Running scalable httpd service on AWS

Prerequisites

An AWS Account
Basic knowledge regarding EFS, ASG, LaunchConfig, ALB, and EC2.
We’ll be using **t2.micro** instance type as it is under AWS Free Tier, but I will still use Spot Instance :D.
We’ll be deploying our instances in **Public Subnet**, using the default VPC inside of AWS that was created for you by default.
Basic VPC Knowledge; CIDR, Subnet, Route Tables, etc

#1: Creating your custom EC2 Security Group

SG #1

Name: efs-sg-default
Description: Allows EFS Access
VPC: AWS Default VPC
Inbound rules
1. NFS -> 0.0.0.0/0
Tags
Name -> Allow EFS
Others
Set it as default

SG #2

Name: alb-sg
Description: Allows HTTP Access via ALB (Port 80)
VPC: AWS Default VPC
Inbound rules:
1. HTTP -> 0.0.0.0/0
Tags:
Name -> Allow HTTP for ALB
Others
Set it as default

SG #3

Name: ec2-sg
Description: SG for EC2
VPC: AWS Default VPC
Inbound rules
1. HTTP -> alb-sg (Select SG)
2. SSH -> 0.0.0.0/0
Tags
Name -> SG for EC2
Others
Set it as default

#2: Creating your EFS (Elastic File System)

Configurations:

Name: Website Data
Availability and durability: One Zone
AZ: ap-southeast-1
Automatic backups: Disabled
Lifecycle management: None
Performance mode: General Purpose
Throughput mode: Bursting
Encryption (Data at rest): Turned on
VPC: default
Subnet: Default Subnet (Depending on the AZ selected)
Security Group: Created from #1 (efs-sg-default)

* Leave everything else as default and create your EFS

#3: Creating Launch Template

Name: httpd-template
Auto Scaling guidance: Optional but I have turned it on
AMI: Amazon Linux 2
Instance type: t2.micro (Free tier eligible)
Key pair: Select any existing Key pair, or create a new one.
Security Group: Select “efs-sg-default” & “ec2-sg” SG created from #1
Storage: Default (8 GB)

Advanced Details
Request Spot Instances: Enabled
IAM instance profile: Select any IAM Role if you have

User Data Script:

#!/bin/bash
sudo yum update -y
sudo yum install httpd -y
sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd
sudo mount -t nfs4 -o nfsvers=4.1,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,hard,timeo=600,retrans=2,noresvport “your_efs_ip”:/ /var/www/html

NOTE:
You may need to replace “your_efs_ip”** with the real ID of your EFS which you may find in the AWS Management Console.

#5: Creating Target Groups for ALB

Choose a target type: Instances
Target group name: httpd-tg
Protocol: HTTP -> Port 80
VPC: AWS Default VPC
Health check protocol: HTTP
Health check path: /

Click on “Next”

Register Instances: Do not select any instances

Finally, create the Target Group

#6: Create Application Load Balancer

Name: httpd-alb
Scheme: Internet-facing
IP address type: IPv4
VPC: AWS Default VPC
Subnet Mappings: Select all
Security Group: Created from #1 (allow-http-for-alb)
Target Group: Created from #5 (HTTP: 80 -> httpd-tg)

And create it!

#7: Create Auto Scaling Group

Auto Scaling group name: httpd-asg
Launch template: Created from #4) (httpd-template)
VPC: AWS Default VPC
AZ: Select all
Attach existing Load Balancer: Created from #6 (httpd-alb)
Desired capacity: 2
Minimum capacity: 1
Maximum capacity: 2
Scaling policies: None for now
Instance scale-in protection: Disabled
Tags:
1. Name -> “HTTPD Instance”

And create it!

Upon a success creation of resources in the steps above, you can now visit the URL of your ALB on the browser and enjoy it ! Your website files are now gathered in all the EC2 instances via EFS, and load balanced.

To add a new file, or change something — All you have is to SSH into one of the instances and change the files. It will be automatically reflected across all the other instances.

Running scalable httpd service on AWS

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Prerequisites

#1: Creating your custom EC2 Security Group

#2: Creating your EFS (Elastic File System)

Configurations:

#3: Creating Launch Template

#5: Creating Target Groups for ALB

#6: Create Application Load Balancer

#7: Create Auto Scaling Group

Command Palette

Comments

AWS

How to use AWS CLI or any Custom Command using Terraform | Raeveen Pasupathy

More from this blog

Prerequisites

#1: Creating your custom EC2 Security Group

#2: Creating your EFS (Elastic File System)

Configurations:

#3: Creating Launch Template

#5: Creating Target Groups for ALB

#6: Create Application Load Balancer

#7: Create Auto Scaling Group