How to Deploy a Web Application on the Cloud Using Virtual Machines

Overview: The cloud refers to extremely powerful computers, sometimes known as virtual machines, or VMs, that are housed in specialized buildings across the globe. Anyone, anywhere, can view your website at any time even while you’re asleep because these machines are always on and linked to the internet. Deploying a web application in the cloud using virtual machines (VMs) provides scalability and flexibility. This process involves selecting a cloud provider, creating a VM, installing necessary software, and deploying your application. 

Following are the steps

1. Select a Cloud Provider – Common options include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). For this guide, we will use AWS as an example.
2. Create a Virtual Machine – Navigate to the EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) dashboard after logging into your AWS Management Console. – The configuration process will begin when you click “Launch Instance.” Then Select an Amazon Machine Image (AMI), which is your virtual machine’s operating system. Ubuntu and Amazon Linux are popular options. Choose an instance type that is appropriate for testing and light workloads, like `t2.micro`. Set up the instance’s storage and network configurations. Make sure that the security group settings permit SSH access. Go over your configuration and start
3. Connect to the VM – Once your instance is running, you can connect to it using SSH. Use the following command in your terminal:

   ssh -i your key.pem
   ec2-user@your-ec2-ip 

   Replace

   your-key.pem
   ec2 -user@your-ec2-ip

   with the path to your downloaded key pair file and your-ec2-ip with your instance’s public IP address

4. Install Required Software – After connecting, update the package lists:

   sudo yum update -y # for Amazon Linux 
   sudo apt update -y # for Ubuntu

5. Deploy Your Application- Transfer your application files to the VM. You can use SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) then ensure that the files have the appropriate permissions and ownership
6. Start the Web Server – Start the web server to serve your application
7. Access Your Application  – Open a web browser and navigate to `http://your-ec2-ip`. You should see your deployed application.