Landmark Technologies — ALB & Auto Scaling Demo

Deploy the Landmark Technologies web page on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer with Auto Scaling and a custom domain name.

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What We Are Trying to Achieve

In a real production environment, you never run a single server. If that server dies, your application goes down. Instead, we set up:

1. Multiple EC2 instances running the same application — so if one dies, others handle traffic
2. An Application Load Balancer (ALB) — sits in front of all instances and distributes traffic evenly. Users hit ONE URL and the ALB decides which server handles the request
3. An Auto Scaling Group (ASG) — automatically adds more servers when traffic is high and removes them when traffic is low. Also replaces crashed servers automatically
4. A custom domain name — so users access www.mylandmarktech.com instead of an ugly AWS DNS name

The Problem We Are Solving

Without ALB + ASG:                    With ALB + ASG:

┌────────┐     ┌──────┐              ┌────────┐     ┌─────┐     ┌──────┐
│  User  │────▶│ EC2  │              │  User  │────▶│ ALB │────▶│ EC2  │
└────────┘     └──────┘              └────────┘     │     │     ├──────┤
                                                    │     │────▶│ EC2  │
• Single point of failure                           │     │     ├──────┤
• Can't handle traffic spikes                       │     │────▶│ EC2  │
• If server dies = app is DOWN                      └─────┘     └──────┘
                                                    
                                      • High availability
                                      • Auto-scales with traffic
                                      • Self-heals (replaces dead servers)
                                      • Users see ONE URL

How the Components Work Together

Component	Role	Analogy
Launch Template	Blueprint for each server (what AMI, instance type, startup script)	A recipe for baking identical cakes
Auto Scaling Group	Manages the fleet of servers (launches, monitors, replaces)	A manager who hires/fires workers based on workload
Target Group	Registry of healthy servers the ALB can send traffic to	A list of available workers
ALB	Receives all traffic and distributes across healthy servers	A receptionist directing customers to available agents
Route 53	Maps your domain name to the ALB	A phone book entry for your business

Flow of a User Request

User types: www.mylandmarktech.com
        │
        ▼
Route 53 resolves domain → ALB IP address
        │
        ▼
ALB receives request → checks Target Group for healthy instances
        │
        ▼
ALB forwards to one healthy EC2 instance (round-robin)
        │
        ▼
EC2 serves the Landmark Technologies web page
        │
        ▼
User sees the page (with that specific server's IP in the content)

When you refresh the page, the ALB may send you to a DIFFERENT server — you'll see a different Host IP, proving load balancing is working.

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Architecture

┌──────────────┐         ┌─────────────────────┐         ┌──────────────────────┐
│   Route 53   │────────▶│  Application Load   │────────▶│  Auto Scaling Group  │
│  (domain)    │         │    Balancer (ALB)    │         │                      │
└──────────────┘         └─────────────────────┘         │  ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐  │
                                                         │  │ EC2  │ │ EC2  │  │
                                                         │  │  #1  │ │  #2  │  │
                                                         │  └──────┘ └──────┘  │
                                                         └──────────────────────┘

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Prerequisites

• AWS account
• A VPC with at least 2 public subnets in different AZs
• (Optional) A registered domain name for Route 53

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Step 1: Create a Launch Template

The Launch Template defines what each EC2 instance looks like.

1. Go to EC2 → Launch Templates → Create launch template
2. Fill in:

Field	Value
Template name	landmark-lt
AMI	Amazon Linux 2023
Instance type	t2.micro
Key pair	Select your key pair
Security group	Create new: allow HTTP (80) from anywhere and SSH (22) from your IP
Advanced Details → User data	Paste the script from alb-demo file below

User Data Script (alb-demo):

#!/bin/bash
yum update -y
yum install -y httpd
systemctl start httpd
systemctl enable httpd

HOST_IP=$(hostname -f)
CURRENT_DATE=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')

cat > /var/www/html/index.html <<EOF
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Landmark Technologies</title>
    <style>
        body { background-color: #1a1a2e; text-align: center; font-family: Arial; color: #fff; }
        h1 { color: #00d4ff; font-size: 36px; }
        h2 { color: #00d4ff; font-size: 22px; }
        .content { background: #16213e; margin: 40px auto; padding: 40px; border-radius: 12px; width: 80%; max-width: 700px; }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <div class="content">
        <h1>Welcome to Landmark Technologies</h1>
        <h2>Online DevOps & AI Training Platform</h2>
        <p><strong>Host:</strong> $HOST_IP</p>
        <p><strong>Deployed:</strong> $CURRENT_DATE</p>
        <p>Courses: DevOps Engineering | AI & Machine Learning | Cloud Computing | Kubernetes</p>
        <p>Email: info@mylandmarktech.com | Phone: +1 437 215 2483</p>
    </div>
</body>
</html>
EOF

systemctl restart httpd

3. Click Create launch template

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Step 2: Create a Target Group

The Target Group is where the ALB sends traffic.

