Employee Directory App

A web application to manage employees — built with Docker and deployed on AWS EKS.

---

Part 1 — Launch an EC2 Instance

1. Go to EC2 → Launch Instance

2. Choose:

   • AMI: Amazon Linux 2023
   • Instance type: t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM)
   • Storage: 20 GB gp3

3. Create or select a key pair (.pem file)

4. Configure Security Group — open these ports:

   Port	Purpose
   22	SSH
   80	HTTP
   5000	Backend API
   8080	Frontend

5. Launch and SSH in:

chmod 400 your-key.pem
ssh -i your-key.pem ec2-user@<EC2_PUBLIC_IP>

---

Part 2 — Install Docker on the EC2 Instance

sudo dnf update -y
sudo dnf install -y docker git
sudo systemctl enable --now docker
sudo usermod -aG docker ec2-user
newgrp docker

Verify:

docker --version

---

Part 3 — Clone the Repo

git clone https://github.com/LandmakTechnology/employee-app.git
cd employee-app

---

Part 4 — Build the Docker Images

docker build -t employee-backend:v1 ./backend
docker build -t employee-frontend:v1 ./frontend

Verify:

docker images

---

Part 5 — Tag and Push to DockerHub

1. Log in to DockerHub:

docker login
# enter your DockerHub username and password/token

2. Tag the images (replace <your-dockerhub-username>):

docker tag employee-backend:v1 <your-dockerhub-username>/employee-backend:v1
docker tag employee-frontend:v1 <your-dockerhub-username>/employee-frontend:v1

3. Push:

docker push <your-dockerhub-username>/employee-backend:v1
docker push <your-dockerhub-username>/employee-frontend:v1

---

Part 6 — Install Terraform on Your Local Machine

macOS (Homebrew):

brew tap hashicorp/tap
brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform

Linux:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common
wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install terraform

Verify:

terraform -version

---

Part 7 — Create an IAM User and Configure AWS CLI

7.1 Create the IAM User

1. Go to IAM → Users → Create user
2. Username: terraform-user
3. Select Attach policies directly and attach:
   • AmazonEKSClusterPolicy
   • AmazonEKSWorkerNodePolicy
   • AmazonEC2FullAccess
   • IAMFullAccess
   • AmazonVPCFullAccess
   • AmazonEKSFullAccess (or AdministratorAccess for a lab environment)
4. Go to the user → Security credentials → Create access key
5. Choose CLI use case and save the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key

7.2 Install AWS CLI

macOS:

brew install awscli

Linux:

curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install

7.3 Configure AWS CLI

aws configure --profile terraform

Enter when prompted:

AWS Access Key ID:     <your-access-key-id>
AWS Secret Access Key: <your-secret-access-key>
Default region name:   us-east-1
Default output format: json

Verify:

aws sts get-caller-identity --profile terraform

---

Part 8 — Create the Kubernetes Cluster on AWS with Terraform

cd employee-app/terraform

Initialize Terraform:

terraform init

Preview the infrastructure:

terraform plan -var-file=env/dev/terraform.tfvars

Apply (this creates the VPC, EKS cluster, and node group — takes ~15 min):

terraform apply -var-file=env/dev/terraform.tfvars

Type yes when prompted.

---

Part 9 — Authenticate kubectl to the EKS Cluster

Install kubectl if not already installed:

# macOS
brew install kubectl

# Linux
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -sL https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
chmod +x kubectl && sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/

Update your kubeconfig:

aws eks update-kubeconfig --name landmark-cluster-dev --region us-east-1 --profile terraform

Verify the connection:

kubectl get nodes

---

Part 10 — Deploy a Pod, Service, and Deployment Using Your DockerHub Image

10.1 Create the Namespace

kubectl create namespace employee-app

10.2 Create a Pod

kubectl run backend-pod \
  --image=<your-dockerhub-username>/employee-backend:v1 \
  --port=5000 \
  --namespace=employee-app

Check it:

kubectl get pods -n employee-app
kubectl logs backend-pod -n employee-app

10.3 Create a Deployment

# deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: backend
  namespace: employee-app
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: backend
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: backend
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: backend
          image: <your-dockerhub-username>/employee-backend:v1
          ports:
            - containerPort: 5000

Apply:

kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
kubectl rollout status deployment/backend -n employee-app

10.4 Create a NodePort Service

# service.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: backend-nodeport
  namespace: employee-app
spec:
  type: NodePort
  selector:
    app: backend
  ports:
    - port: 5000
      targetPort: 5000
      nodePort: 30500

Apply:

kubectl apply -f service.yaml
kubectl get svc -n employee-app

---

Part 11 — Access the App via NodePort

1. Get the public IP of any worker node:

kubectl get nodes -o wide
# copy the EXTERNAL-IP of any node

2. Make sure port 30500 is open in the EC2 Security Group of the worker nodes.

3. Open in your browser or curl:

curl http://<NODE_EXTERNAL_IP>:30500/api/health

---

API Endpoints

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/employees	List all employees
POST	/api/employees	Create employee
PUT	/api/employees/<id>	Update employee
DELETE	/api/employees/<id>	Delete employee
GET	/api/health	Health check