The Monitor Project

this is a comprehensive monitoring solution built with Docker, featuring WordPress, Prometheus, Grafana, and a Caddy reverse proxy. This project provides a complete infrastructure-as-code solution for deploying a monitoring stack on AWS, demonstrating key DevOps practices.

🎯 Project Overview

Why the project:

As organizations move to cloud-native architectures, having visibility into system performance becomes crucial. This project was born from the need to create a comprehensive monitoring solution that is both easy to deploy and maintain, while demonstrating modern DevOps practices.

What does it include?

A complete monitoring stack featuring:

• Prometheus: Metrics collection

• Grafana: Visualization

• WordPress: Sample application

  All containerized and deployed on AWS using Infrastructure as Code principles.s.

Who is it for?

it was Designed for developers and operations teams who need better visibility into their applications and infrastructure without the complexity of enterprise solutions.

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📸 Screenshots

Architecture Overview

System architecture showing all components and connections

Infrastructure Provisioning

Terraform plan showing infrastructure changes

Successful Terraform apply completion

EC2 instance running in AWS console

Security group configuration with proper rules

CI/CD Pipeline

Successful GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline

Application Deployment

All Docker containers running successfully

WordPress application live and accessible

Monitoring Stack

Grafana monitoring dashboard with system metrics

Prometheus collecting and storing metrics

Configuration Management

Ansible playbook execution output

📋 Prerequisites

Before deploying, ensure you have:

1. AWS Account with appropriate permissions

2. AWS CLI configured with credentials

3. SSH Key Pair named "yourkeypair" in AWS us-east-1 region

4. GitHub Repository for CI/CD pipeline

5. GitHub Secrets configured:

   • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID

   • AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

   • SSH_PRIVATE_KEY

Quick Start

Manual Deployment

1. Clone the repository:

   • git clone https://github.com/donaemeka/the-monitor-devops-project.git

   • cd the-monitor-devops-project

2. Initialize Terraform:

• cd terraform
• terraform init

3. Deploy Infrastructure:

• terraform plan
• terraform apply -auto-approve

4. Deploy Applications:

• export SERVER_IP=$(terraform output -raw public_ip) ansible-playbook -i "$SERVER_IP," ansible/playbook.yml --private-key=~/.ssh/yourkeypair.pem \ -u ec2-user

Automated Deployment (CI/CD)

The project includes a GitHub Actions workflow that automatically deploys on push to the main branch:

1. Push to main branch

2. GitHub Actions triggers deployment

3. Infrastructure is provisioned with Terraform

4. Applications are deployed with Ansible

5. Monitoring stack is started with Docker Compose

Infrastructure Components

Terraform Modules

• VPC: Isolated network environment (10.0.0.0/16)

• Subnet: Public subnet for EC2 instance (10.0.1.0/24)

• Security Group: Controls inbound/outbound traffic

• EC2 Instance: t3.medium instance with Amazon Linux 2

• Elastic IP: Static public IP address

• S3 Backend: Remote state storage with encryption

• Internet Gateway: Internet connectivity for VPC

Network Configuration

• VPC CIDR: 10.0.0.0/16

• Subnet CIDR: 10.0.1.0/24

• Availability Zone: us-east-1a

• Open Ports: 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), 3000 (Grafana), 9090 (Prometheus), 9100 (Node Exporter)

Application Components

Docker Services

• Caddy: Reverse proxy and SSL termination (ports 80, 443)

• WordPress: Content management system (port 80 internal)

• MySQL: Database for WordPress (port 3306 internal)

• Prometheus: Metrics collection and storage (port 9090)

• Grafana: Metrics visualization and dashboards (port 3000)

• Node Exporter: System metrics collection (port 9100)

• cAdvisor: Container metrics collection (port 8080)

Docker Compose Structure

yaml

version: '3.8'

services:

caddy: # Reverse proxy - ports 80, 443

wordpress: # WordPress CMS - port 80 (internal)

db: # MySQL database - port 3306 (internal)

prometheus: # Monitoring - port 9090

grafana: # Dashboards - port 3000

node_exporter: # System metrics - port 9100

cadvisor: # Container metrics - port 8080

📊 Monitoring Stack

Prometheus Metrics

• Node Metrics: CPU, memory, disk, network usage

• Container Metrics: Docker container performance

• Application Metrics: WordPress performance

• Custom Metrics: Application-specific monitoring

Grafana Dashboards

Pre-configured dashboards for:

• System Overview: CPU, memory, disk, network

• Docker Containers: Container performance metrics

• WordPress: Application performance and usage

• Business Metrics: Custom business KPIs

🚀 Deployment

Manual Steps

1. Infrastructure Provisioning:

   • cd terraform
   • terraform init
   • terraform apply -auto-approve

2. Application Deployment:

   • ansible-playbook -i "${SERVER_IP}," ansible/playbook.yml --private-key=~/.ssh/yourkeypair.pem -u ec2-user

3. Verification:

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/yourkeypair.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "docker ps"

CI/CD Pipeline

The GitHub Actions workflow automates:

