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https://github.com/mozilla/awsbox

INACTIVE - http://mzl.la/ghe-archive - A featherweight PaaS on top of Amazon EC2 for deploying node apps
https://github.com/mozilla/awsbox

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INACTIVE - http://mzl.la/ghe-archive - A featherweight PaaS on top of Amazon EC2 for deploying node apps

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[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/mozilla/awsbox.png?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/mozilla/awsbox)



## A Lightweight DIY PaaS for Amazon Web Services



Amazon Web Services (AWS) "Elastic Compute Cloud" provides low cost, instant

on VMs that can be used to deploy any kind of service.  AWS also provides a

full set of APIs that make it possible to programatically allocate servers.

Finally, AWS offers the ability to create "template" instances (Amazon Machine

Images) that are VM snapshots.



*The problem:* For small scale nodejs projects, there's a lot of

administrative boiler plate work that one must to set up a machine.

You must install web server software, set up security policies and network

access, copy up your keypair, determine how you'll deploy your software on the

new VM, etc.



"Platform as a service" providers like heroku make most of these decisions for

you, providing a demand spun "vm-like" thing that you can deploy code on by

adhering to a couple conventions and `git pushing`.  Where heroku breaks down

is in *generativity* - you are limited to doing things that heroku has thought

of, and when you want to do something custom (install a new native software

library, run an experimental database for which you cannot find a third party

hosted provider) - you are screwed.



Also, heroku is relatively expensive.  The moment you want to run two

processes, you're paying 0.05$/hr for that process vs. on aws where

you can purchase a "micro" instance for 0.02$/hr for the whole VM.

The final area of expense is in "add-ons" - service providers that offer

things like hosted databases, email sending, etc.  A small scale database

can cost another .015$/hr.



But Wait!  What about [nodejitsu]?  Well, probably use them: they're

awesome, smart, admirably share their work, have a free service for

non-commercial deployments, and *just work* for most apps.  But

sometimes you might want full control.  That you?  Read on...  (NOTE:

awsbox is *built* on lots of nodejistu stuffs).



  [nodejitsu]: http://nodejitsu.com/



So what we maybe want is the convenience of Nodejitsu and Heroku, and the

pricing and freedom of a raw amazon image...



*The solution:* **awsbox** is a set of nodejs scripts, a command line utility,

and a template image (AMI).  Together it allows you to deploy a new server

from the command line that is pre-configured to run your Node.JS service.



## Features



  * **nodejs focused** - While other stacks could be supported in the future,

    awsbox is laser focused on node.js to start.

  * **full root access** - awsbox just gets you started, after that you can do

    Whatever You Want.

  * **magic ssh key config** - Your SSH key will be copied up and installed for you.

  * **git push support** - After you provision a vm, it's pre-configured so you can

    push to deploy

  * **multi-region support** - awsbox base AMIs are published in every region AWS

    supports, so you can deploy anywhere.

  * **command line or programmatic usage** - type at it, or script it.

  * **OS level user isolation** - all deployed code is run with user permissions under

    a single account.

  * **HTTP forwarding with custom 503 page** - [nginx] is pre-configured to forward

    requests to your nodejs process bound to a local port.

  * **SSL support** - By default your process runs with a self-signed cert.  Enabling

    SSL support is as easy as copying up a private key and certificate in [PEM] format.

  * **WebSocket support** - AWSBOX fully supports WebSockets, via [socket.io] or otherwise.

  * **Route53 support** - manage your DNS from the command line, and have DNS set up for

    your boxes at creation time.



  [nginx]: https://nginx.org

  [PEM]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.509

  [socket.io]: http://socket.io



## Get Started



Start by working through [the tutorial].  Then have a look at the [Hello World] sample app.

And after that, check out [the documentation] in this repository.



  [the tutorial]: https://github.com/mozilla/awsbox/blob/master/doc/TUTORIAL.md

  [Hello World]: https://github.com/lloyd/awsbox-helloworld

  [the documentation]: https://github.com/mozilla/awsbox/tree/master/doc