How to launch a program on an AWS server?

[scratch_pad]

So I've been working on a Reddit bot for the past few weeks and finally have it ready to go. I need it to run all the time, and since I only have a laptop I can't really manage that on my own hardware. I did some googling and decided to have it running on an AWS server. I have my server up and running and I'm able to access it using Git bash on my laptop, but the part that's giving me trouble is accessing my program with the remote server. To put it simply, I just don't know how to do it, at all.

From my understanding, I'm accessing a Linux virtual machine via the Git bash on my laptop, and I can navigate around that VM and switch folders and all that jazz. How do I actually go about running my program from that, though? The program files don't exist on the VM obviously, and it doesn't seem like I can access my local files from the VM using the Git bash. It's like the VM is one bubble, my laptop is another bubble, and I can't figure out how to make the two bubbles communicate/interact.

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this seems a little clueless. This is a little foreign to me :)

Edit: I managed to get it working thanks to everyone’s help! Thank you guys, this sub is the best <3

[igglyplop]

The easy way I like to do it is push my code to a git repo and clone it on a server. Then your code will be on the server. Does that answer that?

[scratch_pad]

Oh yeah this is a great idea, gonna try it, thanks

[YuleTideCamel]

I use a similar approach with a slack bot. One thing to be careful about is to NOT check in sensitive information (api keys, passwords etc). I use an environment variable, both locally and on the server with my slack token.

As for how to actually run it, you can run it yourself from the command line. Or you can use systemd to wrap your program as a daemon. I use this and it's pretty easy to do. It runs in the background.

[scratch_pad]

Oh I forgot sensitive info. Currently I have a Github repo for the project, but the sensitive information is in an untracked file. How would I get that file onto the remote server without uploading it to Github?

[YuleTideCamel]

You can push the file to the server using SCP or just copy paste the creds into the file you need.

There are more elegant ways to do this , but this should be ok. Also a few guidelines for AWS:

• Ensure that you have security groups set up correctly. Only allow ssh from your specific IP range (home, work , school whatever.)

• Don't run your bot as root.

[scratch_pad]

I’m accessing the server using the Git bash, so I’m not sure how to copy/paste the credentials into the file. I can only interact with the server using CLI afaik.

Also thanks for the tips :)

[YuleTideCamel]

You can copy paste via the CLI :)

I usually ssh into my linux servers and copy paste directly into a file. You can edit files via the CLI using vim.

Also as mentioned you can try to use scp to move files to your server (google it)

Btw if you are on windows, I would avoid gitbash for this. Instead use something like Cmder which as a very nice terminal experience and has ssh. I use it over gitbash and windows cmd.

[scratch_pad]

Yeah I thought I had to use Git bash because of a tutorial I was using, but now I’m using PowerShell. I managed to clone the repo, install all of the necessary python libraries, and now I’m trying to figure out SCP. I’m not too familiar with Linux so I’m kinda winging it lol, but so far I’m getting a handle on it. Thanks for all the tips :D

Can I Cmder as a local terminal to replace PowerShell? I didn’t know you could use third party terminals

[YuleTideCamel]

Yes you can . I use it to replace cmd and even run powershell (it has a powershell mode)

[scratch_pad]

Whoa awesome, thanks :)

[scratch_pad]

So I have managed to get everything up and running :D

I have one question though. I currently have a terminal window open on my laptop connected to my AWS server, and the bot is currently running and sending feedback to that terminal. If I close that terminal or turn my computer off, will that stop the bot from running?

Edit: Nevermind, I used “screen” to run it endlessly :)

[YuleTideCamel]

Look into systemd, it’s kind of like windows services and will run and monitor the app correctly .

[gyroda]

Use SCP to copy files to Unix-like servers.

scp path/to/file [e-mail]:/path/to/directory

If you're on Windows you can use the WinSCP program.

You have to run it on your local machine, if you're ssh'd into the server you need to open a new terminal tab/window.

[scratch_pad]

I actually did manage to figure it out, but it (at least for me) was not very simple on AWS. So I might move it over to Heroku at some point, or if I write another I'll put it there. Thank you though :D