Supabase on AWS - Why would anyone want to host it?

Supabase on AWS - Why would anyone want to host it?

Festus Obi on 16-10-2023 | 7 min read

Hosting Supabase on AWS (Amazon Web Services) can be a strategic choice for several reasons, depending on the specific needs and preferences of an organization or development team. Here are some reasons why someone might choose to host Supabase on AWS:

  • Scalability: AWS provides a highly scalable infrastructure that can handle applications of varying sizes and traffic levels. Hosting Supabase on AWS allows you to easily scale your resources up or down as your application’s demands change.
  • Global Reach: AWS has data centers (Regions) in multiple geographical locations worldwide. This enables you to deploy Supabase instances closer to your users, reducing latency and improving performance for a global user base.
  • Integrated Services: AWS offers a wide range of services beyond just infrastructure, including managed databases, serverless computing, storage, and more. You can leverage these services to complement your Supabase deployment and build a comprehensive application ecosystem.
  • Security and Compliance: AWS provides robust security features and compliance certifications, making it suitable for hosting applications that require a high level of security and regulatory compliance.
  • Managed Services: AWS offers managed services like Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) for PostgreSQL, which can simplify database management tasks and offload the burden of routine maintenance, backups, and updates.
  • Cost Management: AWS offers various pricing models and tools for cost monitoring and optimization. You can choose to pay only for the resources you use and take advantage of cost-saving opportunities.
  • Advanced Networking: AWS provides a range of networking features, such as Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), that allow you to create isolated network environments for your applications and control network traffic and security settings.
  • Enterprise Support: AWS offers various levels of support, including premium enterprise support, which can be valuable for organizations requiring 24/7 technical assistance and service-level agreements (SLAs).
  • DevOps and Automation: AWS provides tools like AWS Elastic Beanstalk, AWS CodeDeploy, and AWS Lambda that can streamline deployment, automation, and DevOps processes, making it easier to manage and update your Supabase application.
  • Community and Documentation: AWS has a large and active user community, extensive documentation, and a wealth of third-party integrations and services, which can be helpful for troubleshooting issues and finding solutions.

It’s important to note that while AWS offers many advantages, it also requires a good understanding of AWS services, infrastructure management, and potentially additional effort in terms of configuration and maintenance compared to fully managed platforms like Supabase.io’s hosted service. The choice of hosting on AWS should align with your specific project requirements, resources, and expertise.

How to host supabase on AWS?

To host Supabase on AWS (Amazon Web Services), you can deploy Supabase on an Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instance or use AWS Elastic Beanstalk, a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering, to simplify the deployment process. Here are steps to host Supabase on AWS using both methods:

Method 1: Deploying Supabase on an Amazon EC2 Instance

  1. Create an Amazon EC2 Instance:
    • Log in to your AWS Management Console
    • Navigate to the EC2 dashboard.
    • Launch a new EC2 instance, selecting the appropriate instance type and configuring the security group to allow access to the necessary ports (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, PostgreSQL, and any other ports required by your Supabase setup).
  2. Install Dependencies:
    • SSH into your EC2 instance.
    • Install the required dependencies for Supabase, including PostgreSQL, Node.js, and other dependencies as specified by Supabase’s documentation. 
       ssh -i .\pem_file ubuntu@[ipaddress of instance]

      Installing dependencies

       sudo apt-get update -y

      Installing Docker

     curl -fsSL get.docker.com -o install-docker.sh
 # This scripts installs the latest version of Docker Engine in your Linux machine
 sudo sh install-docker.sh
    
 ## If you want to use Docker commands without sudo or admin privileges
 sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu
 ## After running this command, reboot the instance for it to reflect
  3. Download and Install Supabase:
    • Follow the installation instructions provided by Supabase in their documentation for setting up Supabase on a Linux server. This typically involves cloning the Supabase repository from GitHub and running installation scripts.
     ## Following from their documentation
 # Clone their repository
 git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/supabase/supabase

 # Go to the docker folder
 cd supabase/docker

 # Copy the fake env variables
 cp .env.example .env
  4. Configure Supabase:
    • Configure your Supabase instance by specifying the necessary environment variables and settings. You’ll need to set up the database connection, authentication, and other configuration details.
  5. Secure Your EC2 Instance:
    • Ensure that your EC2 instance is properly secured. This includes setting up firewall rules, configuring network access controls, and keeping your server and dependencies up to date with security patches.
  6. Set Up Domain and SSL (Optional):
    • If you want to use a custom domain and enable SSL, you can set up an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) or use AWS Certificate Manager to provision an SSL/TLS certificate.
  7. Monitor and maintain:
    • Regularly monitor your EC2 instance and Supabase installation for performance and security. AWS provides tools like CloudWatch for monitoring and alerts.

Method 2: Deploying Supabase on AWS Elastic Beanstalk

  1. Create an Elastic Beanstalk Application:
    • Log in to your AWS Management Console.
    • Navigate to the Elastic Beanstalk dashboard.
    • Create a new Elastic Beanstalk application.
  2. Create an Environment:
    • Within your Elastic Beanstalk application, create a new environment (e.g., web server environment) and configure it according to your Supabase requirements.
    • You’ll specify the runtime environment, instance type, database settings, environment variables, and other relevant configurations.
  3. Deploy Supabase:
    • Package your Supabase application (including its dependencies) into a deployable format (e.g., a ZIP file) and upload it to your Elastic Beanstalk environment.
    • Elastic Beanstalk will automatically deploy and manage your Supabase application.
  4. Configure Environment Variables:
    • Configure the necessary environment variables within the Elastic Beanstalk environment settings. This includes database credentials, authentication settings, and any other Supabase-specific configurations.
  5.  Set Up Domain and SSL (Optional):
    • If needed, configure a custom domain and SSL certificate as mentioned in Method
  6. Monitor and Maintain:
    • Regularly monitor your Elastic Beanstalk environment and Supabase application using AWS monitoring tools and ensure that you keep your environment up to date with any required changes or patches.

The choice between these two methods depends on your familiarity with AWS services and your specific hosting requirements. Using Elastic Beanstalk can simplify some aspects of deployment and scaling, while hosting on an EC2 instance offers more fine-grained control over the server configuration.

Supabase AWSsupabase AmazonWebServices hosting selfhosting

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