🚀 DevOps Training Wheels

🌐 Project Domains & Endpoints

Disclaimer !!!

• The aws site has been taken down

• Reason:

  • free tier has been expired
  • no money to keep hosting on aws
  • 

Primary Domain

• Railway.app Domain: shavok.up

• AWS Domain: devops-tw.up.railway.app

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Description	Response
/	Home Endpoint	Welcome message
/status	Application Status	JSON status
/pic	Image Retrieval	Random Static image
/health	Health Check	Health status
/joke	Joke Endpoint	A random joke
/echo	Echo Endpoint	Echoes the input JSON
/weather	Weather Information	Weather info from wttr.in

🧪 Testing the Application

# API Endpoint Tests
curl -kL https://devops-tw.up.railway.app/
curl -kL https://devops-tw.up.railway.app/status
curl -kL https://devops-tw.up.railway.app/pic
curl -kL https://devops-tw.up.railway.app/health
curl -kL https://devops-tw.up.railway.app/joke
curl -kL -X POST https://devops-tw.up.railway.app/echo -d '{"key":"value"}'
curl -kL https://devops-tw.up.railway.app/weather

🛠 How I Did It: A Personal Journey

Initial Conceptualization

When I first approached this DevOps assignment, I initially went with railway.app as my PaaS, inorder to develop a MVP as soon as possible and learn the concepts of devops, Once I gained the knowledge of basic DevOps, then I moved to AWS, it was rough in the beginning stages of dev, since I never used AWS before, understanding the components of aws was the biggest hurdle. But in the end I have made this MVP, Only thing left to do is moving from self-signed to CA-signed.

Step-by-Step Development Process

1. Cloud Provider Selection

   • Chose AWS for its comprehensive services
   • Created an AWS account
   • Generated IAM user credentials

2. Local Development

   • Developed a simple Flask application
   • Created basic API endpoints
   • Structured the application for containerization

3. Containerization

   # Dockerfile creation
   docker build -t speakx-flask-api .
   
   # Local testing
   docker run -p 3000:3000 speakx-flask-api

4. Infrastructure as Code

   • Used Terraform to define infrastructure
   • Created security groups
   • Provisioned EC2 instance
   • Set up Elastic IP
   • Created ECR repository

5. Deployment Strategy

   • Used Docker Compose for container orchestration
   • Configured Nginx as a reverse proxy
   • Implemented SSL termination

Security Considerations

• Implemented strict security group rules
• Used environment variables for sensitive data
• Ensured no hard-coded credentials

🔍 Technical Architecture

Infrastructure Components

• Cloud: AWS
• Compute: EC2
• Containerization: Docker
• Orchestration: Docker Compose
• IaC: Terraform

📊 Project Diagram

Development Workflow

🔒 Security Highlights

• AWS Secrets Manager integration
• Environment-based configuration
• HTTPS-only communication
• Restricted network access

🚢 Previous Iteration: Railway.app

Initial Project

• Domain: Given in devops-tw.up.railway.app
• Approach: Simplified PaaS deployment
• Limitations: Less control, basic scalability

🛤️ Railway.app Deployment Journey

Project Genesis

My initial approach to the DevOps training wheels project began with Railway.app, a Platform as a Service (PaaS) that simplifies deployment and scaling.

Technical Specifications

• Platform: Railway.app
• Deployment Method: Direct GitHub Repository Integration
• Technology Stack:
  • Python Flask
  • Containerized Application

Deployment Process

1. Repository Setup

   • Configured GitHub repository
   • Prepared application for cloud deployment

2. Railway Configuration

   • Connected GitHub repository
   • Automatic build and deployment
   • Simplified environment management

Limitations of Initial Approach

• Limited infrastructure control
• Basic scaling capabilities
• Reduced customization options

Transition Motivation

The move from Railway.app to AWS was driven by:

• Need for more granular infrastructure control
• Advanced security requirements
• Scalability and enterprise-level features

🔍 Comparative Analysis

Aspect	Railway.app	AWS Solution
Deployment Complexity	Low	High
Infrastructure Control	Limited	Comprehensive
Scalability	Basic	Advanced
Cost	Free Tier	Flexible, Pay-as-you-go
Security Configuration	Basic	Extensive

🚀 Lessons Learned

• 🔧 Declarative syntax of Terraform for provinsion
• 🌍 AWS Ecosystem, EC2, ECR, S3 Bucket, Security Groups (SG)
• 💡 Containerization using Docker and Orchestration using docker-compose

🤝 Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Railway.app for providing an initial platform for rapid development and deployment.
Special thanks to Aryan for reviewing this project and giving thoughtful insights.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

📜 License

GLWTS