DEV Community: Christiana

Capstone Project: PCI DSS Online Payment Website

Christiana — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 14:15:23 +0000

INTRODUCTION

As part of my capstone project, I developed two websites with a strong focus on security and compliance: a payment website that adheres to PCI DSS standards. In this project, I aimed to demonstrate my understanding of security best practices and compliance requirements in real-world applications. Without much talk, let's dive in 😊

DATABASE MYSQL IN AZURE
Log in to your Azure account
Search for Resource group and click on it
Name it pci-dss project
Choose a region
Review and create

LET'S CREATE OUR AZURE DATABASE MYSQL
In your Azure account, search for Azure database for MySQL flexible server and click on it
Choose advanced create in a flexible server

Name your database server
Choose your region with an active subscription
Choose 8.0 in MySQL version

NOTE: I DON'T HAVE AN ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTION BUT FOLLOW THESE STEPS IF YOU HAVE AN ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTION

Choose for dev/test in workload type
Leave the default compute storage
In the availability zone, choose any one. But for this project, I will choose no preference

Don't enable high availability if you choose no preference (but you can enable it if you choose other type of availability zone)
Choose MySQL authentication only in authentication method

Put Username for your administrator login
Put password
And confirm the password

Click on Network
Choose public access in connectivity method (for this project. But if you are working on a real-time environment, please choose private access)

Click on add current IP address (to add your IP address)
NOTE: If you are working in a company and the company's servers has sensitive data, please when you get to this part, do not click on add 0.0.0.0-255. If you click on it, you are giving permission to everyone to have access to that server. It is dangerous
Add the IP addresses of the people that you want to have access to the server at end IP address
In firewall rule name, put allow this person to connect
In starting IP address, paste the person's IP address

Click on security
Click on service-managed key
Click on review and create
Create

LET'S CREATE A VIRTUAL NETWORK WITH 3 SUBNETS

In your Azure account, search for virtual network and click on it
Click on create virtual network
Choose your region with active subscription
Name your Virtual network

Click on security
Enable virtual network encryption

Click on IP address
Erase the default IP (10.0.0.0) and put a new IP address ( example 192.168.0.0)
Delete the default subnet IP address
Click on add subnet
Name it database_subnet
Click save

Click on add another subnet
Name it backend_subnet
Click save
Click add another subnet
Name it frontend_subnet

This is what you should have

Click on review and create
Then create

LET'S CREATE NSG FOR DATABASE

Search for network security group in your Azure
Click on create
Choose your resource group
Name it database-nsg
Choose your region
create

After creating it, click on it
click on inbound
Click on add
In source, leave it at any
Source port range, put *
In destination, put Any
In service, put custom
In destination port range, put *
In protocol, put Any
In action, put Deny
In priority, put 1000
In description, type Deny all IP and all port
Click on add NOTE: We only want the Backend to have access to the Database, so we are going to set NSG that allows only Backend to access the Database server
Click on the virtual network you created
Scroll down and click on subnet
Copy the Backend subnet IP
Go to your NSG inbound
Click on add
In source, select IP address
Source IP address, paste the backend IP address
In source port, put *
In destination, put Any
In service, select MySQL
In action, put allow
In priority, put 999 or any lesser number
In description, type allow this IP and port ( or anything)
Click on add

LET'S ADD THE IP ADDRESS OF THE BACKEND ENGINEER

Still in your NSG inbound rules, click add
In source, select IP address
Put the IP address
In source port, out *
In destination, select Any
In service, select MySQL
In action, put Allow
In priority, put 998 or lesser number
Click on add

LET'S CREATE VIRTUAL MACHINE FOR THE DATABASE

Search virtual machine in your Azure account
Click on it and click create virtual machine
Select your resource group
Name it database-Vm
Choose your region
I'm working with Ubuntu
Choose SSH public key in authentication type
Put Username (example is datadmin)
In SSH public key source, select use existing public key
Copy and paste your SSH public key
In public inbound port, select none
Go to network section
In subnet, select database_subnet
In public IP, let it at (new) database-vm-ip
In nic, choose advanced
In configure network sg, select database-nsg
Enable delete public IP&nic when VM is deleted
Click review+create
Click create

LET'S CREATE INBOUND RULE FOR SSH

Click on your NSG inbound rules
Click on add
In source, select my IP or IP address (as the case may be)
Put the IP address, if you selected IP address
In source port, put *
In destination, select Any
In service, select SSH
In action, select Allow
In priority, put 100 or any number
Click add

LET'S CONNECT OUR DATABASE VM WITH MOBAXTERM

Copy your database VM public IP address
Open your mobaxterm
Click on session
Click SSH
Paste the public IP
Put the database VM username
Enable use private key and click on the icon in front of it
Select your private SSH key
Click on
Click Accept
Once you are in, type sudo apt update
After updating, log in to the root user by typing sudo su -
After logging in, type nano databaseinstall.sh
Once it opens, type #!/bin/bash, hit enter
Then type these things. echo "============System is updating==================" sudo apt update -y

sleep 6

echo "============Installing mysql-server=================="
sudo apt install mysql-server -y

sleep 6

echo "============starting mysql-service after installation =================="
sudo systemctl start mysql.service

sleep 6

echo "============enable mysql service=================="
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

echo "============task completed=================="
systemctl status mysql.service

Right click and save
After saving, type ls
Type chmod +× database install.sh
To start running the server, type./database install.sh
Type cd/etc/mysql hit enter
Type nano mysql.cnf
Type bind-address=0.0.0.0 or the IP address of the person that will have access to the server. Save and exit
Let's create a root User by typing ULTER USER 'root'@'localhost'IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password By 'admin@123'; you can create your own password
Then type exit
Login in again by typing mysql -u root -pAdmin@123

Create a User, Password and grant the user all privileges for this project by typing CREATE USER 'jackson'@'%'IDENTIFIED BY'prime@123'; ( prime@123 is the user's password. You can create your own password). This % sign means, you are giving the user right to access the server.
Type GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON*.*TO'jackson'@%'WITH GEANT OPTIONS;
Then type FLUSH PRIVILEGES; Flushing means, to sink everything. Grant privileges*.* Means you are granting all the database privileges together with everything that is attached to the database.

