How to upload MERN project on AWS EC2

1. Create Free AWS Account

Create free AWS Account at https://aws.amazon.com/

2. Create and Launch an EC2 instance and SSH into machine

I would be creating a t2.medium ubuntu machine for this demo.

3. Install Node and NPM

Option 1 — Installing Node.js with Apt from the Default Repositories

sudo apt update

Option 2 — Installing Node Using the Node Version Manager

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.3/install.sh

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.3/install.sh | bash

source ~/.bashrc

nvm list-remote

Output
. . .
        v18.0.0
        v18.1.0
        v18.2.0
        v18.3.0
        v18.4.0
        v18.5.0
        v18.6.0
        v18.7.0
        v18.8.0
....

nvm install v18.17.0

nvm list

Output
->     v14.10.0
       v14.21.2
default -> v14.10.0
iojs -> N/A (default)
unstable -> N/A (default)
node -> stable (-> v14.21.2) (default)
stable -> 14.21 (-> v14.21.2) (default)
. . .

4. Clone your project from Github

git clone https://github.com/your-repo-name/project-name

5. Install dependencies and test app

sudo npm i pm2 -g
pm2 start index

# Other pm2 commands
pm2 show app
pm2 status
pm2 restart app
pm2 stop app
pm2 logs (Show log stream)
pm2 flush (Clear logs)

# To make sure app starts when reboot
pm2 startup ubuntu

6. Install NGINX and configure

sudo apt install nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Add the following to the location part of the server block

server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8001; #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
sudo nginx -t

# Restart NGINX
sudo nginx -s reload

8. Add SSL with LetsEncrypt

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

# Only valid for 90 days, test the renewal process with
certbot renew --dry-run