Deployment¶

This guide covers deploying the License Key Server on a fresh AWS EC2 instance. The server requires Node.js 20 and PM2 to keep it running after SSH sessions end.

Step 1 — Launch an EC2 instance¶

Go to EC2 → Launch Instance in the AWS Console.
Choose Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS (free tier eligible).
Instance type: t3.micro (or t2.micro for free tier).
Key pair: select your existing .pem file or create a new one.
Under Network settings → Edit, add inbound rules:
HTTP, port 80, Source: 0.0.0.0/0 (or restrict to your IP range)
SSH, port 22, Source: My IP
Launch and note the Public IPv4 address.

Step 2 — Upload the server files¶

From your local machine, SCP the license-server folder to the EC2 instance:

scp -i /path/to/your-key.pem -r /path/to/license-server ubuntu@<EC2-PUBLIC-IP>:~/calibration-guard-web

Or clone from your repo:

ssh -i /path/to/your-key.pem ubuntu@<EC2-PUBLIC-IP>
git clone <your-repo-url> calibration-guard-web

Step 3 — Install Node.js¶

SSH into the instance:

ssh -i /path/to/your-key.pem ubuntu@<EC2-PUBLIC-IP>

Install Node.js 20 via nvm:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install 20
nvm use 20
node -v   # should print v20.x.x

Step 4 — Install dependencies¶

cd ~/calibration-guard-web
npm install

Step 5 — Start with PM2¶

Install PM2 globally:

npm install -g pm2

Start the server on port 80 with your credentials:

PORT=80 AUTH_USER=admin AUTH_PASS=yourSecurePassword pm2 start server.js --name calibguard

Save and configure startup on reboot:

pm2 save
pm2 startup   # run the command it prints (starts with "sudo env PATH=...")

Step 6 — Verify¶

Open a browser and go to http://<EC2-PUBLIC-IP>. A browser login prompt will appear. Enter the credentials you set in Step 5.

License Key Server login prompt

Screenshot: browser showing HTTP basic auth login prompt for CalibGuard Key Generator

Updating credentials¶

pm2 stop calibguard
PORT=80 AUTH_USER=admin AUTH_PASS=newPassword pm2 start server.js --name calibguard
pm2 save

Useful PM2 commands¶

pm2 status             # show running processes and uptime
pm2 logs calibguard    # tail live logs
pm2 restart calibguard # restart the process
pm2 stop calibguard    # stop the process

Optional: HTTPS with a custom domain¶

If you have a domain pointing to the EC2 IP:

Install nginx and Certbot:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/calibguard:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

Enable and reload:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/calibguard /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Get a free SSL certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Change PM2 to run on port 3000 (nginx handles 80/443):

pm2 stop calibguard
PORT=3000 AUTH_USER=admin AUTH_PASS=yourPassword pm2 start server.js --name calibguard
pm2 save