Securing and Scaling NestJS Apps on AWS EC2

February 18, 2026

Building robust, scalable web applications with NestJS becomes more powerful when you leverage AWS EC2’s cloud infrastructure. This comprehensive guide walks you through NestJS AWS deployment from initial setup to production-ready scaling solutions.

Who this guide is for: Backend developers and DevOps engineers working with NestJS applications who want to deploy, secure, and scale their apps on AWS EC2. You should have basic familiarity with NestJS framework and AWS fundamentals.

We’ll cover the essential steps for EC2 NestJS setup and NestJS EC2 configuration, showing you how to launch instances, configure environments, and optimize performance. You’ll learn NestJS security best practices including IAM roles, security groups, and SSL implementation to protect your application and data.

The guide also dives deep into AWS EC2 scaling and AWS auto scaling NestJS strategies, teaching you how to handle traffic spikes and maintain consistent performance as your application grows. Finally, we’ll explore AWS deployment automation and AWS CI/CD NestJS pipelines to streamline your development workflow and reduce deployment friction.

By the end, you’ll have a production-ready NestJS application running securely on AWS EC2 with automated scaling, monitoring, and deployment processes in place.

Setting Up Your NestJS Application for AWS Deployment

Configure Environment Variables for Production

Production NestJS AWS deployment requires careful environment variable management to maintain security and flexibility. Create a robust .env.production file that separates sensitive configuration data from your codebase. Your AWS EC2 configuration should include database connection strings, API keys, JWT secrets, and AWS service credentials.

Use AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store or AWS Secrets Manager for storing sensitive values like database passwords and third-party API keys. This approach keeps credentials out of your application code and provides better security controls. Configure your NestJS application to pull these values during startup using the AWS SDK.

Set up environment-specific variables for different deployment stages:

NODE_ENV=production
PORT=3000 (or your preferred port)
DATABASE_URL (pointing to your production database)
AWS_REGION for your EC2 deployment region
LOG_LEVEL=error for production logging

Create a configuration service in NestJS that validates required environment variables during application bootstrap. This prevents deployment failures due to missing configuration and provides clear error messages when required variables are absent.

Optimize Build Process for AWS Infrastructure

NestJS EC2 setup requires build optimization to reduce deployment time and resource usage. Configure your nest build process to generate efficient production bundles that minimize cold start times and memory footprint on your EC2 instances.

Enable webpack optimizations in your nest-cli.json:

{
  "collection": "@nestjs/schematics",
  "sourceRoot": "src",
  "compilerOptions": {
    "deleteOutDir": true,
    "webpack": true,
    "webpackConfigPath": "webpack.config.js"
  }
}

Implement tree shaking to eliminate unused code and reduce bundle size. Configure your build pipeline to exclude development dependencies and test files from the production build. This significantly reduces the deployment artifact size and speeds up EC2 instance initialization.

Set up multi-stage Docker builds if containerizing your application. Use a lightweight base image like node:alpine for the production stage while keeping build tools in a separate stage. This approach creates smaller, more secure container images for your AWS deployment.

Consider implementing build caching strategies using AWS CodeBuild or GitHub Actions to speed up subsequent deployments. Cache node_modules and build artifacts between deployments to reduce build times.

Implement Health Check Endpoints

AWS EC2 scaling and load balancing depend on reliable health checks to determine instance availability. Create comprehensive health check endpoints that verify all critical application components before marking an instance as healthy.

Build a basic health endpoint that returns application status:

@Controller('health')
export class HealthController {
  @Get()
  getHealth() {
    return {
      status: 'ok',
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
      uptime: process.uptime()
    };
  }
}

Implement deeper health checks that verify database connectivity, external service availability, and memory usage. Create separate endpoints for liveness and readiness probes to align with AWS Application Load Balancer requirements.

Configure health check timeouts and retry logic that match your EC2 auto scaling policies. AWS auto scaling NestJS applications need consistent health reporting to make accurate scaling decisions. Set appropriate grace periods for application startup and implement graceful shutdown handlers.

Add health check logging to track instance health over time. This data helps identify patterns in application failures and optimize scaling policies for better performance.

