Infrastructure as Code: Why Terraform Matters
Manual AWS console configuration is a deployment-time trap — one missed security group rule can expose your database. Use Terraform to define your infrastructure as code. Every resource (EC2, RDS, load balancer, security groups, S3 buckets) is described in version-controlled files. Deployment is reproducible and auditable. Disaster recovery is a terraform apply command.
Database: RDS vs Self-Managed
Amazon RDS for MySQL/PostgreSQL handles automated backups, automated minor version upgrades, multi-AZ failover, and point-in-time recovery. For industrial applications with regulatory data retention requirements, RDS automated backups with 35-day retention eliminates the risk of losing machine data. The cost premium over self-managed (15–30%) is justified by the eliminated operational overhead.
Application Load Balancer and Auto Scaling
Industrial web applications experience peak load at shift changes — all 200 operators logging into the shift report dashboard simultaneously. Application Load Balancer distributes traffic across multiple Node.js instances. Auto Scaling adds instances automatically when CPU exceeds 70% and removes them when load drops. This handles shift-change traffic spikes without manual intervention.
Security Hardening Checklist
VPC with private subnets for database and application servers (no direct internet access). Security groups with minimum required ports only. RDS encryption at rest enabled. S3 bucket policies blocking public access. CloudTrail enabled for all API calls (audit log). AWS WAF in front of the load balancer. SSL certificate via ACM — never manage certificates manually.
Production AWS deployment for factory applications is a 2–3 day infrastructure setup if you use Terraform and follow security best practices from day one. Retrofitting security is always more expensive.
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