nginx,certbot and nodejs on Amazon Linux 2023 ec2

This is a blog just to help remember commands to use on amazon linux 2023 ec2 instance.

ssh and connection helpers

ssh -i /path/to/your-key-pair.pem ec2-user@your-instance-public-dns-or-ip

for example

ssh -i "my_test_instance_key.pem" ec2-user@ec2-54-167-250-253.compute-1.amazonaws.com

you can use the extension REMOTE SSH on vscode to help you open a vscode inside the instance, use CTRL+SHFT+P in vs code and write (ssh config) choose the first option it will open a file, inside this file add this line

Host <identifier_name>
  HostName <your_ec2_host>
  User <your_ec2_user>
  IdentityFile <path_to_key_file>

for example

Host finance 
  HostName ec2-54-167-250-253.compute-1.amazonaws.com
  User ec2-user
  IdentityFile "~/.ssh/my_test_instance_key.pem"

then just hover over the application name and connect to it

you can open a terminal create a folder with a file and write to the file and see it on vscode

mkdir my_folder
touch my_folder/some_random_text.txt
ls 
cd my_folder

you can open the file in vscode with

code --reuse-window .

or just use nano or vim

nano some_random_text.txt

installing nvm for nodejs version managing

you can change this step for what your app needs this is an example for nodejs.

start by installing nvm

sudo yum update -y
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm --version

then use nvm to install the node version you want and set as default

nvm install <node_version>
nvm alias default <node_version>
node -v
npm -v

Getting your app files from local machine

so in a terminal localy you can use this command to send a folder to the instance.

ps: send just what you need, you can build the project before

scp -i /path/to/your/private-key.pem -r /path/to/local/file ec2-user@your-ec2-instance-ip:/path/to/destination

for example

scp -i my_test_instance_key.pem -r finance ec2-user@ec2-54-167-250-253.compute-1.amazonaws.com:~/

Getting your app from git

sudo yum install git -y
git --version
git clone <app>
cd <app>

installing docker, docker-compose and helper commands

sudo yum install docker -y
docker --version
sudo service docker start
sudo docker ps

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
docker-compose --version

sudo usermod -aG docker ec2-user

the last command adds docker to the permissions so we do not need to use sudo befor docker every time, you need to exit this terminal and enter again

docker ps

helper commands to clean stuff in docker, use carefully and check the command before using it, put the id of the specific container to affect just one

show all containers id, name and status

  docker ps -a --format "table {{.ID}}\t{{.Names}}\t{{.Status}}"

stop all containers
```
  docker stop $(docker ps -a -q)
```
remove all containers
```
  docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)
```
remove all images
```
  docker rmi $(docker images -a -q)
```

remove all volumes

  docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q)

remove all networks

  docker network rm $(docker network ls -q)

remove all used unused Docker resources, including stopped containers, dangling images etc
```
  docker system prune -a
```

helpers

  docker ps
  docker logs <container>
  docker exec -it <container> bash

clean cache and open some space

sudo yum clean all
npm cache clean --force
docker system prune -a

install nginx

sudo yum install nginx  
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl status nginx

this will add the nginx.config file if you want to edit it use and add the proxy use, and if you go to the browser and put the ip of the instance it will show nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

change the server part to this, and change the <port> to the <port> of your app

    server {
        listen       80;
        listen       [::]:80;
        server_name  _; //add domain name
        location / {
            proxy_pass http://localhost:<PORT>;
            proxy_http_version 1.1;
            proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
            proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
        }

    }

to check after editing the config file run if the file is not missing some brackets, and then restart nginx.

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

now if you go to the ip of the instance it should show your app

add https with certbot

ps: you need to have your domain and pair it with the instance

sudo python3 -m venv /opt/certbot/
sudo /opt/certbot/bin/pip install --upgrade pip
sudo /opt/certbot/bin/pip install certbot certbot-nginx
sudo ln -s /opt/certbot/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot
sudo certbot -n -d <your_domain> --nginx --agree-tos --email <your_email>
sudo systemctl restart nginx

#if you want to automate renew
sudo certbot certificates
sudo crontab -e
0 0,12 * * * certbot renew --quiet --no-self-upgrade

add pm2 to manage server (it helps the server re run if the instance closes)
```
 npm i pm2 -g
 pm2 start server.js
```
now to make this start always
```
 pm2 startup
```
copy the result and run it
```
 pm2 save
 sudo reboot
 pm2 list
```