Set Up Logging and Monitoring Integration

NestJS performance optimization on AWS requires comprehensive logging and monitoring setup. Integrate AWS CloudWatch for centralized log collection and real-time application monitoring across all EC2 instances.

Configure structured logging using Winston or similar libraries to create searchable, parseable log entries. Set up different log levels for various environments and ensure production logs focus on errors and critical events to manage CloudWatch costs.

Implement application metrics collection for key performance indicators:

Request response times
Error rates by endpoint
Database connection pool status
Memory and CPU usage patterns
Active user sessions

Use AWS CloudWatch custom metrics to track business-specific metrics alongside infrastructure metrics. Create CloudWatch dashboards that provide real-time visibility into application health and performance across your EC2 deployment.

Set up CloudWatch alarms for critical metrics like high error rates, memory usage spikes, or database connection failures. Configure SNS notifications to alert your team when issues arise, enabling quick response to production problems.

Implement distributed tracing using AWS X-Ray to track requests across microservices and identify performance bottlenecks. This visibility becomes crucial as your NestJS application scales across multiple EC2 instances and AWS services.

Launching and Configuring EC2 Instances for NestJS

Select Optimal Instance Types for Your Application Needs

Choosing the right EC2 instance type for your NestJS AWS deployment makes all the difference in performance and cost optimization. Your Node.js application’s resource requirements should guide your decision-making process.

For development and testing environments, t3.micro or t3.small instances provide sufficient resources while keeping costs minimal. These burstable instances work well for applications with variable traffic patterns during development phases.

Production NestJS applications typically benefit from c5.large or c5.xlarge instances. These compute-optimized instances deliver consistent performance with Intel Xeon processors, making them ideal for CPU-intensive Node.js operations. The c5 family offers excellent single-threaded performance, which aligns perfectly with Node.js’s event-driven architecture.

Memory-intensive applications handling large datasets or complex business logic should consider r5.large or r5.xlarge instances. These memory-optimized instances provide higher RAM-to-vCPU ratios, preventing memory bottlenecks that could impact your application’s responsiveness.

Key considerations for instance selection:

Monitor CPU utilization patterns during peak loads
Evaluate memory usage patterns, especially for data processing tasks
Consider network performance requirements for API-heavy applications
Factor in burst credit balance for t3 instances under variable loads
Account for storage requirements if using instance store volumes

Start with smaller instances and scale up based on actual performance metrics rather than assumptions. AWS CloudWatch metrics provide valuable insights into resource utilization patterns that inform your scaling decisions.

Configure Security Groups and Network Access

Security groups act as virtual firewalls for your EC2 NestJS setup, controlling inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level. Proper configuration protects your application while maintaining necessary connectivity.

Create a dedicated security group for your NestJS application servers with these essential rules:

Inbound Rules:

Port 80 (HTTP) from Application Load Balancer security group only
Port 443 (HTTPS) from Application Load Balancer security group only
Port 22 (SSH) from your administrative IP address or bastion host
Custom application ports (3000, 4000) restricted to internal VPC traffic only

Outbound Rules:

HTTPS (443) to 0.0.0.0/0 for package downloads and API calls
Database ports (3306, 5432) to database security group
Custom ports for internal service communication

Never expose your NestJS application port (typically 3000) directly to the internet. Route all external traffic through an Application Load Balancer, which provides an additional security layer and SSL termination capabilities.

Implement the principle of least privilege by restricting database access to your application security group only. Create separate security groups for different tiers:

Web tier: Load balancer with internet access
Application tier: NestJS instances with restricted access
Database tier: Database instances accessible only from application tier

Use descriptive names and tags for security groups to maintain clarity in complex environments. Regular security group audits help identify and remove unnecessary rules that might create security vulnerabilities.

Set Up Application Load Balancer for Traffic Distribution

Application Load Balancer (ALB) provides intelligent traffic distribution for your NestJS EC2 configuration while offering advanced routing capabilities and SSL termination. This component becomes essential when scaling beyond a single instance.

