Introduction: The Need for Speed in E-commerce Deployment
In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, speed is of the essence. Whether you’re launching a new online store or testing a market’s viability, the ability to deploy and configure a fully functional e-commerce platform rapidly is critical. In this blog post, we’ll explore a streamlined approach to deploying an e-commerce store on AWS using Terraform and Ansible. We’ll demonstrate how this method allows you to validate the market viability of a store like TCB within just 2 hours.
The Challenge: Validating Market Viability of TCB Store in 2 Hours
Launching an e-commerce store often requires substantial time and resources. However, when you need to assess the market’s response to your product or concept quickly, a fast deployment is crucial. The challenge here is to deploy TCB Store, a fully functional Magento-based e-commerce platform, and validate its market viability within 2 hours.
The Solution: Automating Infrastructure and Configuration with Terraform and Ansible
To meet this challenge, we can leverage the power of infrastructure through code (IaC) and configuration management. Terraform and Ansible are potent tools that automate infrastructure deployment and software configuration. Terraform allows you to provision the necessary AWS resources quickly, while Ansible automates the installation and configuration of Magento, the e-commerce platform.
Step 1: Rapid Infrastructure Provisioning with Terraform
The first step in our rapid deployment process is to set up the necessary infrastructure on AWS using Terraform.
Installing Terraform on AWS Cloud Shell
AWS Cloud Shell provides a browser-based terminal pre-configured with the necessary tools for cloud management, including Terraform. To begin:
- Launch AWS Cloud Shell from the AWS Management Console.
- Install Terraform using the following commands:
curl -O https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/1.0.0/terraform_1.0.0_linux_amd64.zip
unzip terraform_1.0.0_linux_amd64.zip
sudo mv terraform /usr/local/bin/
terraform –version
This ensures you have Terraform ready for provisioning infrastructure.
Deploying EC2 Instance in a VPC
With Terraform installed, create a Terraform script to deploy an EC2 instance within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC):
- Create a main.tf file with the following configuration:
provider “aws” {
region = “us-west-2”
}
resource “aws_instance” “web” {
ami = “ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0”
instance_type = “t2.micro”
tags = {
Name = “TCB-Store”
}
}
- Initialize and apply the Terraform configuration:
terraform init
terraform apply -auto-approve
This will provision an EC2 instance in the specified AWS region.
Step 2: Automating Software Deployment with Ansible
With the infrastructure in place, the next step is to automate the deployment of Magento using Ansible.
Installing Ansible on EC2 Instance
- SSH into the newly created EC2 instance.
Install Ansible with the following commands:
sudo amazon-linux-extras install ansible2 -y
ansible –version
- This prepares the environment for automated software deployment.
Configuring Ansible for Magento Installation
Next, create an Ansible playbook to automate the installation of Magento:
- Create a magento-install.yml file:
—
– hosts: localhost
become: yes
tasks:
– name: Install Apache, MySQL, and PHP
yum:
name:
– httpd
– mysql-server
– php
– php-mysql
state: present
– name: Start Apache and MySQL
service:
name: “{{ item }}”
state: started
with_items:
– httpd
– mysqld
– name: Download Magento
get_url:
url: https://github.com/magento/magento2/archive/refs/tags/2.4.2.tar.gz
dest: /var/www/html/magento.tar.gz
– name: Extract Magento
unarchive:
src: /var/www/html/magento.tar.gz
dest: /var/www/html/
remote_src: yes
- Run the Ansible playbook:
ansible-playbook magento-install.yml - This playbook automates the installation of the necessary software stack and Magento.
Step 3: Manual Magento Installation and Ansible Configuration
While automation speeds up most processes, some manual steps are still necessary to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Downloading and Installing Magento
Although Ansible handles the initial download, some manual configuration of Magento is required:
- Navigate to the Magento directory:
cd /var/www/html/magento2-2.4.2 - Follow the Magento setup wizard in the browser by accessing your EC2 instance’s public IP.
Configuring Ansible Playbooks
To further automate post-installation tasks, update your Ansible playbook to include Magento’s database configuration, file permissions, and cron job setup.
Step 4: Testing and Customizing the E-commerce Website
After setting up Magento, it’s time to test and personalize your store.
Accessing the Magento Admin Panel
To ensure everything works correctly, access the Magento admin panel via your EC2 instance’s public IP using the credentials you set up during installation.
Personalizing the Website Appearance and Content
Customize the look and feel of your e-commerce store by selecting themes, configuring settings, and adding products. This step is crucial for tailoring the store to your market needs.
Step 5: Cleaning Up: Removing Deployed Resources
Once you’ve validated your market concept, clean up the resources to avoid unnecessary costs.
- Destroy the infrastructure provisioned by Terraform:
terraform destroy -auto-approve
- Terminate the EC2 instance and other associated resources manually if necessary.
Conclusion: Accelerated E-commerce Deployment for Rapid Market Validation
Deploying an e-commerce platform rapidly is a manageable task. By automating infrastructure provisioning with Terraform and software deployment with Ansible, you can launch a fully functional e-commerce store in hours. This approach allows for quick market validation, ensuring you can make informed business decisions with minimal time and resource investment.
References
Automate Ansible playbook deployment with Amazon EC2 and GitHub