BACKEND

Let's Create NSG and VNET for Our Backend

Search for Virtual network and click on it
Choose the same resource group
Name your VNET (backend VNET)
Click on security and enable encryption
Click on IP
Erase the default IP (10.0.0.0) and put a new IP (192.168.0.0)
Click on review + create
Then click on create

Let's Create NSG for our Backend

Search for network security group and click on it
Click on create
Choose your resource group
Name it ( backend NSG)
Choose region
Create

Let's set rule for SSH, Frontend subnet IP, and our IP to access the Backend server

Click on the backend NSG you just created
Click on settings and click on inbound
Click on add
In source, I choose my IP ( you can choose IP addresses and put the IP addresses of those whom you want to give access to the server)
Source port, put *
Destination, put Any
Service, Choose SSH
Action, Choose allow
Priority, put a number not less than 100. I put 101
Click on add

Add another rule for your IP or IPS

Click add
Source, put my IP or IPS
Source port, put *
Destination, put Any
service, put custom
Destination port, put a port (i.e 4000)
Priority, I put 102
Click on add

Add another rule for your frontend to access backend

Click add
Source, Choose IP address
Source IP, copy the frontend subnet IP you created in your database VNET and paste it.
Source port, *
Destination, Any
Service, Custom
Destination port, 4000
Priority, I put 103
Action, put Allow
click add

Let's Create A Backend Virtual Machine

Search for Virtual machine and click on it
Click create
Choose your region
Name it backend-vm
In image, I choose Ubuntu
Authentication type, choose SSH
Put a username (i.e backend admin)
In SSH public key, choose existing public key
Copy your SSH public key and paste it
In public inbound port, click none
Go to network section
In subnet, select backend-subnet
In Nic, click on advanced
In configure network, choose backend-nsg
Enable delete public IP and Nic
Click on review+create
Then click on create

Let's Connect our Backend server and begin installation

I connected my backend server with mobaxterm
Once you are inside the server, type sudo apt update

Let's install open jdk17 by typing sudo apt install open jdk-17-jdk -y

Type java --version to check the jdk version

Let's install maven by typing sudo apt install maven -y

Type mvn --version to see the version of maven installed
Git clone the repo I'm working with (git clone https://my username:my generated token@the repo

Type ls
type cd to the repo
ls
Type cd src
ls
Type cd main
ls
Type cd resource
ls
Type sudo nano application.properties
Remove those things in front of spring datasours.url=jdbc: mysql://copy and paste your database VM private IP:the port number/online_banking
Remove those things in front of spring data source.username= put the username you created during the MySQL configuration
Remove those things in front of spring data source.password= and put the username password you created (prime@123)

Press cntrl x and press y to save and exit
Type sudo apt install mysql-client -y

Let's connect to the MySQL publicly by typing mysql -u Jackson -pprime@123 -h the database VM public IP Note: before this, make sure you have created a rule for backend to access database in the database NSG
After confirming that you can connect to the MySQL publicly, type exit
Let's connect to the MySQL privately by typing mysql -u Jackson -pprime@123 -h the private IP address of your database VM

Once you have confirmed that you can login publicly, please go back to your database NSG and remove the backend VM public IP rule you connected.

Type MySQL.cnf to change the port number (in compliance with pci-dss standards)
Press cntrl x and press y to save and exit
Then type nano application.properties to update the port number, then save and exit
Type create database onlin_banking;
Type show database;
Type use online_banking

Type exit
ls
Type cd
ls
cd to my repo
Type mvn clean package

FRONTEND
CREATE NSG FOR FRONTEND AND ADD RULES

Go to the Frontend NSG
Click on security, and then click on inbound
Click on add
In source, Choose Any (or IP and put the IP address on source IP)
In source range, put *
Destination, put Any
Service, choose SSH
Action, choose Allow
Priority, I put 100
Save
Add another rule
Source, put Any (or IP/IPs)
Source range, put *
Destination, Choose Any
Service, Choose custom
Destination port range, for this project, I put 3000,443
Protocol, Choose Any
Action, choose Allow
Priority, I put 101
Save

CONNECT OUR FRONTEND VM AND START INSTALLING

Connected mine with mobaxterm
Once you are in, type sudo apt update
Then type sudo apt install nodejs -y

Then type sudo apt install npm -y

Then clone the repository you have your source in by typing git clone https://your token@your GitHub username/your repo.git
Then ls to see the repo
Type cd (your frontend repo name/)
Open your vs code
Click on connect to

Click on connect to host

Click on configure SSH host

Click on SSH/config

In host, name it frontend server
In hostname, put the frontend VM public IP
In user, put the Frontend VM Username
Type Identityfile, and paste your private SSH key path

Save it
Click on this icon

Click connect to host
Click on the file you just created

Choose the OS you want to work with. I chose Linux

Click on continue
Once you are connected, type code .
Click on the OS you choose
Then click on yes
Type ls
Click on the search bar in your vs code
Copy your frontend VM private IP
Type localhost in the search bar
Paste the IP on replace side
Click on the icon beside AB
Then click replace

Type cd (your frontend repo)
Then type sudo npm start

If it refuses to start, type sudo npm audit fix --force (to forcedly start it) then re-type sudo npm start
Go to your browser, paste your Frontend public IP:3000

THE ABSOLUTE END☺️

Would you try this out? And you are welcome to ask me any questions.

