Deploy a Secure EC2 Web Server with Terraform, Multi-AZ, and Remote State on AWS

Tej Tandel — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 21:55:41 +0000

Deploy a Secure EC2 Web Server with Terraform, VPC, and Remote State on AWS

Are you looking to automate your AWS infrastructure and deploy a web server with best practices? In this guide, you'll learn how to use Terraform to:

Provision a secure VPC with public/private subnets
Launch an EC2 instance running Apache with a sample website
Manage SSH keys and security groups
Store your Terraform state remotely in S3 for safety and collaboration

Let's get started!

What Does This Project Do?

Creates a VPC with public and private subnets across multiple Availability Zones
Sets up an Internet Gateway and routing for public subnets
Launches an EC2 instance in a public subnet
Configures a Security Group for SSH and HTTP access
Manages SSH Key Pairs for secure access
Provisions Apache Web Server with a sample website using a shell script
Stores Terraform state remotely in an S3 bucket for collaboration and safety

Prerequisites

Terraform installed
AWS CLI installed and configured (aws configure)
An AWS account with permissions to create EC2, VPC, and S3 resources

File Overview

Provider.tf: AWS provider configuration
vpc.tf: VPC, subnets, internet gateway, and route tables
Instance.tf: EC2 instance definition and provisioning
KeyPair.tf: SSH key pair resource
SecurityGroup.tf: Security group for SSH/HTTP access
vars.tf: Variables for region, AMI, zones, etc.
backend.tf: Remote state backend (S3)
web.sh: Script to install Apache and deploy a sample website
.gitignore: Ignore sensitive files and Terraform state
terraform-vpc-ssh-key / .pub: SSH keys (do not commit private key!)

Quick Start

# 1. Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/tej6667/terraform-aws-vpc-ec2-webserver.git

# 2. Initialize Terraform
terraform init

# 3. Review the plan
terraform plan

# 4. Apply the configuration
terraform apply
# Type 'yes' when prompted

# 5. Destroy resources when done
terraform destroy
# Type 'yes' when prompted

Customization

Region & Zones: Edit vars.tf for your preferred AWS region and availability zones.
AMI: Update the amiID map in vars.tf for your region.
Security Group: Change allowed IPs in SecurityGroup.tf.
S3 Backend: Set your S3 bucket name in backend.tf.
SSH Key: Replace with your own key in KeyPair.tf and upload your public key.

Notes & Best Practices

Never commit AWS credentials or private keys.
Review security group rules before applying.
Remote state in S3 is critical for team collaboration and disaster recovery.
Remember to destroy resources to avoid AWS charges.

Learn More

Questions?

Drop a comment below or check out the GitHub repo for more details!

"Automate EC2 Web Server Deployment on AWS with Terraform and Remote S3 State: true

Tej Tandel — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 21:11:30 +0000

Automate EC2 Web Server Deployment on AWS with Terraform and Remote S3 State

Managing infrastructure manually is error-prone and inefficient. In this project, I use Terraform to automate the provisioning of an EC2 instance that serves a static website — with terraform state pushed to S3.

What This Project Does

This Terraform project sets up:

An EC2 instance
Security Group allowing HTTP & SSH
User-data to install and serve a website
S3 bucket for Terraform state storage
IAM Role & Policy for EC2 access to S3

Step-by-Step Breakdown

1. Initialize AWS Provider

provider "aws" {
  region = "us-east-1"
}

2. Create S3 Bucket

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "web_backup" {
  bucket = var.bucket_name
}

Used to store Terraform state.

3. Security Group

resource "aws_security_group" "web_sg" {
  name        = "web-sg"
  description = "Allow HTTP and SSH"

  ingress {
    from_port   = 22
    to_port     = 22
    protocol    = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks = ["your-ip/32"]
  }

  ingress {
    from_port   = 80
    to_port     = 80
    protocol    = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }

  egress {
    from_port   = 0
    to_port     = 0
    protocol    = "-1"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
  }
}

4. Launch EC2 Instance + User Data Script

resource "aws_instance" "web_server" {
  ami                    = var.ami
  instance_type          = var.instance_type
  key_name               = var.key_name
  security_groups        = [aws_security_group.web_sg.name]
  user_data              = file("web_install.sh")
  iam_instance_profile   = aws_iam_instance_profile.s3_profile.name
}

The web_install.sh script:

Installs Apache
Deploys static site from website/ directory
Uploads a backup to S3 using AWS CLI

5. IAM Role to Access S3

resource "aws_iam_role_policy" "s3_access" {
  name = "s3-access-policy"
  role = aws_iam_role.ec2_role.name

  policy = jsonencode({
    Version = "2012-10-17",
    Statement = [{
      Action   = ["s3:PutObject"],
      Effect   = "Allow",
      Resource = "arn:aws:s3:::${var.bucket_name}/*"
    }]
  })
}

This gives the EC2 instance permission to upload files to your bucket.

How to Deploy

Run the following commands:

terraform init
terraform plan
terraform apply

After deployment, Terraform will output:

Public IP of the EC2 instance
S3 bucket name
Live website hosted on EC2 (via Apache)

What I Learned

Terraform resource structuring for real-world infrastructure
Using user-data to bootstrap EC2 after provisioning
Connecting EC2 and S3 securely with IAM
Uploading backups automatically to S3
Practical usage of AWS CLI in automation scripts

Git Repository

https://github.com/tej6667/terraform-ec2-web-s3

Clone it, customize it, and deploy your own cloud-hosted website in minutes.

About Me

I'm Tej Tandel, a Cloud & DevOps enthusiast building hands-on AWS projects and sharing my journey.

Let’s build the cloud — one project at a time ☁️

DEV Community: Tej Tandel