Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a foundational AWS service that provides secure, resizable virtual servers in the cloud. For PHP developers, EC2 instances are a common environment for deploying, running, and scaling everything from simple websites to complex, high-traffic web applications and APIs.
PHP Development on Amazon EC2
Working with PHP on EC2 involves more than just writing code; it often requires a blend of development and systems administration skills. Developers are responsible for provisioning instances and configuring the entire stack, which typically includes a Linux operating system, a web server like Nginx or Apache, PHP-FPM, and a database connection to a service like Amazon RDS. Managing security, scalability, and deployments are key aspects of the role.
Key Skills and Responsibilities
PHP developers working with EC2 should be proficient in the following areas:
- Server Provisioning: Launching and configuring EC2 instances with the appropriate resources (CPU, memory, storage).
- LEMP/LAMP Stack Management: Installing and maintaining the web server, PHP runtime, and related extensions.
- Security: Configuring Security Groups to act as a firewall, managing SSH access, and keeping server software updated.
- Deployment: Automating the process of deploying PHP application code to one or more EC2 instances, often using tools like Git, SSH, and deployment scripts.
- Basic Linux Administration: Navigating the command line, managing files and permissions, and monitoring server resources.