See you soon

How to Manage the Deployment of Our Website Via Pipeline: CI/CD

Christiana — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 11:33:06 +0000

Today, we are going to see how we can manage the deployment of our website through GitHub Actions pipeline.

Step 1: Create a private repository in GitHub and clone the repository

Step 2: Creating a token in your GitHub

Open your GitHub, and click on your profile on the left
Click on settings
Click on developer settings
Click on personal access tokens drop-down

Choose tokens (classic)
Click on generate new token

Choose classic token

Name the token
Scroll down to workflow, and enable it

Click on generate token
Copy the token before you exit the page

Step 3: Git clone the private repository

Open your PowerShell or command prompt (CMD)
Type git clone https://your github username:the token you generated@github.com/your github username/your private repo name.git
cd to repo you clone
Then type code . (it will take you to your vs code)

Step 4: Download a free CSS website template

Search for free CSS templates on your browser
Download the one you like
Go to your download file and unzip the website template
Once you unzip it, open it and copy everything
Locate your private repository

Open it and paste the CSS website template you copied

Go back to your VS Code, and it will reflect

Type git status

Type git add .

Type git commit -m 'my website'

Type git push

Check your GitHub repo to see what you pushed

Step 5: Creating a Dockerfile

Create a file in your VS Code, and name it dockerfile
Click on the dockerfile
Type FROM ubuntu:latest
Type RUN apt-get update
Type RUN apt-get install -y nginx
Type RUN rm -rf /var/www/html/*
Type COPY . /var/www/html
Type EXPOSE 80
Type CMD ["nginx', "-g", "daemon off;"]
Save it

Step : Push it to our GitHub

Type git status

Type git add .
git commit -m 'dockerfile added'
git push
Check your GitHub repo to see the dockerfile included

Step 7: GitHub Actions Pipeline

Open your GitHub repository
Click on Action at the top
Search for Docker pipeline
Copy the code
Go to your VS Code, create a folder, and name it .github
Create a file, and name it workflow
Create another file, name it docker_build_push.yaml

Click on the docker_build_push.yaml and paste the code you copied
Below job: where you see docker: add buildpush before: ( something like this dockerbuildpush:)
Go to your GitHub repository, and click on settings
Scroll down and click on secret and variables

Click on secret, and click on new repository
Name it DOCKERHUB_TOKEN
Go to your Docker account and generate a token
Copy it, and paste it into your GitHub secret

Click on add secret
Click on variables
Name it DOCKERHUB_USERNAME
Put your Docker username

Click on add variables
Go back to your VS Code
Scroll down to tag, remove user, and put ${{vars. DOCKERHUB_USERNAME}}/websiteapp:latest

Save

Final Stage

Type git status
Type git add .
Type git commit -m 'git action pipeline code added'
Type git push
Go to your GitHub repo
Click this marked place
And this will be your result if there is no error

Docker Deployment: Dockerized Website Deployment

Christiana — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:49:46 +0000

Project Introduction

This project demonstrates how to containerize a website using Docker and deploy it. We will be hosting this website on Azure. By leveraging Docker's containerization capabilities, this project showcases a streamlined process for building, shipping, and running CSS templates. This project includes a Dockerfile, a build image, and a public Docker repository for easy access. Without wasting much time, let's dive in...

Step 1: Let's create a Docker registry

Go to your browser and search for Docker Hub
Click on sign up and sign up

Step 2: Create a public Docker repository

Log in to the Docker Hub
Locate the repository on your left

Step 3: Create a Virtual Machine and connect it

I created an Azure virtual machine for this project.

Step 4:

After connecting your virtual machine, type sudo apt update
Mkdir Docker ( making a directory with the name Docker)
Type ls
Type cd Docker

Step 5: Creating a website

Go to your browser and search for free CSS templates
Select the one you like
Right-click on it and copy the link ( the link should end with .zip)
In case you didn't see .zip at the end, download it. After downloading it, click on your download history and copy the link there.
Go to your terminal, type wget, and paste the link

Type ls (to see it)
Type du -sh to see (the size)
Type sudo apt install unzip -y ( to install unzip so that we can unzip the zipped image)

After installing the unzip, type unzip and paste your image name

Type ls ( you will see both the zipped and unzipped files)

Step 6: Dockerfile, and build our image

Type nano dockerfile
Once it opens, type FROM ubuntu:latest
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install -y nginx
RUN rm -rf /var/www/html
COPY . /var/www/html
EXPOSE 80
CMD ["nginx", "-g", "daemon off;"]
Press control x, press y to save and exit
Once you exit, type cat dockerfile

Type sudo cp dockerfile and the name of your image/
Type cd and the name of your image
Type ls

Type ls -la

Step 6: Let's build our image

Type sudo docker build -t your image name . (The dot is telling the location of the file)

Run a container with the image by typing sudo docker run -d -p 80:80 your image name

