To design and implement a scalable, secure, and highly available infrastructure on AWS, leveraging best practices for VPC setup, application load balancing, auto scaling, monitoring, and security hardening.
Scalable, Secure Infrastructure on AWS
Goal
Solution
The solution involved creating a custom VPC with segregated public and private subnets, setting up an Application Load Balancer (ALB) with host-based routing, and configuring Auto Scaling Groups (ASG) for dynamic scaling based on demand.
Security was enforced using security groups, NACLs, a Bastion host for SSH access, and a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with custom rules. Additionally, CloudWatch was used for monitoring and alerting, with CloudWatch Agent installed on EC2 instances for granular metrics collection. OS updates and Nginx hardening were also implemented to strengthen security.
Key Components:
- Custom VPC: Segregated public and private subnets for enhanced security
- Application Load Balancer: Host-based routing for efficient traffic distribution
- Auto Scaling Groups: Dynamic scaling based on demand
- Security Groups & NACLs: Network-level security controls
- Bastion Host: Secure SSH access to private instances
- Web Application Firewall: Custom rules for application protection
- CloudWatch Monitoring: Comprehensive monitoring and alerting
Impact
Scalability
Highly resilient infrastructure that automatically scales based on demand, ensuring cost efficiency and optimal performance.
Security
Enhanced security through network segmentation, firewalls, and continuous monitoring.
Reliability
Improved system reliability with robust health checks and proactive scaling actions.
Performance
Secure infrastructure with up-to-date patches and hardened configurations for optimal performance.
Technical Architecture
Network Layer
- Custom VPC with multiple AZs
- Public and Private Subnets
- Internet Gateway & NAT Gateway
- Route Tables
Compute & Storage
- EC2 Instances (Auto Scaling)
- Application Load Balancer
- EBS Volumes
- S3 for static assets
Security & Monitoring
- Security Groups & NACLs
- AWS WAF
- CloudWatch & CloudWatch Agent
- CloudTrail for auditing
Project Overview
This project aimed to build a robust AWS infrastructure for a web application with a focus on scalability, security, and high availability. Key deliverables included setting up a custom VPC, configuring Auto Scaling, consolidating ALBs, integrating monitoring tools like CloudWatch, and implementing security measures such as a WAF and regular patching.
The solution ensures that the application can handle variable traffic loads while maintaining security and performance at all times. The infrastructure is designed to be cost-effective, scalable, and maintainable, providing a solid foundation for enterprise-level applications.