    <code
      ><img
        src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/za51itle9uwuy4ai3sae"
    /></code>
  </li>
</ul>


This blog shows how to connect to AWS Linux or Ubuntu from Mac OS

SSH to EC2 Instance from Mac OS


<p>
  This blog shows how to ssh to EC2 Instance via Chrome Extension Secure Shell.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>
    First, you need to download this chrome extension,&nbsp;<a
      title="Secure Shell App"
      href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/secure-shell-app/pnhechapfaindjhompbnflcldabbghjo?hl=en"
      target="_blank"
      rel="noopener"
      >Secure Shell App</a
    >.
  </li>
  <li>If it's the first time, click Connection Dialog to setup connection</li>
  <li>enter the public IP address from EC2</li>
  <li></li>
  <li>
    <img
      src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/wu4tgddlxhbrrdqcqri4"
    />
  </li>
  <li>after SSH, this is how it is looks like</li>
  <li></li>
</ul>


This blog shows how to ssh to EC2 Instance via Chrome Extension Secure Shell.

SSH to EC2 Instance via Chrome Extension Secure Shell


<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>
  This blog shows how to use AWS Instance Connect to SSH to AWS EC2 Instance.
  Unlike use Mac or Windows, you have to download private keys or use Putty to
</p>
<p>
  SSH to the EC2 Instance, this is a much more easy way to connect to EC2
  instance by just click the button on AWS.
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Right-click instance and select connect</li>
  <li>Choose EC2 Instance Connect (browser-based SSH connector)</li>
  <li>
    <img
      src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/kq1wssqzffs9r59yr4d1"
    />Click Connect
  </li>
  <li>
    <img
      src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/x2kkllsyyyn7ngvhdkkh"
    />
  </li>
</ul>
<h3>References</h3>
<ul>
  <li>
    <a
      title="Connecting to your Linux instance using EC2 Instance Connect"
      href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/Connect-using-EC2-Instance-Connect.html?icmpid=docs_ec2_console"
      target="_blank"
      rel="noopener"
      >Connecting to your Linux instance using EC2 Instance Connect</a
    >
  </li>
</ul>


This blog shows how to use AWS Instance Connect to SSH to AWS EC2 Instance.

SSH to EC2 Instance via EC2 Instance Connect


<p>
  This blog will show how to use AWS elastic IP to assign to EC Instance but
  before that...
</p>
<h2>Why do you need to use an elastic IP address?</h2>
<p>
  Assume you have the following EC2 had set up, you use your EC2 as a web server
  and the public IP address is as follows.
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/pc1xj6mnbrbklehrn47u"
  />
</p>
<p>
  Now, if you stop your instance and start again. The EC2 instance public IP
  address changed! So this could an issue if you need to know this server's IP
  address for processing something else. You could use EC2 instance metadata to
  log the IP address somewhere, like using Lambda, or you could use elastic IP
  address I will show later.
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/r9ykg7ces2ie550nosdo"
  />
</p>
<p>Following is how you use AWS elastic IP address.</p>
<h3>Choose Elasti IPs via EC2 page</h3>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/a3jpprpumhrerm5tje8o"
  />
</p>
<h3>Allocate Elastic IP address</h3>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/y1bjued63rpsps4hr6uq"
  />
</p>
<h3>Click Allocate</h3>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/ciaqtimf9cdesiweueza"
  />
</p>
<h3>
  After allocating an IP address, you will get a new IP address as follows.
</h3>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/kkayi0nx1c5tsorknnk1"
  />Associate Elastic IP address
</p>
<p>
  &nbsp;<img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/kkayi0nx1c5tsorknnk1"
  />Now, here we need to associate the elastic IP address to the EC2 instance.
</p>
<h3>EC2 public IP address change to elastic IP address</h3>
<p>
  Now, the elastic IP address had associated with your specific EC2 instance,
  whenever you stop EC2 instance the public instance will keep the same IP
  address.
</p>
<p>
  <img
    src="http://res.cloudinary.com/dmwrakaup/image/upload/c_fit,h_600,q_80,w_900/r9ykg7ces2ie550nosdo"
  />
</p>
<h3>How much is Elastic IP address?</h3>
<p>
  It is free based on the AWS document at this point, as long as the elastic IP
  address is assigned to any instance is free, so if your elastic IP address is
  not assigned to anything it will be a charge.
</p>
<p>
  Reference to AWS document for more detail about&nbsp;<a
    title="Elastic IP charge"
    href="https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/elastic-ip-charges/"
    target="_blank"
    rel="noopener"
    >Elastic IP charge</a
  >.
</p>


This blog will show how to use AWS elastic IP to assign to EC Instance.

Use AWS Elastic IP Address


<h2>Steps to provision EC2 Instance</h2>
<p>This blog shows how to create EC2 instance.</p>
<ul>
  <li>Go to Compute and click EC2</li>
  <li>Click Launch instance at EC2</li>
  <li>Choose Amazon Linux 2 AMI</li>
  <li>Choose Free Tier, t2.micro</li>
  <li>Choose Configure Instance Details</li>
  <ul>
    <li>Launch with default VPC</li>
    <li>Enable termination protection</li>
    <li>Tenancy, use shared for now</li>
    <li>Enable hibernation as an additional stop behavior</li>
  </ul>
  <li>At add storage, use default root volume</li>
  <ul>
    <li>
      check delete on termination, when deleting EC2 this root device will also
      be deleted
    </li>
    <li>make it encryption during the create the EC2 instance</li>
  </ul>
  <li>Add tags</li>
  <ul>
    <li>Add tags so each to differentiate</li>
  </ul>
  <li>Configure Security Group</li>
  <ul>
    <li>assume just need SSH</li>
    <li>so SSH, TCP, Port is 22, 0.0.0.0/0</li>
  </ul>
  <li>Click review and launch</li>
  <li>Create a new private key pair</li>
  <li>
    Click launch instance, should be able to see the instance is launching.
  </li>
</ul>


This blog shows how to create EC2 instance.

Category EC2