Type sudo docker ps
Go and copy your virtual machine public IP, go to your browser and paste it with:80

Step 7: Let's push our image to our Docker repository

Type sudo docker tag your image name:latest the name of your repository:vi
Type sudo docker images
Type sudo docker login -u your Docker Hub registry username

Go to your Docker Hub registry, click on your username icon on the right, and click settings. Click on personal token and generate a token
Copy the token, go back to your terminal, and paste it where you see password
Type sudo docker tag your image name your repository name:vi
Then type sudo docker push your docker repository name:vi

Final result

The Backbone of IT: Understanding the Role of a System Administrator

Christiana — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:31:45 +0000

The Backbone of IT: Understanding the Role of a System Administrator

Introduction

In the ever-evolving world of technology, System Administrators (SysAdmins) play a vital role in ensuring the smooth operation of an organization's IT infrastructure. They are the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes to keep systems running, networks secure, and users productive. In this article, we'll explore some commands a System Administrator should know.

Some Basic Commands you Should Know as a System Admin

When you type whoami, you see who you are logged in as
When you type who, you see who logged in and the time
When you type echo $SHELL, you see the type of shell you are using
When you type hostnamectl, you get information of your virtual machine
When you type useradd charlie, you create a User as a root user
When you type sudo useradd charlie, you create a User as an ordinary user NOTE:when you create a User with sudo adduser charlie, it will create charlie as the user and ask you to create a password for the user. But when you use sudo useradd charlie, it will only create the username, then you will have to create a password separately.
When you type sudo passwd charlie, you are creating a password for charlie. Put the password and retype it
If you want to switch to charlie, firstly, switch to root user sudo su -
Then type nano /etc/passwd
Locate charlie, remove sh from bin/sh, and replace it with bash and press cntrl x to save
Then type su - charlie
Type sudo userdel charlie to delete the username charlie or any user
To create a group, type sudo groupadd name of the group (either systemadmin group)
To check all the groups created, type sudo cat/etc/group
To add User to the group, type sudo user mod -aG systemadmin charlie. (The aG is used when you want to add User to multiple groups. But G is when you are adding the user to a single group)
When you type systeminfo, you get information about your system
When you type cd/var/log/, ll, then cat auth.log, you will see who tried to access your system
To add User as admin, type cat/etc/sudoers or nano/etc/sudoers or visido
Scroll down to root user privilege
Type the username (e.g charlie) ALL =(ALL:ALL) ALL under the roo, then press cntrl x to save
Type sudo su - charlie to login as charlie
Type sudo apt update, then put the user password

Deploying A Simple Nodejs App on AWS

Christiana — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 13:59:15 +0000

Introduction

In this project, we will deploy a simple Node.js application on AWS. AWS provides a Scalable and secure platform for hosting web applications, and Node.js is a popular JavaScript runtime for building server-side applications. By deploying our Node.js app on AWS, we will leverage the benefits of cloud computing, including scalability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. So, let's dive in 😊

Step 1: Creating EC2 instance

Go to your AWS Management Console and search for EC2
Click on it
Click on launch instance
Name your instance
Let's work with Ubuntu
Choose free tier
Create key pair (choose pem)
Launch your instance

Step 2: Connecting our EC2

After creating the EC2, connect it with any terminal of your choice
After connecting, type sudo apt update
After updating, type sudo apt install git -y
After installing git, check the version by typing git --version
Type sudo apt install nodejs -y
After installing nodejs, type node -v (for version)
Type sudo apt install npm -y
After installing npm, type git clone and paste this GitHub repo URL project repo
Type ls

Cd to AWS-node-js-app-deployment
Type touch .env (to create an env file)
Type vi .env (to open the file)
press your esc button and press i
Go to the GitHub repo, scroll down and copy the .env command you see
Paste it in the vi file
Then press your esc button and type :wq! (To save and quit)

Step 3: Getting Stripe API key

Go to your browser and search stripe

- Click on create account

Fill in the form
After creating the account, click on more below

Click on developers
Click on API keys
copy the publishable key and secret key, paste it in your notepad

Go back to your terminal
Type vi .env
press your esc button and press i
Paste the publishable key where you see publishable key, and paste the secret key where you see secret key

Type :wq! (Save and quit)

Type cat .env (to view the content of your file)
Type npm install
Type npm start

Step 4: Setting security

Go to your AWS EC2 instance
Click on the instance
Click on security
Click on sg-0
Click on edit inbound rules
Click on Add rule
Under type, choose custom TCP
Under port range, put 3000 ( or any port of your choice)
Choose anywhere
Save

Step 5: Testing our Nodejs App

Copy your EC2 public IP
Go to your browser
Paste the IP:3000

Please try this steps and give me a feedback.
See you soon...

Mastering the Shell: Essential Commands and their Uses

Christiana — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:09:58 +0000

Introduction

Hey there, fellow devs! If you're working with Linux or macOS, mastering shell commands is a must. Here's a list of essential shell commands and their uses to get you started:

Navigation

pwd: Print working directory. Shows the current directory you're in.
cd: Change directory. Navigate to a different directory.
cd ~: Takes you to your home directory.
cd ..: Takes you to the parent directory.

File Management

ls: List files and directories. Use -l for detailed information and -a for hidden files.
ls -ltr: list out all the directories/ files/folders in your VM
mkdir: Make a new directory.
rm: Remove files or directories. Use -r for recursive deletion.
cp: Copy files or directories.
mv: Move or rename files and directories.

