AWS Lightsail + NodeJS
Contents
Overview
This tutorial will cover using AWS Lightsail as a cheap and easy alternative to EC2 for hosting a server in AWS.
Materials/Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you have an AWS account already. If you do not, go ahead and create an AWS account here
Process
About Lightsail
Lightsail is essentially a simplified version of AWS EC2- there are fewer server tiers, a simplified pricing model, and more preconfigured server distrobutions than EC2.
Spin up a Lightsail Instance
Navigate to Services > Lightsail
Click Create Instance
Leave the availability zone to default. Ensure that your platform is Linux/Unix, and then select the Node.js bluprint in the App + OS blueprint section.
Ensure you select the cheapest price per month instance, since you shouldn't need anything larger than that.
Finally, give your instance a unique name and click Create.
Your instance may take some time to spin up. Once it's finished, click on it to open its settings.
You'll notice that you have a Public IP. If you enter it into the browser, you should see a page by bitnami of some sort- congratulations, you've successfully spun up a server.
Configure Static IP
By default, your IP address will change whenever the server reboots. To change this, we will create a static IP for our instance. navigate to the Networking tab of your instance, and under IP Addresses > Public IP click Create static IP.
Finally, go back to your instance's main page and click 'Connect using SSH. This will open a browser session SSHing into your instance.
The first time, you should update and upgrade all your server's packages. In your SSH terminal, run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y.
Getting your code running on the server
Basically, just follow the instructions here: https://medium.com/@sharmasha2nk/aws-lightsail-bitnami-nodejs-letsencrypt-cf653573b8a1
Authors
Ethan Shry, Fall 2018
Group Link
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External References
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