AWS App Runner
Tags: aws, webdev, node
Published: 2023-03-11 17:03:58

AWS App Runner is a fully managed service that makes it easier to build, deploy, and run containerized applications. With AWS App Runner, developers can focus on building and improving their applications without worrying about the infrastructure. In this article, we will explore how to use AWS App Runner with Node.js code snippets.

Prerequisites:

Before we start, make sure you have an AWS account, Node.js installed on your machine, and have the AWS CLI configured on your machine.

Creating a Node.js application:

First, let's create a simple Node.js application that we will deploy to AWS App Runner. We will create a simple API that will return a "Hello World" message. Create a new folder for your project and initialize a new Node.js project by running the following command:

```js
npm init -y

```

Next, install the express module by running the following command:

```bash
npm install express
```

Create a new file called index.js and add the following code to it:

```js 
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('App is listening on port 3000!');
});


```

Deploying the application to AWS App Runner:

Now that we have created our Node.js application, let's deploy it to AWS App Runner. To do this, we will use the AWS CLI. Open a terminal or command prompt and run the following command:

```bash
aws apprunner create-service --service-name nodejs-app --source-configuration "ImageRepository={ImageIdentifier=nodejs-app,ImageRepositoryType=ECR},AutoDeploymentsEnabled=true" --region us-west-2


```


This command will create a new AWS App Runner service called "nodejs-app" and enable automatic deployments. The --source-configuration parameter specifies that the service should use an image stored in an Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) repository with the identifier "nodejs-app".

After the service is created, you can view its status by running the following command:

```bash
aws apprunner describe-service --service-arn <SERVICE_ARN> --region us-west-2


```

Replace <SERVICE_ARN> with the ARN of the service that was created in the previous step. The command will return information about the service, including its status.

Accessing the deployed application:

Once the service is deployed, you can access the application by running the following command:



```bash
aws apprunner list-operations --service-arn <SERVICE_ARN> --region us-west-2


```

This command will return a list of all the operations that were performed on the service, including the URL of the deployed application. Copy the URL and open it in a web browser. You should see a "Hello World" message.

Conclusion:

AWS App Runner makes it easy to deploy and run containerized applications without worrying about the infrastructure. In this article, we explored how to use AWS App Runner with Node.js code snippets. We created a simple Node.js application, deployed it to AWS App Runner, and accessed the deployed application. With AWS App Runner, developers can focus on building and improving their applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.