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title Deploy Your First Instance
sidebar_label 5. Hands-on Lab
sidebar_position 5
description A step-by-step guide to launching, securing, and connecting to your first AWS EC2 Linux server. Learn the essential commands to prepare your server for a MERN stack deployment and understand the best practices for managing your cloud resources.

Welcome to the final capstone of the CodeHarborHub AWS Beginner series! Today, you will move from theory to practice by launching a live Ubuntu Linux server in the AWS Cloud.

:::info Why This Matters Deploying your own server is a critical milestone in your DevOps journey. It gives you hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure, security, and server management. This lab will prepare you for real-world scenarios where you'll need to deploy and manage applications in the cloud. :::

The Deployment Lifecycle

Before we click the buttons, let's look at what happens behind the scenes when you request a server.

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as You (Developer)
    participant C as AWS Console
    participant R as EC2 Resource
    participant N as VPC/Network

    U->>C: Select AMI & Instance Type
    C->>R: Provision Virtual Hardware
    R->>N: Attach Elastic Network Interface
    N->>R: Assign Public IP
    R->>R: Status Check (Initialising)
    R-->>U: Instance Running ✅
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In this lifecycle:

  1. You select the AMI (Amazon Machine Image) and Instance Type (virtual hardware).
  2. AWS provisions the virtual server and attaches it to the network.
  3. The server undergoes status checks to ensure it's healthy before you can connect.

Step-by-Step Implementation

Follow these steps carefully. At CodeHarborHub, we use the Free Tier to ensure you learn without incurring costs.

1. Launch the Instance

  1. Log in to the AWS Management Console.
  2. In the search bar, type EC2 and select it.
  3. Click the orange "Launch instance" button.

2. Name and Application Image (AMI)

  • Name: CodeHarborHub-Web-Server
  • AMI: Select Ubuntu (Choose the Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS - Free tier eligible).

3. Instance Type & Key Pair

  • Instance Type: Select t2.micro (1 vCPU, 1 GiB Memory).
  • Key pair: Click "Create new key pair".
    • Name: codeharbor-key
    • Format: .pem (for OpenSSH/Mac/Linux) or .ppk (for PuTTY/Windows).
    • Action: Download and save this file safely! You cannot download it again.

4. Network Settings (Security Groups)

The Security Group acts as a virtual firewall.

  • Allow SSH traffic from: Anywhere (0.0.0.0/0) — For production, use "My IP".
  • Allow HTTPS traffic (Port 443).
  • Allow HTTP traffic (Port 80).
  • Review and Launch your instance.

Connecting to Your Server

Once the instance state says "Running", it's time to log in via your terminal.

  1. Open your terminal and navigate to the folder containing your .pem file.
  2. Set permissions (Security requirement): 
    chmod 400 codeharbor-key.pem
  3. Connect using the Public IP: 
    ssh -i "codeharbor-key.pem" ubuntu@<YOUR_PUBLIC_IP>

  1. Open PowerShell as Administrator.

  2. Navigate to your key folder and run:

    ssh -i .\codeharbor-key.pem ubuntu@<YOUR_PUBLIC_IP>

    (Note: Modern Windows 10/11 has OpenSSH built-in!)

Industrial Level Commands

Once you are inside your server, run these commands to prepare it for a MERN Stack deployment:

# Update the package manager
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install Node.js (Current LTS)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Verify installation
node -v

:::info Best Practice

Always keep your server updated to patch security vulnerabilities. Use sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y regularly to maintain a secure environment.

:::

The "Wallet Safety" Rule

To keep your AWS account free, you must manage your resources. At the end of your practice session:

  1. Go to the Instances dashboard.
  2. Select your instance.
  3. Click Instance state -> Terminate instance.

:::danger Warning Stopping an instance saves the data but might still charge for EBS storage. Terminating deletes the instance and stops all billing for that resource. :::

Graduation Challenge

Now that your server is running, try to install Nginx (sudo apt install nginx) and paste your instance's Public IP into a browser. If you see the "Welcome to nginx!" page, you have successfully deployed a web server to the cloud!