Deploying Laravel to AWS Guide

Deploying Laravel to production is more than git push. AWS provides enterprise-grade infrastructure, but requires proper configuration for security, performance, and scalability. At ZIRA Software, we deploy dozens of Laravel applications on AWS, and this guide captures our battle-tested approach.

Why AWS for Laravel?

AWS advantages:

• Scalability on demand
• 99.99% uptime SLA
• Global infrastructure
• Managed services (RDS, ElastiCache, S3)
• Pay-as-you-go pricing
• Enterprise security

AWS Services we'll use:

• EC2: Virtual servers
• RDS: Managed MySQL/PostgreSQL
• S3: File storage
• ElastiCache: Redis/Memcached
• Route 53: DNS
• CloudFront: CDN

Prerequisites

• AWS account
• Domain name
• SSH key pair
• Basic Linux knowledge

Architecture Overview

        ┌─────────────┐
        │  Route 53   │ (DNS)
        └──────┬──────┘
               │
        ┌──────▼──────┐
        │ CloudFront  │ (CDN)
        └──────┬──────┘
               │
    ┌──────────▼──────────┐
    │  Elastic Load       │
    │  Balancer           │
    └──────────┬──────────┘
               │
    ┌──────────▼──────────┐
    │   EC2 Instances     │
    │   (Laravel App)     │
    └───┬──────────────┬──┘
        │              │
  ┌─────▼─────┐  ┌────▼────┐
  │    RDS    │  │   S3    │
  │  (MySQL)  │  │ (Files) │
  └───────────┘  └─────────┘

Step 1: Launch EC2 Instance

Create Instance

1. Go to EC2 Dashboard → Launch Instance
2. Choose AMI: Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS
3. Instance type: t2.micro (free tier) or t2.small
4. Configure security group:
   • SSH (22) - Your IP
   • HTTP (80) - Anywhere
   • HTTPS (443) - Anywhere
5. Create/select key pair
6. Launch instance

Connect to Instance

chmod 400 your-key.pem
ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-ip

Step 2: Configure Server

Update System

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Install PHP 7.0

sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt update

sudo apt install -y php7.0-fpm php7.0-cli php7.0-mcrypt php7.0-mysql \
    php7.0-curl php7.0-gd php7.0-mbstring php7.0-xml php7.0-zip

Install Nginx

sudo apt install -y nginx

# Start and enable
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Install Composer

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Install Git

sudo apt install -y git

Install Node.js (for asset compilation)

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Step 3: Setup RDS Database

Create RDS Instance

1. Go to RDS Dashboard → Create Database
2. Choose: MySQL 5.7
3. Template: Free tier or Production
4. DB Instance identifier: laravel-db
5. Master username: admin
6. Master password: (secure password)
7. Instance class: db.t2.micro
8. Storage: 20 GB
9. VPC security group: Allow access from EC2 security group
10. Create database

Get Connection Details

• Endpoint: laravel-db.xxxxx.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com
• Port: 3306
• Database name: laravel

Step 4: Setup S3 Bucket

Create Bucket

aws s3 mb s3://your-app-storage

Or via Console:

1. Go to S3 → Create Bucket
2. Bucket name: your-app-storage
3. Region: Same as EC2
4. Create

Configure CORS

[
    {
        "AllowedHeaders": ["*"],
        "AllowedMethods": ["GET", "PUT", "POST", "DELETE"],
        "AllowedOrigins": ["*"],
        "ExposeHeaders": []
    }
]

Create IAM User

1. IAM → Users → Add User
2. Username: laravel-s3-user
3. Access type: Programmatic access
4. Attach policy: AmazonS3FullAccess
5. Note Access Key ID and Secret

Step 5: Deploy Laravel Application

Create Directory

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/laravel
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/laravel
cd /var/www/laravel

Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/youruser/yourapp.git .