ALB Configuration Steps:

Create Target Groups: Configure health checks pointing to your NestJS health endpoint (typically /health or /api/health). Set appropriate health check intervals and thresholds based on your application’s startup time.
Configure Listeners: Set up HTTP (port 80) listener to redirect to HTTPS and HTTPS (port 443) listener for secure traffic handling. Attach your SSL certificate through AWS Certificate Manager for automated certificate management.
Define Routing Rules: Create path-based routing rules if serving multiple services or API versions. For example, route /api/v1/* to one target group and /api/v2/* to another.

Health Check Configuration:

Path: /health
Port: 3000 (or your NestJS application port)
Healthy threshold: 2
Unhealthy threshold: 3
Timeout: 5 seconds
Interval: 30 seconds

Advanced ALB Features for NestJS:

Sticky Sessions: Enable session affinity if your application maintains server-side session state
Request Routing: Use header-based routing for A/B testing or blue-green deployments
Access Logs: Enable detailed logging for debugging and analytics
Web Application Firewall (WAF): Integrate AWS WAF for additional protection against common web exploits

Configure cross-zone load balancing to distribute traffic evenly across availability zones. This ensures optimal resource utilization and improved fault tolerance for your NestJS AWS deployment.

Monitor ALB metrics including request count, latency, and error rates through CloudWatch. Set up alarms for unusual traffic patterns or performance degradation to maintain optimal application performance.

Implementing Security Best Practices

Configure SSL/TLS Certificates with AWS Certificate Manager

AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) simplifies SSL/TLS certificate management for your NestJS applications. Request a free SSL certificate through the ACM console by entering your domain name and choosing DNS validation. ACM automatically handles certificate renewals, eliminating the manual overhead of certificate maintenance.

Configure your Application Load Balancer to terminate SSL connections before forwarding traffic to your EC2 instances. This setup reduces the computational burden on your NestJS application while maintaining secure communications. Add the ACM certificate to your load balancer listener configuration and redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS automatically.

For applications requiring end-to-end encryption, configure your NestJS app to handle SSL certificates directly. Store private keys in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store with encryption enabled, and reference them securely in your application configuration.

Set Up IAM Roles and Policies for Secure Access

Create specific IAM roles for your EC2 instances running NestJS applications rather than using root credentials. Design least-privilege policies that grant only the minimum permissions needed for your application to function properly.

Your NestJS EC2 configuration should include roles for accessing specific AWS services:

Application Role: Permissions for CloudWatch logging, Parameter Store access, and S3 bucket operations
Database Role: Read/write access to specific RDS instances or DynamoDB tables
Deployment Role: Limited permissions for CodeDeploy and application updates

Use AWS Security Token Service (STS) for temporary credentials when accessing other AWS resources from your NestJS application. This approach eliminates hardcoded credentials and provides automatic credential rotation.

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ssm:GetParameter",
        "ssm:GetParameters",
        "ssm:GetParametersByPath"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:ssm:region:account:parameter/nestjs/prod/*"
    }
  ]
}

Implement API Rate Limiting and Request Validation

Install the @nestjs/throttler package to implement rate limiting directly in your NestJS security best practices. Configure different rate limits for various endpoints based on their sensitivity and expected usage patterns.

import { ThrottlerModule } from '@nestjs/throttler';

@Module({
  imports: [
    ThrottlerModule.forRoot({
      ttl: 60,
      limit: 10,
    }),
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

Set up request validation using class-validator and class-transformer packages. Create DTOs that enforce strict input validation rules, preventing malicious payloads from reaching your business logic.

Deploy AWS API Gateway in front of your load balancer for additional request filtering and throttling capabilities. API Gateway provides built-in DDoS protection and can block requests before they reach your EC2 instances.

Enable AWS WAF for Application-Level Protection

AWS WAF protects your NestJS applications from common web exploits and bot attacks. Create web ACLs that filter traffic based on IP addresses, HTTP headers, HTTP body content, and URI strings.

Configure managed rule groups for protection against:

OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities
SQL injection attempts
Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks
Bot control for automated traffic

Set up rate-based rules that automatically block IP addresses exhibiting suspicious behavior patterns. Monitor AWS WAF logs through CloudWatch to identify attack patterns and adjust rules accordingly.

Associate your WAF web ACL with your Application Load Balancer to filter traffic before it reaches your NestJS application instances. This setup provides an additional security layer while maintaining application performance.

