Cloudflare Domain with Nginx and Apache on AWS EC2

A demonstration of hosting two web servers (Nginx and Apache) on AWS EC2 instances, with DNS routing using Cloudflare.

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Project Overview

This project showcases a real-world simulation of setting up multiple web servers on Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 instances, while managing domain routing via Cloudflare.

In this task, I purchased a domain through Cloudflare and created two EC2 instances: one running Nginx and another running Apache. Both servers were made publicly accessible on port 80 (HTTP) via subdomains.

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Table of Contents

• Cloudflare Domain with Nginx and Apache on AWS EC2
  • Project Overview
  • Table of Contents
  • Technologies Used
  • What is DNS Routing?
    • Why is DNS Routing Important?
  • Step-by-Step Setup
    • 1. Purchase Domain via Cloudflare
    • 2. Create and Configure Nginx on EC2
      • EC2 Instance Setup (Nginx)
  • 3. Create and Configure Apache on EC2
    • EC2 Instance Setup (Apache)
    • 4. Configure DNS in Cloudflare
      • DNS Configuration Steps:
  • Future Improvements

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Technologies Used

• Amazon Web Services (AWS EC2): Cloud-hosted virtual servers.
• Nginx: High-performance web server.
• Apache: A widely-used web server for hosting websites.
• Cloudflare: DNS management and domain registration.
• Bash Scripting: Automating the setup process on EC2 instances.

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What is DNS Routing?

DNS routing is a mechanism that maps a human-readable domain name (like example.com) to the corresponding IP address of a server. When a user types a URL into their browser, DNS translates that URL into the server's IP address, allowing the browser to connect to the correct web server.

In this project, I used:

• Cloudflare to manage the domain and DNS routing.
• Cloudflare was responsible for routing traffic from the domain I purchased to two AWS EC2 instances, each running a different web server (Nginx and Apache).

Why is DNS Routing Important?

• It simplifies access to servers by using domains instead of IP addresses.
• It allows multiple web services (like Nginx and Apache) to be accessed via different subdomains.
• Provides a production-ready way to manage traffic across multiple servers.

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Step-by-Step Setup

1. Purchase Domain via Cloudflare

The first step in this project was to purchase a domain via Cloudflare. Cloudflare offers easy-to-use domain registration and DNS management services. I used their service to register the domain zeynabyusuf.com.

2. Create and Configure Nginx on EC2

EC2 Instance Setup (Nginx)

1. Launch an EC2 instance with the following configurations:

   • AMI: Amazon Linux 2.
   • Instance Type: t2.micro (free tier eligible).
   • Security Group: Allow port 80 (HTTP) for public access.

2. Add the following User Data script during instance creation to automate the installation and setup of Nginx:

   #!/bin/bash
   yum update -y
   yum install -y nginx
   systemctl start nginx
   systemctl enable nginx

3. Verify Nginx is running by visiting the instance's public IP in a browser. You should see the default Nginx welcome page.

3. Create and Configure Apache on EC2

EC2 Instance Setup (Apache)

1. Launch a second EC2 instance with similar configurations:

• AMI: Amazon Linux 2.
• Instance Type: t2.micro (free tier eligible).
• Security Group: Allow port 80 (HTTP) for public access.

2. Add the following User Data script during instance creation to automate the installation and setup of Apache:

#!/bin/bash
yum update -y
yum install httpd -y
systemctl start httpd
systemctl enable httpd

3. Verify Apache is running by visiting the instance's public IP in a browser. You should see the default Nginx welcome page.

4. Configure DNS in Cloudflare

With both servers running, I used Cloudflare to route traffic to each instance based on subdomains.

DNS Configuration Steps:

1. Login to Cloudflare and navigate to the DNS settings for your domain.
2. Add A Records for both servers:
   • A Record for Nginx:
     • Name: nginx
     • IPv4 Address: Public IP of the EC2 instance running Nginx.
   • A Record for Apache:
     • Name: apache
     • IPv4 Address: Public IP of the EC2 instance running Apache.
3. Wait for DNS propagation (usually a few minutes), then verify by accessing:
   • nginx.zeynabyusuf.com for Nginx.

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• apache.zeynabyusuf.com for Apache.

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Future Improvements

• SSL (HTTPS) Integration: Add SSL certificates to enable HTTPS for secure communication.
• Automation with Terraform: Automate the entire infrastructure setup using Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform).

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