Color Display Application

This is a simple Node.js web application that dynamically displays a webpage with a customizable background color. This document outlines how to run the application directly on a server without using Docker.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js: Version 16 or higher. You can download it from nodejs.org.
• npm: Node Package Manager, which comes with Node.js.
• Git: (Optional) For cloning the repository.

Installation

1. Create a Virtual Machine or Cloud Instance:

   • Use a cloud provider like AWS EC2, Azure VM, or GCP Compute Engine.
   • Choose an Ubuntu 20.04 image.
   • Select at least a t2.micro instance (1 vCPU, 1GB RAM) for testing.

2. Open Inbound Ports:

   • Configure your firewall to allow inbound traffic on port 8080 (or any other port you plan to use).

3. SSH into the Instance:

   • Connect to the instance using SSH.

4. Install Required Tools:

   • Update the package list and install git, nodejs, and npm:

     sudo apt update
     sudo apt install -y git nodejs npm

5. Clone the Repository (Optional):

   If you haven't already, clone the repository to your local machine:

   git clone https://github.com/HILL-TOPCONSULTANCY/COLOR-APP.git
   cd COLOR-APP

6. Install Dependencies:

   Navigate to the project directory and install the required npm packages:

   npm install

7. Start the Application with the Default Color:

   To run the application with the default background color (blue), use the following command:

   npm start

8. Start the Application with a Custom Color:

   To specify a custom background color, set the COLOR environment variable before running the application. For example, to set the color to green:

   COLOR=green npm start

## Accessing the Application

Once the application is running, you can access it in your web browser at the following URL:
http://localhost:8080

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Running Color Display Application with Docker on an AWS EC2 Instance

These steps outline how to run the Color Display Application using Docker on an AWS EC2 instance.

Prerequisites

• An active AWS account.
• Basic knowledge of AWS EC2 and Docker.
• Docker installed on your local machine (for building the image).

Steps

3. Install Docker on the EC2 Instance:

   • Once connected, install Docker:

     • For Ubuntu:

       sudo apt update
       sudo apt install -y docker.io
       sudo systemctl start docker
       sudo systemctl enable docker
       sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
       newgrp docker

     • For Amazon Linux 2:

       sudo yum update -y
       sudo amazon-linux-extras install docker
       sudo systemctl start docker
       sudo systemctl enable docker
       sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
       newgrp docker

   • Verify Docker installation:

     docker --version

4. Clone the Application Repository:

   • Clone the application repository:

     git clone https://github.com/HILL-TOPCONSULTANCY/COLOR-APP.git
     cd COLOR-APP

5. Build the Docker Image:

   • Navigate to the project directory containing the Dockerfile.

   • Build the Docker image:

     docker build -t hilltopconsultancy/color-app:blue .

     • This will build the image with the default color (blue).

6. Run the Docker Container:

   • Run the Docker container with port mapping and environment variable:

     docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -e COLOR=blue hilltopconsultancy/color-app:blue

     • Replace blue with the desired color (e.g., green, red, #FF0000).

     • If you want to use a specific tag, replace latest with the tag name (e.g., hilltopconsultancy/color-app:blue).

     • If you want to pull the image from Docker Hub (assuming you've pushed it):

       docker pull hilltopconsultancy/color-app:latest
       docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -e COLOR=blue hilltopconsultancy/color-app:latest

7. Access the Application:

   • Open a web browser and navigate to:

     http://your-ec2-public-ip:8080
     

     • Replace your-ec2-public-ip with the public IP address or DNS of your EC2 instance.

Changing the Environment Variable (Color)

There are a few ways to change the color after the container is running:

1. Stop and Re-run the Container:

   • Stop the running container:

     docker stop <container_id>

     • Replace <container_id> with the ID of your container (you can find it using docker ps).

   • Re-run the container with the new environment variable:

     docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -e COLOR=green hilltopconsultancy/color-app:latest

     • Replace green with the new color you want to use.

2. Using docker update (Less Common, May Not Work as Expected):

   • You can try to update the environment variable using docker update, but this might not always work as expected for running containers:

     docker update --env COLOR=new_color <container_id>

     • After this, you might need to restart the container for the changes to take effect. However, stopping and re-running is generally the more reliable approach.