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Cloud Platform Engineering Lab

A production-style cloud engineering project demonstrating Infrastructure as Code, automation, container platforms, monitoring, security and DevOps practices using:

  • AWS
  • Terraform
  • Ansible
  • Docker
  • Nginx
  • Prometheus
  • Grafana

The project demonstrates a complete cloud platform lifecycle from infrastructure provisioning through to application deployment, monitoring and secure external access.

Project Goals

This project was created to demonstrate practical cloud engineering skills:

  • Infrastructure as Code
  • Automated server configuration
  • Container deployment
  • Secure cloud networking
  • Monitoring and observability
  • Repeatable deployments
  • Platform engineering practices

The long-term objective is to build a foundation for Kubernetes, GitOps and CI/CD workflows.

Architecture Overview

Developer Workstation

        |
        v

GitHub Repository

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        v

Terraform
Infrastructure as Code

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        v

AWS Cloud Platform

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        v

Ansible Configuration

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        v

Docker Platform

        |
        +----------------+
        |                |
        v                v

     Nginx          Monitoring Stack
 Reverse Proxy             |
        |                  |
        |        +---------+---------+
        |        |         |         |
        v        v         v         v

 HTTPS/TLS   Grafana Prometheus Node Exporter
             Dashboards Metrics   Host Metrics

                         cAdvisor
                    Container Metrics

Documentation

The following documentation covers the design, deployment approach, repository structure and ongoing development of the cloud engineering project.

Technology Stack

Cloud Infrastructure

Technology Purpose
AWS VPC Network foundation
EC2 Cloud compute
S3 Terraform remote state
DynamoDB Terraform state locking
IAM Access control
Security Groups Network security

Infrastructure Automation

Technology Purpose
Terraform Infrastructure provisioning
Ansible Server configuration
Docker Compose Application deployment

Platform Services

Service Purpose
Nginx Reverse proxy and HTTPS termination
Grafana Monitoring dashboards
Prometheus Metrics collection
Node Exporter Host monitoring
cAdvisor Container monitoring

Current Deployment Status

Component Status
AWS foundation ✅ Complete
Terraform modules ✅ Complete
Remote state management ✅ Complete
VPC networking ✅ Complete
EC2 deployment ✅ Complete
Security Groups ✅ Complete
Ansible automation ✅ Complete
Docker platform ✅ Complete
Monitoring stack ✅ Complete
Nginx reverse proxy ✅ Complete
HTTPS certificates ✅ Complete
Authentication layer ⬜ Planned
Central logging ⬜ Planned
CI/CD pipeline ⬜ Planned
Kubernetes platform ⬜ Planned

Live Platform

Current services hosted on AWS:

Service Purpose
Nginx HTTPS reverse proxy
Grafana Dashboards
Prometheus Metrics database
Node Exporter Host metrics
cAdvisor Container metrics

External endpoints:

  • https://grafana.jrwroberts.co.uk
  • https://prometheus.jrwroberts.co.uk

Deployment Workflow

The platform follows a repeatable deployment process:

Developer Machine

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        v

Git Commit

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        v

Terraform

Creates AWS Infrastructure

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        v

Ansible

Configures EC2 Server

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        v

Docker Compose

Deploys Services

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        v

Nginx + Let's Encrypt

Provides Secure Access

        |
        v

Monitoring Platform

Provides Observability

Repository Structure

cloud-platform/

├── ansible/
│   ├── inventory/
│   ├── playbooks/
│   └── roles/
│
├── docker/
│   └── compose/
│
├── docs/
│   ├── Architecture.md
│   ├── Decisions.md
│   ├── Deployment.md
│   └── Roadmap.md
│
├── terraform/
│   ├── bootstrap/
│   ├── environments/
│   └── modules/
│
├── scripts/
│
└── README.md

More detail:

Roadmap

Completed

Cloud Foundation

  • Terraform infrastructure
  • AWS networking
  • EC2 deployment
  • Security configuration

Platform Layer

  • Docker deployment
  • Monitoring stack
  • Reverse proxy

Secure Access

  • DNS integration
  • HTTPS certificates
  • Automated renewal

Planned

Operations Platform

  • Central logging
  • Alerting
  • Backup automation
  • Disaster recovery testing

Advanced Platform Engineering

  • Kubernetes (k3s)
  • GitHub Actions CI/CD
  • GitOps workflows
  • Multi-environment deployments

Skills Demonstrated

  • AWS Cloud Infrastructure
  • Terraform Infrastructure as Code
  • Ansible Automation
  • Linux Administration
  • Docker Platforms
  • Nginx Reverse Proxy
  • HTTPS/TLS
  • Monitoring and Observability
  • Networking
  • Security Engineering
  • Git Workflows
  • Platform Engineering

Author

James Roberts

Cloud Platform Engineering Lab