How to deploy react web app or static html in AWS instance

prerequisites

Feature	Inbound Rules	Outbound Rules
Direction	Controls incoming traffic to the instance	Controls outgoing traffic from the instance
Purpose	Define who can access your server	Define where your server can access
Example	Allow HTTP (port 80) so browsers can load your site	Allow access to external APIs or databases
Common Ports	22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)	80, 443, custom DB/API ports
Default Behavior	All inbound traffic denied unless explicitly allowed	All outbound traffic allowed unless restricted
Use Case	Allow only specific IPs or ports to access your app	Restrict external communication for security

Inbound Rule:

Allow TCP port 22 from 0.0.0.0/0 — for SSH access to EC2
Allow TCP port 80 from 0.0.0.0/0 — for web server access

Outbound Rule:

Allow all traffic to 0.0.0.0/0 — default for most servers
(Optional) Deny all except specific IPs/ports — for lockdown servers

Step 1: Click on "Launch Instance"
Step 2: Select "Desire OS"

Step 3: Select Instance Types & Key Value pair
Instance Type - Based on required size
Key value pair - SSH login

Step 4: Network Settings - Enable public access and private access

Step 5: Configure required storage

Step 6: Click on "Launch Instance"

Note the instance's public IP and private IP

Step 7: Once the instance is launched successfully. SSH to connect to the instance

chmod 400 "jun17.pem"
ssh -i "jun17.pem" 
[e-mail]

Install a web server to host the application

sudo apt install nginx -y

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Host a static HTML pages

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name aws_ip;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Restart service

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Host React app

Install Nodejs in instance

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name aws_ip;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000; # or 5173, etc.
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Configure firewall in nginx (OPTIONAL)

sudo ufw status
sudo ufw allow 80
sudo ufw allow 22
sudo ufw enable

Note: Use PM2 for running multiple process at the same time in single instance.