Secure Database Connections and Credentials Management

Store database credentials and API keys in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store or AWS Secrets Manager. These services provide encryption at rest and automatic rotation capabilities for sensitive configuration data.

Configure your NestJS application to retrieve credentials dynamically at runtime rather than embedding them in configuration files:

import { ConfigService } from '@nestjs/config';

@Injectable()
export class DatabaseService {
  constructor(private configService: ConfigService) {}
  
  async getConnection() {
    const credentials = await this.getSecureCredentials();
    return createConnection({
      host: credentials.host,
      username: credentials.username,
      password: credentials.password,
    });
  }
}

Enable encryption in transit for database connections using SSL/TLS protocols. RDS instances support encrypted connections by default, but verify your connection strings include the SSL parameter.

Use VPC endpoints for accessing AWS services privately without internet gateway routing. This approach keeps sensitive data traffic within AWS’s internal network, reducing exposure to external threats while supporting your NestJS AWS deployment requirements.

Auto-Scaling Your NestJS Application

Configure Auto Scaling Groups for Dynamic Resource Management

Auto Scaling Groups (ASGs) serve as the backbone for dynamic resource management in your AWS EC2 NestJS deployment. Setting up an ASG requires careful configuration of launch templates that define your instance specifications, including AMI selection, instance type, security groups, and user data scripts for NestJS application initialization.

Create a launch template with your optimized NestJS AMI, specifying instance types that balance performance and cost. The t3.medium or t3.large instances work well for most NestJS applications, providing burstable performance credits. Configure your user data script to automatically start your NestJS application on instance boot, install necessary dependencies, and register with your load balancer.

Define scaling policies based on CPU utilization, memory consumption, or custom CloudWatch metrics specific to your NestJS application. Target scaling policies work exceptionally well, maintaining average CPU utilization around 70% while allowing for traffic spikes. Set minimum and maximum instance counts based on your application’s baseline requirements and peak traffic expectations.

Configure health checks to ensure only healthy instances serve traffic. Use both EC2 health checks and Application Load Balancer health checks to catch application-level failures. The grace period should account for your NestJS application’s startup time, typically 300-600 seconds depending on initialization complexity.

Set Up CloudWatch Metrics and Alarms

CloudWatch metrics provide the intelligence your auto-scaling decisions need. Beyond standard EC2 metrics, configure custom metrics specific to your NestJS application performance. Track request latency, active database connections, memory usage, and application-specific business metrics.

Install the CloudWatch agent on your EC2 instances to collect detailed system metrics including memory utilization, disk I/O, and network statistics. NestJS applications can emit custom metrics using the AWS SDK, allowing you to track route response times, error rates, and concurrent user sessions.

Create CloudWatch alarms that trigger scaling actions based on multiple metrics. A composite alarm combining CPU utilization above 80% AND average response time exceeding 2 seconds provides more reliable scaling triggers than single-metric alarms. Configure alarm actions to send notifications to SNS topics, enabling real-time alerting for scaling events.

Set up dashboards displaying key performance indicators for your NestJS application. Include metrics like requests per minute, error rates, database connection pool status, and instance health across your auto-scaling group. These dashboards help identify patterns and optimize scaling parameters over time.

Implement Horizontal Scaling Strategies

Horizontal scaling requires your NestJS application to be stateless and session-agnostic. Store session data in external services like ElastiCache Redis or DynamoDB rather than in-memory storage. This approach allows any instance to handle any request without session affinity concerns.

Implement connection pooling for database connections, API clients, and other external services. The @nestjs/typeorm package provides built-in connection pooling, but configure pool sizes based on your expected concurrent load per instance. A good starting point is 10-20 connections per instance, adjusting based on your database’s connection limits and application requirements.

Configure your Application Load Balancer with appropriate health check endpoints. Create a dedicated health check route in your NestJS application that verifies database connectivity, external service availability, and application readiness. This endpoint should return detailed status information while remaining lightweight.

Use blue-green deployments or rolling updates to deploy new versions without downtime. Configure your ASG to gradually replace instances with new versions, ensuring your load balancer removes instances from rotation before termination. The deployment process should respect your application’s graceful shutdown procedures, allowing in-flight requests to complete.

