When I started this project, I thought it would be a straightforward deployment. From database connection errors to broken Terraform configs and missing Ansible templates, this project pushed me to think like a real DevOps engineer — not just follow tutorials. In this article, I’ll walk you through how I deployed a Node.js application (EpicBook) using: Terraform → Infrastructure provisioningAnsible → Configuration & deploymentAWS (EC2 + RDS) → HostingPM2 + Nginx → Production runtime And most importantly…👉 I’ll show you the exact commands, mistakes, and fixes so you can replicate it yourself. 🏗️ Architecture Overview Here’s what we’re building: EC2 (Ubuntu) → Runs the appRDS (MySQL) → Stores data (private subnet)Nginx → Reverse proxyPM2 → Keeps Node.js running⚙️ Step 1: Provision Infrastructure with Terraform First, I navigated into my Terraform directory: Then initialized Terraform: And applied the infrastructure: terraform apply⚠️ First Major ProblemError: No configuration files 💡 Fix: I was in the wrong directory. Always ensure you're inside the folder containing .tf files. ⚠️ Second Problem (Very Important)DBSubnetGroupDoesNotCoverEnoughAZs 💡 Fix:RDS requires at least 2 Availability Zones. I updated my Terraform to include: Multiple private subnetsDifferent AZs✅ Output ec2_public_ip = "13.x.x.x"rds_endpoint = "epicbook-db.xxxxx.amazonaws.com:3306"🔐 Step 2: Connect to EC2ssh -i ~/.ssh/key.pem ubuntu@⚙️ Step 3: Install Ansiblesudo apt updatesudo apt install ansible-core -y ansible --version⚠️ Error I Hitansible-playbook: command not found 💡 Fix: Install Ansible (it’s not pre-installed). 🤖 Step 4: Run Ansible Playbookcd ansibleansible-playbook -i inventory.ini site.yml Nginx setupApp deploymentDB configuration📦 Step 5: Application Setup git clone npm installsudo apt install nodejs npm mysql-client -y🛢️ Step 6: Database Setup (RDS) I created the database: mysql -h -u admin -p -e "CREATE DATABASE bookstore;"⚠️ Big Issue #1ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:3306 💡 Cause:App was trying to connect to localhost Passed environment variables:DB_HOST → RDS endpointDB_NAME → bookstore⚙️ Step 7: Configure App Using Ansible template: template: src: config.json.j2 dest: /var/www/epicbook/config/config.json⚠️ Errorconfig.json.j2 not found 💡 Fix:Create the file here: roles/epicbook/templates/config.json.j2🚀 Step 8: Run App with PM2npm install -g pm2pm2 start server.js --name epicbookpm2 save⚠️ Issuepm2 delete epicbook → not found ignore_errors: true🗄️ Step 9: Database Schema & Seeding This was the trickiest part. mysql -h -u admin -p bookstore < BuyTheBook_Schema.sql mysql -h -u admin -p bookstore < author_seed.sqlmysql -h -u admin -p bookstore < books_seed.sql⚠️ Issue #1Table 'books' doesn't exist 💡 Fix:Schema must run before seeding ⚠️ Issue #2Unknown database 'bookstore' Standardised DB name across:TerraformAnsibleSQL files⚠️ Issue #3Table already exists 💡 Fix:Make tasks idempotent: ignore_errors: yes🎉 Final Result ✅ And finally…📚 Books were displaying from the database That moment? Worth every error. 🧠 What This Project Taught MeTerraform is for infrastructure, not configurationAnsible eliminates manual setup (when done right) DB → Config → App → SeedDebugging is a core DevOps skillSmall misconfigurations (like DB name) can break everything💡 What I’d Improve NextUse Ansible MySQL modules instead of shellAdd Load Balancer (ALB)Implement Auto ScalingStore secrets in AWS Secrets ManagerAdd CI/CD pipeline🚀 Final Thoughts This wasn’t just a deployment project. It was a real-world DevOps experience: Broken configsDebugging under pressureFixing issues step by step And in the end… building something that actually works in production. 🔗 If you're learning DevOps Don’t just follow tutorials. 👉 Break things👉 Fix them👉 Understand why Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. as well , this person and/or