Running Strapi in Production on AWS: A Comprehensive Guide
With over 39,000 GitHub stars, Strapi is one of the most popular open-source headless Content Management Systems (CMSes). While Strapi’s cloud version is not yet available, hosting it on AWS is a viable option. In this article, we’ll explore the essential components required to run Strapi in production on AWS.
The Essential Components
To run Strapi in production, you’ll need:
- Compute Capacity: A server to run your app, such as an AWS EC2 instance.
- Database: A database to store content, such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, or MongoDB.
- Storage: A location to store media files, such as AWS S3.
- Monitoring: A system to collect and view application logs, such as AWS CloudWatch.
- Secret Management: A secure way to handle access keys, passwords, and other sensitive information, such as AWS System Manager Parameter Store.
- Scalability: A system that can easily scale to meet changing demands, such as an Application Load Balancer (ALB) and EC2 autoscaling groups.
Compute Capacity: EC2 and Containers
When it comes to compute capacity, you have two main options: running Strapi on an AWS EC2 instance or using containers. For EC2, choose an instance type that can run Strapi, such as t2.small, and select an Amazon Linux 2 AMI for easy integration with other AWS services. Set up a security group to control inbound and outbound traffic, and ensure SSH access is only allowed from your internal network.
For containers, AWS offers a range of services, including Elastic Container Registry (ECR), Elastic Container Service (ECS), and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS). You can use the official Strapi Docker image and choose between ECS and EKS for orchestration. Fargate provides a serverless container compute engine, eliminating the need to manage underlying infrastructure.
Database: Choosing the Right Option
By default, Strapi connects to an SQLite database, but this is not suitable for production. Instead, choose from PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, or MongoDB (although MongoDB is no longer supported in Strapi V4). Consider using AWS RDS to eliminate the complexity of configuring, scaling, and backing up a database.
Storage: Managing Media Files
Storing assets in a relational database is not recommended. Instead, use Strapi’s upload providers, such as the AWS S3 provider. Install the provider via npm and configure it to store files in an S3 bucket. Ensure your application has the necessary permissions to write to the bucket by using IAM roles for EC2.
Monitoring: Keeping Track of Your Application
In a production environment, monitoring is crucial. Use AWS CloudWatch to monitor both your application and AWS resources. Install the CloudWatch agent on your EC2 machine or Docker container to send metrics and logs to CloudWatch.
Secret Management: Keeping Sensitive Information Secure
Use AWS System Manager Parameter Store to keep passwords, database strings, access keys, and other sensitive information secure. This service integrates with both EC2 and ECS, allowing you to fetch parameters using the AWS CLI and export them as environment variables in your.env.production file.
Scalability: Ensuring Your System Can Grow
To ensure scalability, consider using an ALB in front of your application. This provides multiple benefits, including the ability to add multiple instances or containers when needed, support for HTTPS, and blue/green deployments. Additionally, use EC2 autoscaling groups to automatically launch or terminate instances based on demand.
By following these guidelines, you’ll be well on your way to running Strapi in production on AWS. Remember to carefully consider each component and make informed decisions to ensure a scalable, secure, and efficient system.