This guide explains how to prepare an AWS environment for hosting City School using an Amazon EC2 server for the application and Amazon RDS for MySQL for the database.

The recommended architecture is:

Domain → EC2 → City School application → RDS MySQL

Prerequisites

Before starting, you need:

An AWS account
A domain name
An SSH key pair
Basic Linux and SSH knowledge
Access to the AWS Console

Step 1 — Create an EC2 Instance

Choose Launch instance and give the server a name such as:

cityschool-production

Under Application and OS Images, select an Ubuntu LTS release, such as Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS.

Choose an EC2 instance size appropriate for your expected workload. A small installation can start with approximately 2 vCPUs and 2–4 GB of RAM and be scaled later if necessary.

Step 2 — Configure SSH Access

Under Key pair, select an existing SSH key or create a new one.

Download the private key and store it securely.

On Linux or macOS, set the key permissions:

chmod 400 cityschool-key.pem

Never upload the private key to the server or place it inside the City School application directory.

Step 3 — Configure the EC2 Security Group

Create a security group for the application server.

Allow:

SSH — port 22, from your trusted IP address
HTTP — port 80
HTTPS — port 443

Do not open database port 3306 to the internet.

Step 4 — Launch the EC2 Instance

Review the configuration and choose Launch instance.

After AWS creates the instance, copy its public IPv4 address.

Connect to Ubuntu using:

ssh -i cityschool-key.pem ubuntu@YOUR_EC2_PUBLIC_IP

Then update the server:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Create the Amazon RDS Database

Step 5 — Open Amazon RDS

In the AWS Console, open RDS and choose Create database.

Select:

MySQL

Choose a MySQL version supported by your City School release.

Step 6 — Configure the RDS Database

Enter a database identifier such as:

cityschool-production-db

Create a strong master username and password.

For example:

cityschooladmin

Store the password securely.

Step 7 — Configure the RDS Network

Place RDS in the same VPC as your EC2 instance.

For production, configure the database in private subnets where appropriate.

Disable public access so the database is not directly reachable from the internet.

Step 8 — Configure the RDS Security Group

Create a dedicated security group for RDS.

Allow MySQL traffic on port:

3306

Set the source to the EC2 security group, not 0.0.0.0/0.

The network should look like:

Internet
   |
   v
EC2 / City School
   |
   | Private AWS network
   v
RDS MySQL

Step 9 — Enable RDS Backups

Enable automated backups and select an appropriate retention period.

For a production City School installation, regular database backups are essential.

Step 10 — Create the RDS Database

Choose Create database and wait until the RDS instance becomes available.

Open the database details and copy the RDS endpoint.

It will look similar to:

cityschool-production-db.xxxxxxxxxxxx.eu-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com

Use this endpoint as the database host.

Test the EC2 to RDS Connection

Step 11 — Install the MySQL Client

On the Ubuntu EC2 server:

sudo apt install mysql-client -y

Step 12 — Test the Connection

Run:

mysql -h YOUR_RDS_ENDPOINT -u cityschooladmin -p

Enter the RDS password when prompted.

If the connection succeeds, the EC2 server can communicate with the RDS database.

Step 13 — Create the City School Database

Create the application database:

CREATE DATABASE cityschool;

Then verify it:

SHOW DATABASES;

Use the database creation procedure provided by your City School release if it differs from this example.

City School Database Configuration

The City School environment configuration will use values similar to:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=YOUR_RDS_ENDPOINT
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=cityschool
DB_USERNAME=cityschooladmin
DB_PASSWORD=YOUR_RDS_PASSWORD

Keep these credentials private. Do not commit them to Git or publish them in your application files.

How to Create an AWS EC2 Server with RDS for City School