Optimize Database Connections for Scaled Environments

Database connection management becomes critical as your NestJS application scales horizontally. Configure connection pools with appropriate limits to prevent overwhelming your database while maintaining performance. Use connection pooling libraries like pg-pool for PostgreSQL or configure TypeORM’s connection pool settings based on your database capacity.

Implement connection lifecycle management in your NestJS application. Create database connections lazily and close them gracefully during application shutdown. Use TypeORM’s onApplicationShutdown lifecycle hook to clean up database connections when instances terminate during scaling operations.

Consider implementing read replicas for read-heavy workloads. Configure your NestJS application to route read queries to replica instances while directing write operations to the primary database. This strategy reduces load on your primary database and improves response times for read operations.

Monitor database connection metrics closely using CloudWatch or your database’s native monitoring tools. Track active connections, connection pool utilization, and query performance across all instances in your auto-scaling group. Set up alarms for connection pool exhaustion or database CPU utilization to proactively address scaling bottlenecks.

Configure database connection retries and circuit breaker patterns to handle temporary connection failures during scaling events. The @nestjs/terminus package provides health check capabilities that can integrate with your database monitoring strategy, ensuring instances are removed from load balancer rotation when database connectivity issues occur.

Monitoring and Performance Optimization

Integrate CloudWatch for Real-Time Application Monitoring

CloudWatch serves as your central nervous system for EC2 monitoring NestJS applications. Setting up CloudWatch integration begins with installing the AWS CloudWatch agent on your EC2 instances. This agent automatically collects system-level metrics like CPU usage, memory consumption, disk I/O, and network traffic.

For NestJS applications, you’ll want to configure custom application metrics by integrating the AWS SDK. Install the necessary packages:

npm install @aws-sdk/client-cloudwatch @aws-sdk/client-logs

Create a monitoring service within your NestJS application that pushes custom metrics to CloudWatch. Track request latency, error rates, active connections, and database query performance. This real-time visibility helps you spot performance bottlenecks before they impact users.

Configure log streaming by setting up CloudWatch Logs groups for different log levels (error, warn, info). Your NestJS application can send structured logs directly to CloudWatch, making debugging and troubleshooting much easier when issues arise in production.

Set Up Custom Metrics and Dashboards

Building effective dashboards requires focusing on key performance indicators that matter for your NestJS performance optimization strategy. Start by creating custom metrics that reflect your application’s business logic and technical health.

Essential metrics to track include:

Response time percentiles (P50, P95, P99) for API endpoints
Request throughput measured in requests per second
Error rates broken down by endpoint and error type
Memory heap usage and garbage collection frequency
Database connection pool status and query execution times
JWT token validation performance and authentication failures

Design your CloudWatch dashboards with different audiences in mind. Create an executive dashboard showing high-level business metrics, a technical dashboard for developers with detailed performance data, and an operations dashboard focusing on infrastructure health.

Use CloudWatch’s alarm feature to set thresholds on critical metrics. When CPU usage exceeds 80% for more than 5 minutes, or when error rates spike above 5%, you’ll get immediate notifications through SNS (Simple Notification Service).

Implement Error Tracking and Alerting Systems

Error tracking goes beyond simple logging – you need intelligent alerting that helps you prioritize and respond to issues effectively. Set up CloudWatch alarms with different severity levels and escalation paths.

Create alarm hierarchies starting with warning-level alerts for minor issues like elevated response times, progressing to critical alerts for application crashes or database connectivity failures. Configure SNS topics to route different alert types to appropriate teams or individuals.

Implement distributed tracing using AWS X-Ray to track requests across your NestJS application stack. This becomes especially valuable when your application uses multiple services or external APIs. X-Ray helps you identify which component is causing slowdowns or failures in complex request flows.

For comprehensive error tracking, consider integrating third-party services like Sentry or Rollbar alongside CloudWatch. These tools provide enhanced error grouping, stack trace analysis, and user impact assessment that complements CloudWatch’s infrastructure monitoring.

Set up log aggregation patterns that automatically detect anomalies in error patterns. CloudWatch Insights queries can identify sudden spikes in specific error types or unusual patterns that might indicate security issues or application bugs.