File Editing

vi: Open a file in the Vim editor.
cat: Display the contents of a file.

System Information

free: Display memory and disk usage information. Use - g for gigabytes.
df: Display disk usage information.
top: Display system resource usage information.
nproc: Display the number of processing units available.

Miscellaneous

echo: Output text to the screen.
touch: Create a new empty file.
chmod: Change file permissions. -chmod 777: Grant permission to a file for every users. E.g chmod 777 then the name of the file, then do ./ or sh the name of the file
chmod 444: Grant access to you, your group, and everyone to read
chmod 222: granting access for you, your group and everyone to write the file
chmod 111: granting access to you, your group and everyone to execute the file

Tips and Tricks

Use man command to display manual pages for a specific command.
Use ./ to execute a script or program in the current directory.

Hope this helps...

Automating Azure infrastructure With GitHub Actions and Terraform.

Christiana — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 15:24:12 +0000

Introduction to GitHub Actions

Git actions is a continuous integration and continuous delivery platform that allows us to build, test, deploy our tasks. It is an automation tool.

Practical Section

Step 1: Create a private GitHub repository

Go to your GitHub and create a private repository

Step 2: Generate a workflow token in GitHub

Go to your GitHub and click on your profile
Scroll down and click on settings
Scroll down and click on developers by your left
Click on personal access token drop down and select tokens (classic)

Click on generate tokens

Name your token
Scroll down and enable workflow

Scroll down and click on generate tokens
Before you exist that page, make sure you copy your token

Step 3: Create a file

Create a file on your laptop
Right click on it and open it with VS code
Create a backend.tf file
Create a HCP terraform account, create an organization and workspace. Then copy the backend code

Go back to your VS code and paste it in the backend.tf file and do the necessary editing

Step 4: Let's push this to our GitHub repository

After doing the above, type git init
Type git add .
Type git commit -m "azure backend file added"
Type git remote add origin https://your GitHub username:your workflow token@github.com
Type git push -u origin main

Step 5: GitHub Action

Firstly, we will install the code pipeline in our repository

Go to your GitHub repository, click on Action at the top
Click on terraform configure (because we want to use terraform)
Go back to your VS code and create a folder. Let's name it .github, workflows
Click the workflows folder and create a file under it. Let's name it cicd.yml
Go back to your GitHub terraform configure and copy from name: terraform to the end
Click on the cicd.yml on your VS code and paste those things you copied
Start editing it
Change the name to terraform infrastructure deployment to Azure cloud (or anything)
Remove pull_request under branch ["main"]
Remove permission: and contents:read
Name: under jobs, put terraform azure cloud
Go to your GitHub repository
Click settings on top of it
Click on secret and variables
Click actions
Click on secret, and click on create new repository
Let's name it TF_API_TOKEN
Go to your HCP terraform, create a new token in your HCP terraform, name it git actions pipeline token
Copy the token
Go to the git actions secret you were creating in GitHub and paste the token you created in HCP terraform
Click add
go to your VS code, remove terraform format and terraform fmt-check
Scroll down and remove if github.ref==
type git add.
type git commit -m "pipeline code added"
type git push

This is what it should look like

Terraform: How to Deploy Compute Engine, Network, and Subnet with Terraform on GCP

Christiana — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 13:45:02 +0000

I'm exited to share with you a comprehensive guide on deploying compute engine, network and Subnet on GCP using terraform. This guide will walk you through the process of setting up robust infrastructure on GCP using terraform's infrastructure-as-a-code (Iac) approach.

Prerequisite

Before we dive in, make sure you have:

A GCP account with billing enabled
Terraform installed on your machine

Step 1: Create a file

Create a file on your laptop, name it terraform project
Right click on the file and open it with VS code.
Create a provider.tf file once you open your VS code

Step 2: Deployment

Go to your browser and search for terraform provider
Click on GCP (because we are deploying the resources to GCP)

Click on use provider
Then copy provider command

Go to your VS code, click on the provider.tf file and paste the provider command you copied

Step 3: Creating a system user for terraform on GCP

Go to your GCP dashboard
Click on the 3 lines by your left
Put your cursor on IAM & admin, and click on service account
Click on create service account at the top
Let's name it terraform automation
Scroll down and click create
Click select a role under grant this service account
Put your cursor on basic and select owner
Click on continue
Click done
After creating it, click on it
Click on key at your top
Click add key, and click create new key
Choose Json and click create The private key will be downloaded to your laptop
Go to your downloads in your laptop
Locate the private key and right click on it, and copy it
Open that terraform project file you created on your laptop and paste the private key you copied
Go to your VS code, you will see the key
Right click on the key and rename it to something short (e.g gcp-key)
Click on your provider.tf file
In line 10, type provider "google"{
In line 11, type #configuration options
Line 12, type project ="go to your google dashboard, click on project at the top, copy the project id and paste it here"
Line 13, type region ="paste your region"
Line 14, type credentials =file("gcp-key.json") -Line 15, put}
save
Go to your terraform provider on your browser
Click on documentation
-Search google compute network
Copy the code under network custom MTU

Go to your VS code, create a vpc.tf file and paste the command you copied
Change my-project name to anything you want (e.g gcp project)
Where you see vpc-network ( front of name) name it to whatever you want or leave it
Change true to false (because this is a customized VPC)
save

Step 4: Subnet Creation

Create a file in your VS code and name it subnet.tf
Go to your terraform provider documentation
Search google compute subnet
Copy the command and paste it in the subnet.tf