1. Go to EC2 → Target Groups → Create target group
2. Fill in:

Field	Value
Target type	Instances
Target group name	landmark-tg
Protocol	HTTP
Port	80
VPC	Your VPC
Health check path	/
Healthy threshold	2
Interval	30 seconds

3. Click Next → Do NOT register targets yet (ASG will do it automatically)
4. Click Create target group

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Step 3: Create an Application Load Balancer (ALB)

1. Go to EC2 → Load Balancers → Create Load Balancer → Application Load Balancer
2. Fill in:

Field	Value
Name	landmark-alb
Scheme	Internet-facing
IP address type	IPv4
VPC	Your VPC
Mappings	Select at least 2 public subnets in different AZs
Security group	Create new: allow HTTP (80) from anywhere (and 443 if using HTTPS)
Listener	HTTP : 80 → Forward to landmark-tg

3. Click Create load balancer
4. Wait for state to become Active

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Step 4: Create an Auto Scaling Group (ASG)

The ASG automatically launches and manages EC2 instances.

1. Go to EC2 → Auto Scaling Groups → Create Auto Scaling group
2. Fill in:

Step 1 — Choose launch template:

Field	Value
Name	landmark-asg
Launch template	landmark-lt

Step 2 — Choose instance launch options:

Field	Value
VPC	Your VPC
Availability Zones	Select the same subnets as the ALB

Step 3 — Configure advanced options:

Field	Value
Load balancing	✅ Attach to an existing load balancer
Choose target group	landmark-tg
Health check type	ELB
Health check grace period	300 seconds

Step 4 — Configure group size and scaling:

Field	Value
Desired capacity	2
Minimum capacity	2
Maximum capacity	4
Scaling policy	Target tracking → Average CPU → 50%

Step 5 — Add tags:

Key	Value
Name	landmark-web-server

3. Click Create Auto Scaling group

The ASG will launch 2 instances and register them with the Target Group automatically.

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Step 5: Test the Deployment

5.1 Check Target Group Health

1. Go to EC2 → Target Groups → landmark-tg → Targets
2. Wait until instances show healthy

5.2 Access via ALB DNS

1. Go to EC2 → Load Balancers → landmark-alb
2. Copy the DNS name (e.g., landmark-alb-123456789.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com)
3. Open in browser: http://<alb-dns-name>
4. Refresh multiple times — you should see different Host IPs (traffic distributed between instances)

5.3 Test Auto Scaling

Terminate one instance manually:

1. Go to EC2 → Instances → select one landmark instance → Terminate
2. Watch the ASG launch a replacement automatically (check ASG → Activity tab)

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Step 6: Set Up a Custom Domain (Route 53)

6.1 Register or Use an Existing Domain

Option A: Register a new domain in Route 53

1. Go to Route 53 → Registered domains → Register domain
2. Search for your domain (e.g., mylandmarktech.com)
3. Complete the registration (takes 10-30 minutes)

Option B: Use an existing domain (transfer nameservers)

1. Go to Route 53 → Hosted zones → Create hosted zone
2. Domain name: mylandmarktech.com
3. Type: Public hosted zone
4. Copy the 4 NS records from Route 53
5. Update your domain registrar's nameservers to these values

6.2 Create an Alias Record Pointing to the ALB

1. Go to Route 53 → Hosted zones → your domain → Create record
2. Fill in:

Field	Value
Record name	(leave empty for root domain, or www)
Record type	A
Alias	✅ Yes
Route traffic to	Alias to Application Load Balancer
Region	us-east-1
Load balancer	landmark-alb
Routing policy	Simple

3. Click Create records

6.3 Access via Domain

After DNS propagation (1-5 minutes):

http://mylandmarktech.com
http://www.mylandmarktech.com

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Step 7: (Optional) Add HTTPS with ACM

1. Go to AWS Certificate Manager → Request certificate
2. Domain: mylandmarktech.com and *.mylandmarktech.com
3. Validation: DNS validation → Create records in Route 53
4. Wait for status: Issued
5. Go to ALB → Listeners → Add listener:
   • Protocol: HTTPS : 443
   • Default action: Forward to landmark-tg
   • Certificate: Select your ACM certificate
6. (Optional) Edit HTTP:80 listener → Redirect to HTTPS:443

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Cleanup

To avoid charges, delete in this order:

1. Auto Scaling Group → Delete (will terminate instances)
2. Load Balancer → Delete
3. Target Group → Delete
4. Launch Template → Delete

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Check
ALB returns 503	Target group has no healthy targets → check Security Group allows port 80
Instances unhealthy	Health check failing → SSH in and verify curl localhost works
Domain not resolving	Check Route 53 alias record → confirm ALB is Active
Can't access on port 80	Security Group on instances must allow HTTP from ALB's security group
ASG not scaling	Check scaling policy → CloudWatch alarm must be configured