How to Deploy Erlang and Elixir Applications on AWS

Are you ready to take your Erlang and Elixir applications to the next level? Do you want to deploy your apps on a scalable, reliable, and secure platform? If yes, then you're in the right place.

In this article, we'll explore how to deploy Erlang and Elixir applications on AWS. We'll cover everything you need to know, from setting up your environment and configuring your AWS account, to deploying your app and monitoring its performance. So, buckle up and get ready to take your apps to the cloud!

The Basics: What is AWS?

AWS, or Amazon Web Services, is a cloud computing platform that provides a variety of services, including storage, computing power, and database management. It allows individuals and organizations to deploy their applications on highly scalable, reliable, and cost-effective infrastructure.

AWS provides a range of services that can be used to deploy Erlang and Elixir applications, including:

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): A web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud.
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): A virtual network that enables you to launch AWS resources into a virtual network.
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS): A web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database on AWS.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3): An object storage service that offers industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.
Amazon CloudWatch: A monitoring service for AWS resources and the applications you run on them.

Now that you know what AWS is and what services it provides, let's move on to the next step.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before you can deploy your Erlang or Elixir app on AWS, you need to set up your environment. This means installing the necessary tools and configuring your AWS account.

Installing the Tools

To deploy Erlang and Elixir applications on AWS, you need to install the following tools:

Erlang/OTP: An open-source programming language designed for building scalable and fault-tolerant systems.
Elixir: A dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and fault-tolerant applications.
AWS Command Line Interface (CLI): A tool that enables you to manage your AWS services using the command line.
Git: A version control system that enables you to track changes in your code.

Depending on your operating system, you can install these tools using the following commands:

# Install Erlang/OTP for Ubuntu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install erlang
# Install Elixir for Ubuntu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install elixir
# Install AWS CLI for Ubuntu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install awscli
# Install Git for Ubuntu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install git

# Install Erlang/OTP for macOS
brew update
brew install erlang
# Install Elixir for macOS
brew update
brew install elixir
# Install AWS CLI for macOS
brew update
brew install awscli
# Install Git for macOS
brew update
brew install git

Configuring Your AWS Account

To deploy Erlang and Elixir applications on AWS, you need to create an AWS account and configure it. This includes creating an access key and secret key, creating security groups, and configuring your VPC.

To create an access key and secret key, log in to the AWS Management Console and navigate to the IAM service. Click on "Users" and then click on "Add user". Enter a username and select "Programmatic access" as the access type. Click on "Next" and then click on "Attach existing policies directly". Select "AdministratorAccess" and click on "Next". Click on "Create user" and note down the access key and secret key.

To create security groups, navigate to the EC2 service and click on "Security Groups". Click on "Create Security Group" and enter a name and description. Add rules for incoming traffic and click on "Create".

To configure your VPC, navigate to the VPC service and click on "Start VPC wizard". Follow the wizard and create a new VPC with public and private subnets. Make a note of the VPC ID, subnet IDs, and security group IDs.

Now that you have installed the necessary tools and set up your AWS account, it's time to deploy your Erlang or Elixir application.

Deploying Your Application on AWS

To deploy your Erlang or Elixir application on AWS, you need to follow these steps:

Create a new EC2 instance
Install Erlang and Elixir on the instance
Clone your application repository
Build and release your application
Set up your web server
Configure your database
Configure CloudWatch monitoring

Creating a New EC2 Instance

To create a new EC2 instance, navigate to the EC2 service and click on "Launch Instance". Select an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) that supports Erlang and Elixir, such as Ubuntu or Amazon Linux 2. Choose an instance type based on your requirements, such as t2.micro or t2.small.

On the "Configure Instance Details" page, specify the VPC ID, subnet IDs, and security group IDs that you created earlier. On the "Add Storage" page, specify the amount of storage you need for your instance.

On the "Configure Security Group" page, select "Create a new security group" and enter a name and description. Add rules for incoming traffic, such as HTTP or HTTPS. Click on "Review and Launch" and then click on "Launch".

Select the key pair you want to use for SSH access and click on "Launch Instances". Make a note of the instance ID.

Installing Erlang and Elixir

Once your instance is up and running, connect to it using SSH. Install Erlang and Elixir using the following commands:

# Install Erlang for Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install erlang
# Install Elixir for Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install elixir

# Install Erlang for Amazon Linux 2
sudo amazon-linux-extras install erlang
# Install Elixir for Amazon Linux 2
sudo amazon-linux-extras install elixir

Cloning Your Application Repository

Clone your Erlang or Elixir application repository using Git. For example:

git clone https://github.com/username/repo.git

Building and Releasing Your Application

Build your Erlang or Elixir application using your preferred build tool, such as rebar3 or Mix. Release your application using your preferred release tool, such as Distillery or ExRM.

# Build and release an Erlang/OTP application using rebar3 and Distillery
cd /path/to/application
rebar3 compile
rebar3 release

# Build and release an Elixir application using Mix and Distillery
cd /path/to/application
mix deps.get
MIX_ENV=prod mix release

Setting Up Your Web Server

Set up your web server, such as Nginx, to serve your application. Install Nginx using the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nginx

Create an Nginx configuration file for your application in the "/etc/nginx/sites-available" directory:

upstream my_app {
    server 127.0.0.1:8080;
}

server {
    listen      80;
    server_name mydomain.com;

    access_log  /var/log/nginx/my_app.access.log;
    error_log   /var/log/nginx/my_app.error.log;

    location / {
        proxy_pass  http://my_app;
        proxy_set_header    Host            $http_host;
        proxy_set_header    X-Real-IP       $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header    X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

Create a symbolic link to your configuration file in the "/etc/nginx/sites-enabled" directory:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/my_app /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Configuring Your Database

Configure your database using the AWS RDS service. Create a new RDS instance and configure it to use your preferred database engine, such as PostgreSQL or MariaDB. Make a note of the endpoint and credentials.

Update your application configuration to use the RDS endpoint and credentials:

[{kernel,
   [{logger, [{handler, default, logger_std_h, #{level => debug}}]}]},
  {my_app,
   [{database,
     [{hostname, "my-rds-instance-endpoint.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com"},
      {port, 5432},
      {username, "my-db-username"},
      {password, "my-db-password"},
      {database, "my-db-name"}]}]}].

config :my_app,
  database: [
    hostname: "my-rds-instance-endpoint.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com",
    port: 5432,
    username: "my-db-username",
    password: "my-db-password",
    database: "my-db-name"
  ]

Configuring CloudWatch Monitoring

Configure CloudWatch monitoring to monitor your application's performance. Create a new CloudWatch dashboard and add widgets for EC2 metrics, such as CPU usage and network traffic, and your application metrics, such as requests per second and response time.

Add alarms for key metrics, such as high CPU usage or low free memory, and configure them to send notifications to your email or mobile phone.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully deployed your Erlang or Elixir application on AWS. You have learned how to set up your environment, configure your AWS account, and deploy your app using EC2, VPC, RDS, S3, and CloudWatch.

Remember to monitor your app's performance and scale it up or down as needed. AWS provides a wide range of services that can help you do this, such as Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing.

If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below or contact us at erlang.cloud. We're always happy to help!

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