DEV Community

Aisalkyn Aidarova
Aisalkyn Aidarova

Posted on

Project: “Multi-Web Server + Shared Files + Backup Storage”

#aws #devops #tutorial #architecture

Architecture (What we will build) 

                +----------------------+
                |      S3 Bucket       |  ← Static files / backups
                +----------+-----------+
                           |
                           v
+-------------------+    +--------------------+    +-------------------+
|   EC2 #1 (Ubuntu) |----|     EFS Storage    |----|   EC2 #2 (Ubuntu) |
|  /var/www/html -> |    | (Shared directory) |    |  /var/www/html -> |
| Uses EBS for root |    +--------------------+    | Uses EBS for root |
| Nginx website     |                                   Nginx website  |
+-------------------+                                          
         ^                                                           
         |                                                           
         +------- Backup web content → S3 Bucket
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Concept Mapping (Explain like 6 yrs experience)

AWS Storage When We Use It Why
EBS Root disk of the server (OS + application installation) Like a server’s hard drive
EFS When multiple servers need the same data Shared folder NFS → scalable web farm
S3 Store backups, static files, logs, objects Cheap, durable, serverless storage

This project shows each one performing its real role.

STEP 1 — Create 2 EC2 Servers (Web Servers)

  • Ubuntu
  • t2.micro

  • Create a Security Group:

    • Allow SSH 22
    • Allow HTTP 80
    • Allow NFS 2049 (later for EFS)

Confirm each EC2 has its own EBS volume automatically created.

STEP 2 — Install NGINX on Both Servers

SSH into both servers:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx nfs-common
sudo systemctl enable nginx --now
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Test in browser:

http://EC2-Public-IP
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

STEP 3 — Create EFS (Shared Storage)

  1. Go to EFS
  2. Create file system → Name: web-shared-efs
  3. Select your VPC
  4. After creation → Go to Network → Security Group → Add rule:
Type Port Source
NFS 2049 SG of the EC2 instances

STEP 4 — Mount EFS On Both EC2 Servers

On each server:

sudo mkdir -p /shared
sudo mount -t nfs4 -o nfsvers=4.1 fs-XXXX.efs.<region>.amazonaws.com:/ /shared
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Verify:

df -h
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

STEP 5 — Host Website from Shared Storage 

sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/*
sudo ln -s /shared /var/www/html
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Add shared index:

echo "This is a SHARED website $(hostname)" | sudo tee /shared/index.html
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Test in browser with both EC2 public IPs:

EC2 #1 → shows hostname
EC2 #2 → shows same file, different hostname
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This proves EFS = shared website content.

STEP 6 — Store Backups in S3

Create an S3 bucket → web-backup-bucket-<yourname>

On one EC2 server, upload backup:

sudo apt install -y awscli
aws configure
aws s3 cp /shared/index.html s3://web-backup-bucket-<yourname>/backup-index.html
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Check bucket → file appears.

This demonstrates S3 as backup storage.

STEP 7 — Create a Cron Job to Backup Automatically 

crontab -e
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Add:

0 * * * * aws s3 cp /shared/index.html s3://web-backup-bucket-<yourname>/backup-$(date +\%F-\%H).html
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Now you taught:
✔ Scheduling
✔ Automation
✔ DevOps daily real tasks

WHAT THIS PROJECT PROVES (You will say during explanation)

Skill Demonstrated Real DevOps Responsibility
Using EBS OS + App persistence
Setting up EFS Shared web content across multiple servers (high availability)
Using S3 Backup & durable storage
NFS + SG rules Understanding network + permissions
Cron + AWS CLI Automation tasks required in real jobs

This is production architecture used in real companies behind load balancers.

Top comments (0)