• Terraform Setup: Initializes and plans infrastructure

• AWS Configuration: Sets up S3 bucket for state storage

• Infrastructure Deployment: Creates VPC, EC2, security groups

• Ansible Setup: Installs required dependencies

• Application Deployment: Deploys Docker containers

• Verification: Checks service health

Access URLs

After deployment, access the services at:

Service URL Default Credentials

• WordPress --- http://your-elastic-ip/ --- Setup during first access

• Grafana --- http://your-elastic-ip:3000 --- admin / admin123

• Prometheus --- http://your-elastic-ip:9090 --- None

• Caddy Admin --- http://your-elastic-ip:2019 --- None

To get the Elastic IP:

• cd terraform
• terraform output public_ip

⚠️ Challenges & Solutions

Challenge 1: Terraform State Management

- Problem: Terraform state file stored locally, not suitable for team collaboration

- Solution: Implemented S3 backend with encryption for remote state storage

- Technical Details: Configured S3 bucket with versioning and server-side encryption

Challenge 2: CI/CD Pipeline Reliability

- Problem: GitHub Actions workflow failing due to timing issues and dependencies

- Solution: Added proper waiting mechanisms and dependency management

- Technical Details: Implemented SSH connection retries and service health checks

Challenge 3: Docker Permission Issues

- Problem: Non-root user unable to run Docker commands without sudo

- Solution: Automated user addition to docker group in Ansible playbook

- Technical Details: Used usermod command and proper group management

Challenge 4: Service Discovery

- Problem: Containers unable to communicate due to network issues

- Solution: Implemented Docker custom network and proper service naming

- Technical Details: Created monitor-net bridge network with DNS resolution

Challenge 5: Resource Optimization

- Problem: Memory and CPU overallocation on EC2 instance

- Solution: Right-sized instance type and implemented resource limits

- Technical Details: Selected t3.medium with burstable CPU credits

Challenge 6: Security Hardening

- Problem: Excessive port exposure and insecure defaults

- Solution: Minimal port exposure and secure configuration practices

- Technical Details: Security group with least privilege principles

Technical Decisions

• Terraform: Declarative, modular, provider ecosystem

• Ansible: Agentless, idempotent, readable YAML

• Docker Compose: Simplified orchestration, local dev friendly

• Stack Benefits: Cost-effective, scalable, maintainable, observable

Skills Demonstrated

DevOps Practices

• DevOps: Terraform, Ansible, Docker Compose, CI/CD

• Cloud: AWS EC2, VPC, Security Groups, S3

• Technical: Bash, YAML, Linux, Docker, Networking

• Soft: Problem-solving, documentation, architecture, troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. SSH Connection Failed

   • Verify the SSH key is named "yourkeypairname" in AWS

   • Check security group allows SSH (port 22)

2. Terraform Errors

   • Ensure AWS credentials are properly configured

   • Verify S3 bucket name is unique

3. Docker Containers Not Starting

   • Check disk space on EC2 instance

   • Verify Docker daemon is running

4. Services Not Accessible

   • Check security group rules

   -mVerify containers are running: docker ps

Logs Inspection

Docker logs

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/keypairname.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "docker logs <container_name>"

System logs

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/donatus.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "journalctl -u docker"

Application logs

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/donatus.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "cd /opt/the-monitor && docker-compose logs"

MAINTENANCE

Regular Tasks

1. Backup WordPress Content:

Backup database

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/donatus.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "docker exec -t $(docker ps -q -f name=db) mysqldump -u wpuser -pwppassword wordpress > backup.sql"

Backup uploads

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/donatus.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "tar -czf uploads.tar.gz /opt/the-monitor/wordpress_data/wp-content/uploads"

2. Update Docker Images:

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/donatus.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} \ "cd /opt/the-monitor && docker-compose pull && docker-compose up -d"

3. Monitor Disk Space:

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/donatus.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "df -h"

Scaling

To scale WordPress containers:

• ssh -i ~/.ssh/donatus.pem ec2-user@${SERVER_IP} "cd /opt/the-monitor && docker-compose up -d --scale wordpress=3"

🚀 Future Enhancements

• Short-term: HTTPS, S3 backups, alerts, health checks

• Medium-term: Multi-AZ, auto-scaling, CloudFront, RDS

• Long-term: Kubernetes migration, service mesh, multi-region, DR

Development Setup

Test Terraform locally

• cd terraform

• terraform init

• terraform plan

Test Ansible locally

ansible-playbook -i localhost, ansible/playbook.yml --connection=local

Docker Compose Local:

• docker-compose up -d

Note:

This project is for educational and demonstration purposes. For production use, please ensure proper security hardening, backup strategies, and monitoring.

👨‍💻 About the Author

Hi, I am Donatus Emaka Anyalebechi, a State-Certified DevOps Engineer (Germany)and Ironhack DevOps Graduate.

Experienced with AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring stacks.

🔍 Open to Junior DevOps Engineer roles to contribute skills in cloud infrastructure, automation, and monitoring.

📧 Email: donaemeka92@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/donatus-devops