Installation.md

Configure EC2 for .NET Core 2.0

This document will list the steps necessary to run a .NET Core web application on an Ubuntu 16.04 EC2 instance on AWS.

Installing .NET Core (Ubuntu 16.04)

1. Download and register the Microsoft product key.

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg
sudo mv microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg

2. Set up the host package feed and update repository listings.

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/microsoft-ubuntu-xenial-prod xenial main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dotnetdev.list'
sudo apt-get update

3. Install .NET Core

sudo apt-get install dotnet-sdk-2.1.3

4. Run the dotnet --version command to prove the installation succeeded.

Installing nginx

1. Install nginx

sudo apt-get install nginx

2. Start nginx

sudo service nginx start

3. Edit configuration for reverse proxy to .NET application.

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

4. Replace /etc/nginx/sites-available/default with:

server {
    listen 80;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection keep-alive;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

5. Test the syntax of /etc/nginx/sites-available/default/.

sudo nginx -t

6. Reload nginx configuration.

sudo nginx -s reload

Installing your app

1. Edit your project's .csproj. Add <PublishWithAspNetCoreTargetManifest>false</PublishWithAspNetCoreTargetManifest> to the <PropertyGroup> section of the .csproj file.

2. If you are using built in authentication:

Add:

app.UseForwardedHeaders(new ForwardedHeadersOptions
{
    ForwardedHeaders = ForwardedHeaders.XForwardedFor | ForwardedHeaders.XForwardedProto
});

to your application's Startup.cs file before calling app.UseAuthentication();.

3. Publish your project.

4. Copy the published output to your EC2 instance.

5. Give ownership of your app files to the www-data user and group.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /app/files/directory

6. Set up system service for your app.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/kestrel-{application-name}.service

Put this content in the file:

[Unit]
Description={application-description}

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/app/files/directory
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /app/files/directory/{application-name}.dll
Restart=always
RestartSec=10  # Restart service after 10 seconds if dotnet service crashes
SyslogIdentifier=dotnet-{application-name}
User=www-data
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
Environment=DOTNET_PRINT_TELEMETRY_MESSAGE=false

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

7. Enable the service.

    sudo systemctl enable kestrel-{application-name}.service

Manage the service using these commands:

    sudo systemctl start kestrel-hellomvc.service

    sudo systemctl status kestrel-hellomvc.service

    sudo systemctl restart kestrel-hellomvc.service

    sudo systemctl stop kestrel-hellomvc.service

Configure EC2 for MySQL

1. Update Package List, Install MySQL, and Follow Guided Install.

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install mysql-server
    mysql_secure_installation

2. Edit Configuration:

    sudo nano /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf

3. Change Bind address to 0.0.0.0:

    bind-address = 0.0.0.0

4. Restart MySQL:

    sudo service mysql restart

5. Login to MySQL using your root account:

    mysql -u root -p

6. Setup a local account. !Replace the myuser and mypass with your own!

    CREATE USER 'myuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypass';
    CREATE USER 'myuser'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypass';

7. Grant new user permissons on all databases. !Replace myuser with your own!

    GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'myuser'@'localhost';
    GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'myuser'@'%';