This course examines the process of using Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 as a platform for a database backed web application. It describes how to deploy an EC2 instance and a RDS instance, how to connect the EC2 instance and the RDS instance, how to connect PHP to the RDS database, and how to retrieve data. Learners will come away with an understanding of how to deploy EC2 with an application whether that application is PHP based or using another language. Requirements include basic understanding of SSH (Secure Shell), MySQL databases, and access to an AWS account (i.e., capable of deploying EC2 and RDS instances, working with security groups, key pairs, snapshots, and billing).

• Understand how to deploy an EC2 instance using Amazon Linux
• Learn how to install Apache, PHP, and MySQL on EC2
• Discover how to connect an EC2 instance to RDS and retrieve data
• Examine the differences between AWS EC2, Elastic Beanstalk, and Lightsail
• Explore the basics of EC2 storage and networking

Steve Suehring is an Assistant Professor of Computing and New Media Technologies at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Steve teaches courses on server and cloud engineering, systems design, LAMP stack programming, big data, and more. Prior to joining the faculty, Steve spent 20 years in the industry as a technical architect, systems engineer, and network administrator.