Delete from resource "google_compute_network" to false}
Where you see "test-subnetwork" name it anything or leave it default
Change the region to your region
Change custom-test to vpc_network.id or anything
save

Step 5: Firewall Creation

Create a file in your VS code and name it firewall.tf
Go to your terraform provider documentation
Search for google compute firewall

Copy the command and paste it in firewall.tf
Where you see default, in front of network=, change it to vpc_network.name
Where you see 8080, change it to 22, leave 80, remove 1000-2000 and replace it with 443
Where you see test-firewall, change it to frontend firewall or anything
Where you see "web", change it to Frontend
Save

Step 6: Create Virtual Machine

Create a file, name it instance.tf
Go to your terraform provider documentation
Search google compute instance

Copy the command and paste it in instance.tf
Where you see "default" in the first line, change it to "web-app" or anything you want
Where you see "my-custom-sa" in front of account_id, change it to "web-sa"
Where you see "my-instance" in line 7, change it "frontend-web-app" or anything you want
Zone in line 9, put your zone
Line 11, (tags), change those things to ("frontend")
Line 28 (network), remove default and put google-compute-network.vpc_network
In line 36 (foo), remove "bar" and replace it with "web"
Line 39, you can remove the "echo hi>/test txt" and put "sudo apt install nginx" or leave it
Line 43, remove default, and replace it with the terraform system account id/
save
Type terraform validate (to check for any possible error)
Type terraform plan
Type apply --auto-approve or terraform apply
When you are done with your deployment, type terraform destroy

Conclusion

In this guide, we have successfully deployed a Compute Engine Instance, Network and Subnet on GCP using terraform. You can now use this infrastructure as a starting point for your project and scale it as needed.

See you soon...

Terraform: Some Basic Terminologies and Terraform Installation

Christiana — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 10:18:09 +0000

Introduction to terraform

Terraform is an open source Iac tool, developed by Hashicorp. It allows you to define, manage and provision infrastructure in a safe, predictable, and automated way using a declarative configuration language.

Terraform managed both cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP) and on-prem resources (VMware, Kubernetes, and more). With terraform, you can:

Provision infrastructure: create servers, databases, networks and more
Update infrastructure: modify existing resources without downtime
Destroy infrastructure: remove resources when there are no longer needed
Terraform Providers
Providers serves as a middleman between terraform and where you are deploying resources to. For example, provider "AWS"
Hashicorp Configuration Language
HCl is the language terraform uses to create infrastructure resources and configurations.
Resources
These are the infrastructure resources you create with terraform. Example, Resources "aws_ec2_instance"
Terraform State
This is like a memory or storage that stores what have been created or modify. It also store the information of the infrastructure resources created or modify.
Resources Block
It is a block that defines a specific resource you want to create or manage.
Resource Type
It is the specific type of resource you want to create e.g EC2 instance, Google compute engine, VPC e.t.c
Resource Name
It is a unique identifier for the resources within your terraform configuration
Attributes/Machine Type/Region
It is a property or configuration of the resources often required to create or manage it.
Variables
It is like a container that holds information. It's also inputs defined to make the configuration dynamic and reusable.
Terraform Provisioners
These are used to execute scripts or commands on a resource after it is created or updated. This allows you to perform additional configuration or setup tasks on the resource, such as installing software, modifying files, or running shell commands.
Types of Peovisioners
Remote Executioner or Exec: it execute commands on the remote machine using SSH or WinRM.
Local Exec: it execute commands on the machine where terraform is running
File provisioner: it upload files or directories from the machine running terraform to the remote resources

Installing Terraform

Here are the steps to install Terraform on Windows, macOS, and Linux:

Windows

Download the Terraform binary: Go to the Terraform downloads page and download the Windows binary (zip file).
Extract the binary: Extract the contents of the zip file to a directory, such as C:\Terraform.
Add Terraform to the system PATH:
- Right-click on "This PC" or "Computer" and select "Properties."
- Click on "Advanced system settings" on the left side.
- Click on "Environment Variables."
- Under "System Variables," scroll down and find the "Path" variable, then click "Edit."
- Click "New" and add the path to the Terraform binary (e.g., C:\Terraform).
Verify the installation: Open a new Command Prompt or PowerShell window and run terraform -v to verify that Terraform is installed correctly.

macOS (via Homebrew)

Install Homebrew: If you haven't already, install Homebrew by following the instructions on the Homebrew website.
Install Terraform: Run brew tap hashicorp/tap and then brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform.
Verify the installation: Run terraform -v to verify that Terraform is installed correctly.

Linux

Download the Terraform binary: Go to the Terraform downloads page and download the Linux binary (zip file).
Extract the binary: Extract the contents of the zip file to a directory, such as /usr/local/bin.
Make the binary executable: Run chmod +x /usr/local/bin/terraform to make the binary executable.
Verify the installation: Run terraform -v to verify that Terraform is installed correctly.

Alternatively, you can install Terraform on Linux using a package manager like apt (Ubuntu/Debian) or yum (RHEL/CentOS):

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install terraform

RHEL/CentOS:

sudo yum install -y yum-utils
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.hashicorp.com/RHEL/hashicorp.repo
sudo yum -y install terraform

After installation, verify that Terraform is working correctly by running terraform -v.

You can install Terraform on Windows using Chocolatey. Here's how:

Install Chocolatey: If you haven't already, install Chocolatey by following the instructions on the Chocolatey website.
Install Terraform: Run the following command in an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell:
choco install terraform
Verify the installation: Run terraform -v to verify that Terraform is installed correctly.

