While studying for the AWS CCP exam, I kept running into “user data” and “cloud-init.” It fascinated me that a server could basically wake up and build itself. I wanted to understand that from the ground up, so I put together a small, repeatable setup — something clean, easy to follow, and ready to grow if I ever decide to take it further.

What this project builds

  • EC2 (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS)
  • Security Group (HTTP open; optional SSH from /32)
  • Key pair (optional)
  • cloud-init bootstrap (nginx + html)
  • Terraform outputs (IP/DNS/URL)

nginx active systemd confirms nginx is running.

cloud-init status cloud-init finished successfully on first boot.

cloud-init log tail cloud-init-output.log shows apt install + service enable.

Why I kept this simple

Complexity is a cost. For learning, I want the shortest path from apply → alive with the fewest moving parts. A single EC2, one SG, cloud-init, and a tiny HTML page is enough to see the whole life cycle: choose an AMI, lock down ingress, bootstrap, verify, and destroy. Once that muscle memory is real, layering on SSM, ALB, Packer, or CI feels like adding modules—not fighting unknowns.

Final Thoughts

If you’re learning about DevOps/Cloud Engineering, I hope this gives you a nice small project to get your foot in the door. Take what’s useful, if you notice gaps or a cleaner pattern, feel free to share, I’m still learning as well!