How to deploy Backend on AWS EC2 & GitHub CI/CD

Step 0: Create AWS EC2 instance

Step 1: Opening Firewall Ports

1. Navigate to the Security Groups section in the AWS Management Console.
2. Select your security group.
3. Click Edit Inbound Rules.
4. Add rules to allow IPv4 and IPv6 traffic on ports 80, 443, and 3000.

Step 2: Connecting to Your EC2 Instance via SSH

1. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where your certificate key (.pem file) is located.
2. Set the appropriate permissions for the certificate key:

chmod 600 ./your-key.pem

3. Connect to your EC2 instance using SSH:

ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-public-dns

Step 3: Installing Necessary Software

1. Install Node.js using NVM: Follow the instructions in the NVM repository.
2. Install PM2:
   npm install -g pm2
   
3. Clone Your Git Repository:
   git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git
cd your-repo
   

Step 4: Setting Up Automatic Deployment

Create a deploy.sh script in your project directory to automate pulling the latest code and restarting your server:

#!/bin/bash
export PATH=$PATH:/home/ubuntu/.nvm/versions/node/vX.X.X/bin

cd /path-to-your-project
git pull origin master
cd server
pm2 kill
pm2 start index.js

Replace vX.X.X with the Node.js version installed on your EC2 instance.

Step 5: Running the Deployment Script Remotely

You can run the deployment script from your local machine:

ssh -t -i "your-key.pem" ubuntu@your-ec2-public-dns "sudo bash ~/deploy.sh"

Step 6: Setting Up GitHub CI/CD with Actions

1. Add your SSH private key as a secret in your GitHub repository:
   Go to your repository settings.
   Navigate to Secrets and variables > Actions.
   Add a new secret named SSH_PRIVATE_KEY.
2. Create a GitHub Actions Workflow:
   Add a .github/workflows/ci.yaml file to your repository:

name: Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: SSH and deploy
        env:
          SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
        run: |
          echo "$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" > keyfile
          chmod 600 keyfile
          mkdir -p ~/.ssh
          cp known_hosts ~/.ssh/known_hosts
          ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i keyfile ubuntu@your-ec2-public-dns "sudo bash ~/deploy.sh"

3. Add the EC2 host to known_hosts:
   On your local machine, run:
   ssh-keyscan your-ec2-public-dns >> known_hosts
   
   Commit the known_hosts file to your repository.

Step 7: Pointing Your Domain to the Server, NGINX, and Certificate Management

Point Your Domain

Point your subdomain to your EC2 instance's IPv4 address in your domain registrar's DNS settings.

Set Up NGINX

1. Install NGINX:
   sudo apt-get install nginx
   
2. Configure NGINX:
   Edit the NGINX configuration
   

events {
    worker_connections 1024;
}

http {
    server {
        listen 80;
        server_name your-subdomain.your-domain.com;

        location / {
            proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
            proxy_http_version 1.1;
            proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
            proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        }
    }
}

3. Reload NGINX:
   sudo nginx -s reload
   

Set Up SSL Certificates

1. Install Certbot:
   Follow the instructions on the Certbot website to install Certbot for NGINX.
2. Obtain and Install SSL Certificates:
   sudo certbot --nginx
   

Certbot will automatically configure SSL for your NGINX server and apply HTTPS to your subdomain.

By following these steps, you'll have a robust setup for deploying applications to AWS EC2, managing them with PM2, and automating deployments with GitHub Actions.