Deploying NodeJS server in EC2 with Free SSL certificate

!title

Creating an EC2 instance and deploying you nodejs to it can be easy but setting up https can be a bit tricky. In this tutorial, I will show you how to deploy a NodeJS server in AWS EC2 with a free SSL certificate and Nginx reverse proxy. This step-by-step guide will help you set up your server, install NodeJS, and configure Nginx to serve your NodeJS app over HTTPS. By the end, you'll have a secure and scalable NodeJS server running in the cloud. Let's get started!

Installation instructions

1. Launch amazon ubuntu server in aws + Attach Elastic IP to the new instance

2. ssh to ubuntu to install packages


Code.bash
ssh -i <key.pem> ubuntu@<ip-address> -v

3. Update and Upgrade linux machine and install node and nvm


Code.bash
sudo apt update


Code.bash
sudo apt upgrade


Code.bash
sudo apt install -y git htop wget

3.1 install node

To install or update nvm, you should run the [install script][2]. To do that, you may either download and run the script manually, or use the following cURL or Wget command:


Code.bash
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash


Code.bash
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash

Running either of the above commands downloads a script and runs it. The script clones the nvm repository to ~/.nvm, and attempts to add the source lines from the snippet below to the correct profile file (~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, ~/.profile, or ~/.bashrc).

3.2 Copy & Past (each line separately)


Code.bash
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # This loads nvm bash_completion

3.3 Verify that nvm has been installed


Code.bash
nvm --version

3.4 Install node


Code.bash
nvm install --lts # Latest stable node js server version

3.5 Check nodejs installed


Code.bash
node --version

3.6 Check npm installed


Code.bash
npm -v

4. Clone nodejs-ssl-server repository


Code.bash
cd /home/ubuntu


Code.bash
# clone your own repo or a sample repo here:
git clone https://github.com/saasscaleup/nodejs-ssl-server.git

5. Run node app.js (Make sure everything working)


Code.bash
cd nodejs-ssl-server


Code.bash
npm install


Code.bash
node app.js

6. Install pm2


Code.bash
npm install -g pm2 # may require sudo

7. Starting the app with pm2 (Run nodejs in background and when server restart)


Code.bash
pm2 start app.js --name=nodejs-ssl-server


Code.bash
pm2 save     # saves the running processes
                  # if not saved, pm2 will forget
                  # the running apps on next boot

7.1 IMPORTANT: If you want pm2 to start on system boot


Code.bash
pm2 startup # starts pm2 on computer boot

8. FREE SSL - Install Nginx web server


Code.bash
sudo apt install nginx


Code.bash
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Add the following to the location part of the server block


Code.bash
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5000; #whatever port your app runs on
        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;
    }

Check NGINX config


Code.bash
sudo nginx -t

Restart NGINX


Code.bash
sudo service nginx restart

You should now be able to visit your IP with no port (port 80) and see your app. Now let's add a domain

9 Add domain in goDaddy.com

If you have domain, you can add A record to your EC2 instance IP with a new subdomain as I'm going to show you next

9.1 Check that Port 80 redirect to Nodejs server

10 Installing Free SSL

10.1 Installing Certbot


Code.bash
sudo snap install core; sudo snap refresh core


Code.bash
sudo apt remove certbot


Code.bash
sudo snap install --classic certbot


Code.bash
sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot

10.2 Confirming Nginx’s Configuration


Code.bash
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

let edit this line:


Code.bash
...
server_name example.com www.example.com;
...


Code.bash
sudo nginx -t


Code.bash
sudo systemctl reload nginx

10.3 Obtaining an FREE SSL Certificate


Code.bash
sudo certbot --nginx -d app.example.com

Output:


Output
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Successfully received certificate.
Certificate is saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain/fullchain.pem
Key is saved at: /etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain/privkey.pem
This certificate expires on 2022-06-01.
These files will be updated when the certificate renews.
Certbot has set up a scheduled task to automatically renew this certificate in the background.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by:
* Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt: https://letsencrypt.org/donate
* Donating to EFF: https://eff.org/donate-le

10.4 Verifying Certbot Auto-Renewal


Code.bash
sudo systemctl status snap.certbot.renew.service