That's it! Chocolatey will handle the installation and configuration for you.

If you want to install a specific version of Terraform, you can use the --version option:
choco install terraform --version=1.5.2

Replace 1.5.2 with the desired version.

Using Chocolatey makes it easy to manage and update Terraform on your Windows system.

Containerized Deployments: A Step-by-Step Guide to Deploying A Docker Image Using ECS and 2048 Game Application using EKS

Christiana — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 13:23:59 +0000

Introduction

Containerization has revolutionized the way we deploy applications, providing a lightweight, portable, and efficient way to package software. AWS offers two powerful container orchestration services: Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes(EKS). In this guide, we'll walk through the process of deploying a docker image using ECS and a game application using EKS. Without wasting much time, let's dive in to today's project.

Part 1: Deploying A Docker Image Using ECS

Step 1: Create an ECS Cluster

Login to your AWS Management Console
Search for ECS and click on it
Click on cluster by your left
Click on create cluster
Name your cluster

Click on create

After creating the cluster, click on ECR by your left ( open it in a new tab)
Click on get started
Click on repositories by your left
click on create repository and create

Open your terminal (preferably, using AWS CLI)
Clone or fork this GitHub repo GitHub, then click on command.md
Copy the login command from command.md
paste it on your terminal -Remove.dkr.ecr.amazonaws.com
Go to the repository you created in your AWS
Copy the repo URL and paste it where you remove those things, and put your AWS region where you see region close to /docker
Go back to the GitHub and copy the command for build docker image from command.md and paste it in your terminal
Remove.dkr.ecr.amazonaws.com and replace it with your repo URL.
Go back to the GitHub and copy the push image command, and paste it in your terminal
Remove the.dkr.ecr.amazonaws.com and replace it with your repo URL. Remove the dot (.) by the end of latest then hit enter
After creating and pushing, go back to your ECR, click on task definition by your left
Click on create task definition
Name the task
Scroll down to memory and reduce it (optional though)
Scroll down to task execution role
Click the drop-down button and select create new role (because we want to integrate cloud watch)
Scroll down to container details
Name the container
Paste your repo URL in image URL at the end of the URL, put :latest
Put your port number under container port
Choose http under app protocol
Click on create
After creating the task definition, click on it to see if it is active
If it is active, click on deploy drop down above and select run task
Under existing cluster put your cluster
Then click on create

Part 2: Deploying 2048 Game Application Using EKS

Step 1: Install EKSCTL

Before installing EKSCTL, ensure you have AWS CLI installed and configured in your laptop
After installing your EKSCTL, open it and create cluster
Here is the command for your Cluster creation Cluster. Behind --name, remove demo-cluster and put the name of what you want to name your cluster. Where you see region, remove US-east-1 and put your region then hit enter

Go to your AWS, search for cluster, you will see your cluster

Note: Using EKSCTL to create cluster is very fast because it will create everything including network automatically

Go to your AWS Management Console and search for EKS, and click on it
You will see your cluster you just created
Go back to your EKSCTL and type aws eks update-kubeconfig--name your cluster name--region your region, then hit enter
Now let's deploy our app
Go to the GitHub
Click on 2048-app-deploy
Copy everything under create fargate profile
Paste it in your EKSCTL

Change the region to your region and the cluster name hit enter
Go to your cluster in your AWS, scroll down to fargate profile to see if the fargate profile you created is there

Cluster and fargate created
Go to the GitHub, and click on 2048-app
Copy deploy the deployment URL
Paste it in your EKSCTL enter ( this is to deploy ingress)
Type kubectl get pods -n game-2048 -w enter (to see if the ingress has been created)

Type kubectl get svc -n gameb-2048 enter (to see if the service is running)
Type kubectl get ingress -n game-2048 enter

Now let's create ingress controller
Go to GitHub
Click on configure oidc connector.md
Copy the command to configure IAM OIDC PROVIDER (eksctl utils associate)

Paste it in your EKSCTL terminal. Change the cluster name to your cluster name
Go to here GitHub
Click on alb controller and copy the command for download IAM policy
Paste it in your EKSCTL terminal enter
Go back to the alb controller in the GitHub, cpy the create IAM Role command
Paste it in your EKSCTL terminal
Where you see put your AWS account ID there. Put your cluster name where you see cluster name
Copy the helm command from alb controller too
paste it in your EKSCTL terminal
Go to your cluster in your AWS
Click on network
Copy the VPC info
Go back to your EKSCTL terminal, remove the VPC id you see and paste yours
Put your region
Put your cluster name enter
Go to your AWS cluster, click on network and you will see your VPC created

Type kubectl get deployment -n kube-system aws-loadbalancer-controller
Type kubectl get deployment -n kube-system aws-loadbalancer-controller -w enter
Type kubectl get pods -n kube-system -w enter (to see your cluster pods)
After confirming it everything is ok, go to your AWS Management Console
Search for EC2
Click on instance
Click on load balancer and see if load balancer has been created
Copy the URL (k8s-game2048-ingress....)
Go to your browser, type http and paste the copied URL
This is the end result

Note: Ensure you have kubectl and AWS CLI installed on your laptop

See you soon 😊

Accelerating S3 Assets With CloudFront CDN: A Step-by-Step Guide

Christiana — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:29:25 +0000

Introduction

In this guide, we'll walk through the process of setting up Amazon CloudFront as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for assets store in Amazon S3. This will help improve the performance and availability of your website or application by reducing latency and distributing content across multiple edge locations.

