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Add an AWS EC2 Server

Appliku can launch EC2 instances in your AWS account. The instance is created under your AWS account, and you pay AWS directly for the infrastructure.

Step 1: Create AWS Access Keys​

You need an AWS Access Key and Secret Key with permissions to manage EC2 instances.

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console
  2. Go to IAM (Identity and Access Management)
  3. Navigate to Users and select your user (or create a dedicated user for Appliku)
  4. Go to the Security credentials tab
  5. Click Create access key
  6. Copy both the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key -- the secret key is only shown once

The IAM user needs at minimum the AmazonEC2FullAccess policy attached, or a custom policy that allows creating, describing, and terminating EC2 instances.

Step 2: Add AWS Credentials to Appliku​

  1. Open the Appliku dashboard
  2. Go to Team Settings (click on your team name in the sidebar, then Settings)
  3. Find the AWS section
  4. Enter your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key
  5. Save the settings

Step 3: Launch an EC2 Instance​

  1. Navigate to the Servers tab in your team dashboard
  2. Click Add Server
  3. Select AWS as the provider
  4. Choose an AWS region
  5. Select an instance type (e.g., t3.small, t3.medium)
Instance sizing

A t3.small (2 GB RAM) is a good starting point for most applications. For projects with heavy build processes or multiple applications on one server, consider t3.medium (4 GB RAM) or larger.

  1. Set the disk size in GB (default is usually sufficient, increase if you expect large Docker images or many deployments)
  2. Click Create EC2 Instance

Step 4: Wait for Setup​

Appliku will launch the instance and automatically begin the server setup process. This takes a few minutes.

You can monitor the progress on the server detail page. Once setup is complete, the server status will change to Active and you can start deploying applications to it.

Managing the Instance​

The EC2 instance is fully owned by your AWS account. You can see it in the AWS Console alongside your other resources. However, you should manage it through Appliku to keep configurations in sync.

If you terminate the instance directly in AWS, Appliku will detect this automatically via the API and mark the server as deleted. See Server Settings for more details.