Chapter 3. Deploying a Web App on AWS with a Simple Setup

Before your app can do anything in the cloud, it needs a space to live. That starts with setting up the foundation—your own private network, a server to run things, a place to store files, and some tools to help you keep an eye on how it's all working.

We’ll begin with networking. AWS gives you something called a VPC. You can think of it like building a small, private neighborhood where your app components live. Inside it, you’ll create different sections—called subnets—and set up a few rules about how traffic should move around and what can go in or out.

Once that’s ready, you’ll spin up a server. In AWS, that’s an EC2 instance. Don’t worry if that sounds new. It’s basically a virtual computer. You’ll launch it, connect to it, and see how it works behind the scenes.

Next, we’ll tackle storage. If your app needs to store things—like images, files, or backups—you’ll use Amazon S3. It’s reliable and easy to get started with. You’ll create a bucket, upload a few things, and see how to manage access.

Finally, there’s monitoring. Once everything is running, you’ll want to know how things are going. That’s where CloudWatch comes in. It tracks what’s going on in the background and helps you spot problems early.

Each part builds on the previous one, so go at your own pace. Whether this is all new or you’ve worked with some of it before, you’ll walk away with something real running in the cloud.