Project overview

Creating an S3 bucket
Uploading Assets to the S3 bucket
Creating a CloudFront distribution
Configuring CloudFront to use S3 as the origin
Testing the setup

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Create an S3 bucket

Login to your AWS Management Console
Search S3 and click on it
Click on create
Name it
Uncheck the block all public access
Scroll down to bucket versioning and enable
Scroll down to bucket key and enable
Click on advance settings
Click on disable under object lock
Then click on create

Step 2: Uploading Assets to the S3 bucket

After creating the S3 bucket, click on it
Click on properties
Scroll down and click on Static website hosting edit
Click enable
In hosting type, select host a static Website

Under index document, put in your index name (index.html)
Click save changes
Go back to your S3 bucket
Click on upload

Click on add files
Add the file
Scroll down and hit upload

Step 3: Create a CloudFront Distribution

In your AWS Management Console, search CloudFront and click on it
Click on create distribution

Click on origin domain
Choose the S3 bucket you created
Scroll down to origin access and select legacy access identities

Click on create new OAI
Click create
Click on Origin Access Identities and select the OAI you created
Under bucket policy, select yes, update the bucket policy
Scroll down and click on redirect HTTP to HTTPS
Scroll down to settings and select use all edge locations
Click add item under alternate domain name, and put your domain (you should have a domain)
Scroll down to default root object, and type your index file name (/index.html)
Under web application firewall, select do not use security
Click on create distribution

Step 4: Test the Setup

Wait for the CloudFront Distribution to deploy ( this may take some minutes)
Copy the distribution domain name and paste it on your browser and hit enter

Conclusion

By following these steps, you have successfully set up Amazon CloudFront as a CDN for your S3 Assets.

See you soon...

Serverless Mastery: A Comprehensive Guide to AWS Lambda and Snapshot

Christiana — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 10:51:32 +0000

As the owner of this project, I'm excited to share with you a detailed guide to AWS Lambda, a powerful serverless compute service. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting out, this guide will walk you through the ins and outs of Lambda and help you unlock its full potential.

Introduction to AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service that allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. With Lambda, you can write and deploy code in a variety of programming languages, including Node.js, Python, Java, and more. Lambda takes care of the underlying infrastructure, so you can focus on writing code and delivering value to your users.

What is Lambda Used For?

Lambda is used for a wide range of applications, including:

Real-time data processing and analytics
Serverless APIs and web applications
Event-driven architectures and microservices
Machine learning and AI
IoT data processing and device management

*How to Create AWS Lambda *

Login to your AWS Management Console and search for lambda
Click on create

Select author from scratch
Name the function
Under Runtime, select python 3.12
Architecture, select ×86.64

Click on additional configuration drop-down
Click on enable function URL
Under AUTH type, I enabled none for this project

Then click on create

*Let's Create an EC2 Instance for this Project *

Login to your account
Search EC2 and click on it
Click on launch instance
Name your instance
I choose Ubuntu as my image
Select or create a key pair
Click on network settings and enable
Click on create
Click on the EC2 instance you created
Scroll down and click on Storage
You will see the EC2 volume created along side with the EC2. Copy it because we will be using it.

Let's Create a Snapshot

A snapshot is like a backups of resources, allowing you to recover resources in case of data loss or corruption.

Go to your EC2 dashboard
Click on snapshot
Click on create a snapshot
Select volume
Put your EC2 volume you copied
Add a description
Click create

How to Use AWS Lambda Function

If you have a GitHub account, clone or fork the repository aws-devops-zero-to-hero day 18
After cloning of forking, click on ebs_stale
Copy the entire code (but if you already have your own lambda functions code, you can use it)
Go back to your Lambda
Scroll down to where you see code (under lambda functions)
Remove all the code, and paste the one you copied from GitHub
Click on the deploy button above
Then click on the test button above
Name the event as test (or anything)
Click on save
Then click on the test button

Note: In case it fails, click on configuration above

Scroll down to timeout, and increase the min to 10sec or above.
Then save

Let's Attach Policy to the Snapshot

Still on your AWS Lambda Function page
Click on configuration
Click on permissions by your left
Click on Role name link (open it on a new tab)
Click on add permission
Click on attach policy
Click on create policy by your right
Select EC2
Search for snapshot
Select delete snapshot, and describe snapshot
Click on resources drop-down and select all resources
Click on next
Name your policy

Scroll down and click on create
After creating the policy, click on roles by your left
Click on add permission
Search for the policy you created
Click on it, and click on add permission
Go back to your Lambda
Click on code
Click on test

Final Conclusion:

In this comprehensive guide, we've explored the world of AWS Lambda and snapshots. We've covered the basics of Lambda, its uses, and how to create and deploy Lambda functions. Additionally, we've delved into the concept of snapshots, how to create them, and how to develop a snapshot policy.

By mastering AWS Lambda and snapshots, developers can build scalable, efficient, and reliable applications that leverage the power of serverless computing. Whether you're building real-time data processing pipelines, serverless APIs, or machine learning models, this guide has provided you with the knowledge and skills to succeed.

With this comprehensive guide, you're now equipped to:

Design and deploy AWS Lambda functions for various use cases
Create and manage snapshots for data protection and recovery
Develop a snapshot policy to ensure data integrity and compliance

By applying the concepts and techniques outlined in this guide, you'll be well on your way to unlocking the full potential of AWS Lambda and snapshots for your applications.