E-commerce Application Terraform Deployment

This project provides infrastructure as code (IaC) using Terraform to deploy a Python Flask e-commerce web application to AWS EC2. The application uses the local app-source/ directory which includes enhanced checkout functionality, and is deployed using a separate deployment script.

🏗️ Architecture Overview

• EC2 Instance: Amazon Linux 2 instance running the Flask application
• Security Group: Configured for SSH (22), HTTP (80), HTTPS (443), and Flask app (5000) access
• Application Stack: Python 3, Flask, SQLAlchemy, Nginx (reverse proxy)
• Automation: User data script handles complete application setup
• Monitoring: Health check scripts and systemd service management

📋 Prerequisites

Before deploying, ensure you have:

1. Terraform installed (>= 1.0)

   # macOS
   brew install terraform
   
   # Or download from https://terraform.io/downloads.html

2. AWS CLI installed and configured

   # Install AWS CLI
   pip install awscli
   
   # Configure with your credentials
   aws configure

3. AWS Account with appropriate permissions:

   • EC2 instance management
   • Security group management
   • IAM role/policy management
   • VPC access

4. AWS Key Pair for EC2 access

   # Create a new key pair (replace 'ecommerce-key' with your preferred name)
   aws ec2 create-key-pair --key-name ecommerce-key --query 'KeyMaterial' --output text > ecommerce-key.pem
   chmod 400 ecommerce-key.pem

🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone and setup the project (already done if you're reading this)

2. Configure variables:

   cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars
   # Edit terraform.tfvars with your specific values

3. Deploy the infrastructure:

   ./deploy.sh apply

4. Deploy the application:

   ./deploy-app.sh

5. Access your application:

   • The deployment will output the application URL
   • Access via browser: http://[instance-ip]:5000
   • Or via Nginx proxy: http://[instance-ip]

🔧 Configuration

Terraform Variables

Edit terraform.tfvars to customize your deployment:

aws_region          = "us-east-1"                    # AWS region
aws_account_id      = "676206911983"                 # Your AWS account ID
project_name        = "ecommerce-app"                # Project name prefix
environment         = "dev"                          # Environment tag
instance_type       = "t3.micro"                     # EC2 instance type
key_pair_name       = "ecommerce-key"                # Your AWS key pair name
allowed_cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]                  # Restrict for better security
app_port           = 5000                            # Flask application port
# github_repo_url is no longer used - app deployed from local app-source/

Security Considerations

• Restrict CIDR blocks: Change allowed_cidr_blocks from ["0.0.0.0/0"] to your specific IP ranges
• Key pair security: Ensure your .pem key file has proper permissions (400)
• Instance size: Start with t3.micro (free tier) and scale as needed

📦 Deployment Commands

Two-Step Deployment Process:

Step 1: Deploy Infrastructure

# Plan deployment (see what will be created)
./deploy.sh plan

# Deploy infrastructure
./deploy.sh apply

# Destroy infrastructure
./deploy.sh destroy

# Show help
./deploy.sh help

Step 2: Deploy Application from Local Source

# Deploy the Flask app from local app-source/ directory
./deploy-app.sh

Manual Terraform commands:

# Initialize Terraform
terraform init

# Plan deployment
terraform plan

# Apply configuration
terraform apply

# Destroy resources
terraform destroy

🔍 Application Management

Use the provided management script to monitor and control your deployed application:

# Check application status
./manage-app.sh status

# View application logs
./manage-app.sh logs

# Restart application services
./manage-app.sh restart

# Run health check
./manage-app.sh health

# Show help
./manage-app.sh help

📊 Outputs

After successful deployment, Terraform will output:

• instance_id: EC2 instance identifier
• instance_public_ip: Public IP address
• instance_public_dns: Public DNS name
• application_url: Direct URL to access the Flask app
• ssh_connection_command: SSH command to connect to the instance
• security_group_id: Security group identifier

🗂️ Project Structure

ecommerce-terraform-deploy/
├── main.tf                    # Main Terraform configuration
├── variables.tf               # Variable definitions
├── outputs.tf                 # Output definitions
├── terraform.tfvars.example   # Example variable values
├── user-data.sh              # EC2 user data script (infrastructure only)
├── deploy.sh                 # Infrastructure deployment script
├── deploy-app.sh             # Application deployment script
├── manage-app.sh             # Application management script
├── README.md                 # This documentation
├── .gitignore               # Git ignore rules
└── app-source/              # Local e-commerce application with checkout
    ├── unwrap/              # Flask application package
    ├── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
    ├── run.py              # Application entry point
    └── products.csv        # Sample product data

🔧 Application Details

Flask Application Features:

• User registration and authentication
• Product catalog with sample products
• Shopping cart functionality
• Complete checkout and order confirmation flow
• SQLite database (SQLAlchemy)
• Bootstrap frontend

Deployment Features:

• Systemd Service: Application runs as a system service
• Nginx Reverse Proxy: Professional web server setup
• Health Monitoring: Automated health checks
• Log Management: Centralized logging with journalctl
• Auto-restart: Service automatically restarts on failure

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

1. SSH Key Not Found:

   # Ensure your key pair exists and has correct permissions
   ls -la *.pem
   chmod 400 your-key-name.pem

2. Application Not Starting:

   # Check logs using the management script
   ./manage-app.sh logs
   
   # Or SSH directly and check
   ssh -i your-key.pem ec2-user@[instance-ip]
   sudo journalctl -u ecommerce-app -f

3. Permission Errors:

   # Make sure scripts are executable
   chmod +x deploy.sh manage-app.sh

4. Terraform State Issues:

   # If state is corrupted, you may need to import resources
   terraform import aws_instance.ecommerce_app [instance-id]

Logs Location on EC2:

• Application logs: sudo journalctl -u ecommerce-app
• Nginx logs: /var/log/nginx/error.log
• Deployment logs: /var/log/deployment.log
• Cloud-init logs: /var/log/cloud-init-output.log

🔄 Updates and Maintenance

Updating the Application:

1. Modify files in the local app-source/ directory
2. Run the deployment script: ./deploy-app.sh
3. The script will copy updated files and restart the application

Updating Infrastructure:

1. Modify Terraform files as needed
2. Run ./deploy.sh plan to see changes
3. Run ./deploy.sh apply to apply changes

🏷️ Cost Optimization

• Instance Type: Use t3.micro for development (free tier eligible)
• Storage: Default 20GB encrypted GP3 volume
• Region: Choose region closest to your users
• Scheduling: Consider using Lambda to start/stop instances on schedule

🔒 Security Best Practices

1. Restrict Access: Update security group to allow access only from your IP
2. Key Management: Store SSH keys securely and rotate regularly
3. Updates: Regularly update the EC2 instance and application dependencies
4. Monitoring: Consider adding CloudWatch monitoring and alerting
5. SSL/TLS: Add HTTPS certificates for production use

📚 Additional Resources

• Terraform AWS Provider Documentation
• AWS EC2 User Guide
• Flask Application Documentation
• Original E-commerce App Repository

🤝 Contributing

Feel free to submit issues and enhancement requests!

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the original application repository for details.

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Note: This deployment is configured for development/testing purposes. For production use, consider additional security measures, load balancing, database separation, and monitoring solutions.