# Or upload files via SCP
scp -i your-key.pem -r /local/path ubuntu@ec2-ip:/var/www/laravel

Install Dependencies

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
npm install
npm run production

Configure Environment

cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Production .env:

APP_NAME="Your App"
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=laravel-db.xxxxx.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=laravel
DB_USERNAME=admin
DB_PASSWORD=your-rds-password

CACHE_DRIVER=redis
SESSION_DRIVER=redis
QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis

REDIS_HOST=your-elasticache-endpoint
REDIS_PASSWORD=null
REDIS_PORT=6379

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_BUCKET=your-app-storage

MAIL_DRIVER=ses
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=noreply@yourdomain.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

Generate Key & Migrate

php artisan key:generate
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

Set Permissions

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/laravel
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/laravel
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/laravel/storage
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/laravel/bootstrap/cache

Step 6: Configure Nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/laravel

Nginx configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/laravel/public;

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

    index index.php index.html;

    charset utf-8;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location = /robots.txt  { access_log off; log_not_found off; }

    error_page 404 /index.php;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
}

Enable site:

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

Step 7: Install SSL Certificate

Using Let's Encrypt (Free)

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Follow prompts and choose redirect option.

Auto-renewal:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Step 8: Setup Queue Worker

Create Supervisor Configuration

sudo apt install -y supervisor

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/laravel-worker.conf

Configuration:

[program:laravel-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=php /var/www/laravel/artisan queue:work redis --sleep=3 --tries=3 --max-time=3600
autostart=true
autorestart=true
stopasgroup=true
killasgroup=true
user=www-data
numprocs=2
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/www/laravel/storage/logs/worker.log
stopwaitsecs=3600

Start worker:

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start laravel-worker:*

Step 9: Setup Cron Jobs

sudo crontab -e -u www-data

Add:

* * * * * cd /var/www/laravel && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Step 10: Setup ElastiCache (Redis)

1. ElastiCache → Redis → Create
2. Name: laravel-cache
3. Node type: cache.t2.micro
4. Number of replicas: 0 (or 1 for HA)
5. Security group: Allow EC2 security group
6. Create

Update .env with ElastiCache endpoint.

Deployment Script

Create deployment script for updates:

#!/bin/bash

cd /var/www/laravel

# Maintenance mode
php artisan down

# Pull latest code
git pull origin main

# Install dependencies
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

# Migrate database
php artisan migrate --force

# Clear and cache
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

# Restart queue workers
sudo supervisorctl restart laravel-worker:*

# Exit maintenance mode
php artisan up

echo "Deployment complete!"

Make executable:

chmod +x deploy.sh

Monitoring & Logging

CloudWatch Logs

Install agent:

wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/amazoncloudwatch-agent/ubuntu/amd64/latest/amazon-cloudwatch-agent.deb
sudo dpkg -i amazon-cloudwatch-agent.deb

Application Logging

# View Laravel logs
tail -f /var/www/laravel/storage/logs/laravel.log

# View Nginx logs
tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

# View queue logs
tail -f /var/www/laravel/storage/logs/worker.log

Scaling

Horizontal Scaling

1. Create AMI from EC2 instance
2. Launch Auto Scaling Group
3. Add Load Balancer
4. Configure health checks

Vertical Scaling

Change instance type:

1. Stop instance
2. Change instance type
3. Start instance

Security Best Practices

1. Use Security Groups properly

   • Restrict SSH to your IP
   • Use VPC for RDS

2. Keep software updated

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

3. Disable debug mode

   APP_DEBUG=false

4. Rotate secrets

   • Change APP_KEY carefully
   • Rotate AWS keys regularly

5. Enable CloudTrail

   • Audit all AWS API calls

6. Use IAM roles

   • Attach IAM role to EC2 instead of hardcoding keys

Cost Optimization

Free tier eligible:

• EC2 t2.micro: 750 hours/month
• RDS db.t2.micro: 750 hours/month
• S3: 5GB storage
• CloudFront: 50GB transfer

Cost-saving tips:

• Use Reserved Instances (40-60% savings)
• Enable auto-scaling
• Use S3 lifecycle policies
• Monitor with Cost Explorer

Troubleshooting

500 Error:

# Check Laravel logs
tail -f storage/logs/laravel.log

# Check Nginx logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

# Check PHP-FPM
sudo systemctl status php7.0-fpm

Permission Issues:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/laravel
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/laravel
sudo chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

Database Connection Failed:

• Check RDS security group
• Verify credentials
• Test connection: mysql -h endpoint -u user -p

Conclusion

AWS provides robust infrastructure for Laravel applications. While the initial setup requires effort, the result is a scalable, secure production environment. At ZIRA Software, this architecture supports applications serving millions of requests monthly.

Follow this guide, adapt to your needs, and you'll have a production-ready Laravel deployment on AWS.

Need help deploying to AWS? Contact ZIRA Software to discuss infrastructure setup, DevOps automation, and cloud architecture for your Laravel application.