Automated Nginx Web Server Deployment on AWS EC2 Using User Data

I configured the EC2 instance with a proper security group, allowing restricted SSH access and public HTTP access, and used a User Data bash script that runs automatically on first boot. The script updates the Ubuntu package repository, installs Nginx, creates a custom index page, enables Nginx to start on boot, and starts the service, so the website becomes live the moment the instance finishes launching. I verified the deployment both through the public IP in a browser and by SSHing into the instance to confirm Nginx's status and local response. What I implemented * Launched and configured an Ubuntu EC2 instance on AWS * Configured a security group with restricted SSH and public HTTP access * Wrote an EC2 User Data script to automate server bootstrapping * Automated Nginx installation, configuration, and startup with the script * Deployed a custom HTML page served through Nginx * Verified deployment via public IP and SSH-based service checks * Followed AWS resource cleanup practices after testing Technologies Used · AWS EC2 · Ubuntu · Nginx · Bash (User Data Script) · Security Groups · SSH The main goal of this project was to understand automated server bootstrapping on AWS replacing a manual, repetitive setup process with a single reusable script that configures and starts a web server the moment an EC2 instance launches.