Deploying Node on AWS EC2

Why EC2

For projects like Shixa, a long-running Node API fits a VPS better than pure serverless. EC2 gives a known Linux host you can inspect when things break.

Baseline setup

1. Provision Ubuntu LTS; open only 22 (your IP), 80, and 443
2. Non-root deploy user with key-based SSH
3. Node via a version manager, Nginx as reverse proxy, Certbot for TLS

Process model

Run the app under PM2 or systemd so restarts and logs are boring. Bind to localhost; let Nginx terminate TLS. Keep secrets out of the repo.

What I watch

• Disk and memory growth
• 5xx rate after deploys
• Certificate renewal success

Treat the host like a product surface: least privilege, reverse proxy, managed process, boring rollbacks.