Deploying a real app to a free-tier VM

Learning objective

Deployment is: copy the code, install its dependencies, run it under a process manager that restarts it, and open the port. Doing it once by hand teaches more than a hundred deploy-button tutorials.

Worked example

A service managed by systemd restarts when the machine reboots; a statement started over SSH does not. That difference is why a demo works today and is down tomorrow — and "persist the process" is what fixes it.

Your practice task

Deploy one of your own projects to a free server, give it a domain or IP, and confirm it still answers after a reboot.

Do this before moving on. Reading a solution teaches the shape of it; typing it teaches you.

Key takeaway

Deployment is: copy the code, install its dependencies, run it under a process manager that restarts it, and open the port. Doing it once by hand teaches more than a hundred deploy-button tutorials.

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Almost there

15 lessons left of 15

Finish every lesson to unlock the certificate. Each one ends in a practice task — do them and the final project brief writes itself.