Welcome to the AWS CodeStar sample web application

This sample code helps get you started with a simple Ruby on Rails web application deployed by AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

What's Here

This sample includes:

• README.md - this file
• .ebextensions/ - this directory contains the configuration files that allows AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy your application
• Gemfile - Gem requirements for the sample application
• Gemfile.lock - this file contains the specific versions of your application dependencies
• Rakefile - this file contains scripts available using the rake command
• app/ - this directory contains your sample application
• config/ - this directory contains config files for your application
• config.ru - this file contains configuration for Rack middleware
• db/ - this directory contains database files for your application
• lib/ - this directory contains library modules needed by your application
• log/ - this directory contains application log files
• public/ - this directory contains static web assets used by your application
• test/ - this directory contains tests for your application
• tmp/ - this directory contains temporary files for your application
• vendor/ - this directory contains third-party code such as plugins and gems

Getting Started

These directions assume you want to develop on your local computer, and not from the Amazon EC2 instance itself. If you're on the Amazon EC2 instance, the virtual environment is already set up for you, and you can start working on the code.

To work on the sample code, you'll need to clone your project's repository to your local computer. If you haven't, do that first. You can find instructions in the AWS CodeStar User Guide.

1. Install Rails (see http://guides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started.html)

2. Install bundle:

    $ gem install bundle
   

3. Install Ruby dependencies for this application:

    $ bundle install
   

4. Create a secret key for development:

    $ rake secret
   

5. Set the secret created in the preceding step as an environment variable:

   For Windows:

    $ set SECRET_KEY_BASE=YourSecretKey
   

   For Linux, macOS, or Unix:

    $ export SECRET_KEY_BASE=YourSecretKey
   

6. Create a binstub and start the Rails development server:

    $ rake app:update:bin && rails server
   

7. Open http://localhost:3000/ in a web browser to view your application.

Before you commit and push changes to your web application, make sure to change the secret key used by your application in production mode. You can do this by performing the following steps.

1. Open your Ruby on Rails project.

2. On the project's Dashboard page, in the Continuous deployment tile, choose the ElasticBeanstalk link.

3. In the Elastic Beanstalk console, for Environments, choose the tile for the Elastic Beanstalk environment.

4. Choose Configuration.

5. In the Software Configuration tile, choose the gear icon.

6. For Environment Properties, find the SECRET_KEY_BASE parameter.

7. Replace the existing value (for example, “12345ChangeMeBeforeRealUse67890”) with the value you get by running rake secret in a terminal session.

8. Choose Apply.

What Do I Do Next?

Once you have a virtual environment running, you can start making changes to the sample Rails web application. We suggest making a small change to /app/views/hello_page/hello.html.erb first, so you can see how changes pushed to your project's repository are automatically picked up and deployed to the Amazon EC2 instance by AWS Elastic Beanstalk. (You can watch the progress on your project dashboard.) Once you've seen how that works, start developing your own code, and have fun!

Learn more about AWS CodeStar by reading the User Guide. Ask questions or make suggestions on our forum.

User Guide: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/codestar/latest/userguide/welcome.html

Forum: https://forums.aws.amazon.com/forum.jspa?forumID=248

What Should I Do Before Running My Project in Production?

AWS recommends you review the security best practices recommended by the framework author of your selected sample application before running it in production. You should also regularly review and apply any available patches or associated security advisories for dependencies used within your application.

Best Practices: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codestar/latest/userguide/best-practices.html?icmpid=docs_acs_rm_sec