Production Setup

This guide walks through deploying Dharini on AWS infrastructure for production use.

Prerequisites

• AWS Account with appropriate permissions
• Domain name for your deployment
• SSH key pair for EC2 access

Step 1: Set Up AWS RDS Database

Create PostgreSQL RDS Instance

1. Go to AWS RDS Console

2. Click Create database

3. Choose the following settings:

   • Engine: PostgreSQL 16.x
   • Template: Production
   • DB instance identifier: dharini-prod-db
   • Master username: postgres (or your choice)
   • Master password: Set a strong password
   • Instance class: db.t3.micro (or larger based on needs)
   • Storage: 20 GB GP3
   • Enable storage autoscaling: Yes
   • Multi-AZ: Optional (recommended for high availability)

4. Connectivity:

   • VPC: Choose your VPC
   • Public access: No (unless needed)
   • VPC security group: Create new or use existing
   • Availability Zone: No preference

5. Additional configuration:

   • Initial database name: postgres
   • Enable automated backups: Yes
   • Backup retention: 7 days (or more)
   • Enable encryption: Yes

6. Click Create database

Configure Security Group

Add inbound rule to the RDS security group:

• Type: PostgreSQL
• Port: 5432
• Source: Your EC2 instance’s security group or private IP

Install PostGIS Extension

Connect to your RDS instance:

psql -h dharini-prod-db.xxxxxxxxx.region.rds.amazonaws.com -U postgres -d postgres

Run the following SQL:

CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis;
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis_topology;
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "uuid-ossp";

Step 2: Set Up AWS S3 Bucket

1. Go to AWS S3 Console

2. Click Create bucket

3. Configure:

   • Bucket name: dharini-prod-storage (must be globally unique)
   • Region: Same as your EC2 instance
   • Block Public Access: Enable (keep bucket private)
   • Versioning: Optional
   • Encryption: Enable (SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS)

4. Create IAM user with S3 access:

   • Go to IAM Console
   • Create user dharini-s3-access
   • Attach policy with S3 bucket access
   • Generate access keys
   • Save Access Key ID and Secret Access Key

Step 3: Launch EC2 Instance

Create Instance

1. Go to EC2 Console
2. Click Launch Instance
3. Configure:
   • Name: dharini-prod
   • AMI: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS
   • Instance type: t3.medium (or larger)
   • Key pair: Select or create new
   • VPC: Same VPC as RDS
   • Security group: Create new with rules below

Security Group Configuration

Add the following inbound rules:

Type	Port	Source	Description
SSH	22	Your IP	SSH access
HTTP	80	0.0.0.0/0	Web traffic
HTTPS	443	0.0.0.0/0	Secure web

Step 4: Install Docker

SSH into your EC2 instance:

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

Install Docker:

# Update package index
sudo apt-get update

# Install prerequisites
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

# Add Docker's official GPG key
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

# Set up the repository
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

# Update package index again
sudo apt-get update

# Install Docker Engine and plugins
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io \
  docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

# Add ubuntu user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu

# Enable and start Docker
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

Log out and back in for group changes to take effect:

exit
ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-ip

Verify Docker installation:

docker --version
docker compose version

Step 5: Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/dsih-artpark/dharini.git
cd dharini

Step 6: Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the repository root. See Environment Variables for complete reference.

Minimum required configuration:

# Application
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=4000

# Database - RDS
DB_HOST=dharini-prod-db.xxxxxxxxx.region.rds.amazonaws.com
DB_PORT=5432
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=your-rds-password
DB_DATABASE=postgres

# Redis (Docker)
REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379

# AWS S3
S3_REGION=ap-south-1
S3_BUCKET=dharini-prod-storage
S3_ACCESSKEYID=your-access-key-id
S3_SECRETACCESSKEY=your-secret-access-key
S3_ENDPOINT=https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com
S3_FOLDER=dharini-prod

# Security
JWT_SECRET=generate-a-strong-random-secret

# Email (optional - configure based on provider)
SENDGRID_API_KEY=
GMAIL_USER=
GMAIL_PASS=
EMAIL_FROM=

# Frontend
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://your-domain.com/api
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_ENV=production

Step 7: Start Docker Services

docker compose --profile production up -d --build

Check service status:

docker ps

You should see:

• backend (running)
• frontend (running)
• apk-server (running)
• redis (running)

Step 8: Run Database Migrations

docker exec -it backend npm run migration:run

Verify tables were created:

PGSSLMODE=require psql -h your-rds-endpoint -U postgres -d postgres -c "\dt"

Step 9: Set Up Nginx

Install Nginx:

sudo apt-get install -y nginx

Create Nginx configuration. See Nginx Configuration for complete setup.

Step 10: Set Up SSL Certificates

Install Certbot:

sudo apt-get install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Generate SSL certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Follow the prompts to complete SSL setup.

Step 11: Configure DNS

Point your domain to your EC2 instance:

1. Go to your DNS provider
2. Add an A record:
   • Name: @ (or subdomain like in)
   • Type: A
   • Value: Your EC2 public IP
   • TTL: 300

Step 12: Verify Deployment

1. Visit https://your-domain.com - should load the frontend
2. Visit https://your-domain.com/api/docs - should load API documentation
3. Check logs for errors:

docker logs backend -f
docker logs frontend -f

Post-Deployment

• Set up monitoring (CloudWatch, Datadog, etc.)
• Configure automated backups
• Set up log aggregation
• Create admin user account
• Test all functionality

Next Steps

• Environment Variables - Full configuration reference
• Nginx Configuration - Detailed reverse proxy setup
• Troubleshooting - Common issues and fixes