After setting up my frontend on Vercel and wiring up code execution with Judge0, the next logical step was to host my backend. So I decided to go with AWS EC2 instance and deploy my API there.

How I thought

• Create an EC2 Instance
• Install Node.js
• Run my backend server
• Connect it to my frontend
• That’s it. Just a simple backend deployment.
• But AWS had other plans.

How it's gone

I created an AWS account. Clicked Launch Instance. Got hit with ten different configuration pages I didn’t fully understand. while configuring, I got so confused and didn't think deploying a backend was going to be hassle.

Youtube to the Rescue

After a YouTube tutorial, I managed to get the instance running.

I came across and learnt about Elastic IPs basically, static IPs can attach to an instance so they don’t change every time it restarts. I assigned one, reconfigured everything, and finally saw my backend live.

My thoughts about AWS

AWS is powerful, no doubt. But for beginners, it’s overwhelming. You’re thrown into the deep end with tonnes of services, dashboards, and horrible-looking website, and I came here just wanting to host a simple server.

The Backend Is Live (Finally!)

My backend is finally up and running on AWS. It wasn’t pretty, but it’s working, and that’s what counts.