Configure automated responses to common issues using CloudWatch Events and Lambda functions. When certain error thresholds are met, automatically restart services, scale resources, or execute remediation scripts to maintain application availability.

Deployment Automation and CI/CD Integration

Create Automated Deployment Pipelines with CodePipeline

Setting up AWS CodePipeline transforms your NestJS AWS deployment process from manual chaos into a streamlined automated workflow. Start by creating a new pipeline in the AWS Console and connect it to your source repository, whether GitHub, GitLab, or AWS CodeCommit.

Configure the pipeline with three essential stages: Source, Build, and Deploy. The source stage monitors your repository for code changes and automatically triggers the pipeline when new commits arrive. For the build stage, integrate AWS CodeBuild to compile your NestJS application, run tests, and create deployment artifacts.

Create a buildspec.yml file in your project root to define build commands:

version: 0.2
phases:
  install:
    runtime-versions:
      nodejs: 18
  pre_build:
    commands:
      - npm install
  build:
    commands:
      - npm run build
      - npm run test
artifacts:
  files:
    - '**/*'

The deploy stage pushes your built application to EC2 instances using CodeDeploy. This AWS CI/CD NestJS setup automatically handles version management, dependency installation, and service restarts across your infrastructure.

Add environment-specific configurations by creating separate pipeline branches for development, staging, and production environments. Each branch can target different EC2 instance groups and apply environment-specific settings.

Implement Blue-Green Deployment Strategies

Blue-green deployment eliminates downtime during NestJS performance optimization updates by maintaining two identical production environments. The “blue” environment runs your current application version while “green” hosts the new version.

Configure two separate Auto Scaling Groups in different subnets, each with identical EC2 NestJS configuration. Use an Application Load Balancer to route traffic between environments. During deployment, CodeDeploy provisions the new version to the inactive environment while the active environment continues serving users.

Create deployment groups in CodeDeploy for both environments:

Blue Environment: Target existing production instances
Green Environment: Target standby instances with identical configuration

The deployment process follows these steps:

Deploy new version to green environment
Run health checks and automated tests
Switch load balancer traffic from blue to green
Monitor application performance and user experience
Keep blue environment as instant rollback option

Configure health checks that verify both application responsiveness and business logic functionality. Set custom metrics thresholds that automatically trigger rollbacks if error rates spike or response times degrade.

This AWS deployment automation strategy works particularly well for NestJS applications because Node.js services start quickly, reducing the time gap between environments.

Set Up Rollback Mechanisms for Failed Deployments

Robust rollback mechanisms save your NestJS application from extended downtime during failed deployments. Configure automatic rollback triggers in CodeDeploy based on CloudWatch alarms monitoring key application metrics.

Create CloudWatch alarms for critical metrics:

HTTP 5xx error rate exceeding 5%
Average response time above 2 seconds
Health check failure rate over 10%
Custom business metrics specific to your application

Set up automatic rollback policies in your deployment configuration:

{
  "rollbackConfiguration": {
    "enabled": true,
    "rollbackEvents": [
      {
        "type": "ALARM_BASED",
        "alarmName": "HighErrorRate",
        "enabled": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

Implement manual rollback procedures for situations requiring immediate intervention. Store the last three successful deployment versions as AMI snapshots, enabling quick restoration if automatic rollbacks fail.

Document rollback procedures with clear step-by-step instructions including database migration reversals if your NestJS application uses schema changes. Test rollback procedures regularly during non-peak hours to ensure they work reliably when needed.

Configure Automated Testing in Production Environment

Production testing validates that your deployed NestJS application functions correctly in the real environment with actual traffic patterns and data volumes. Set up synthetic monitoring using CloudWatch Synthetics to run continuous tests against your production endpoints.

Create synthetic canaries that simulate user journeys:

API endpoint health checks
Authentication flow validation
Database connectivity tests
Third-party service integration checks

Configure these tests to run every 5-10 minutes and alert your team immediately when failures occur. Use different test data sets to avoid affecting production data while ensuring comprehensive coverage.

Implement gradual traffic shifting during deployments. Start by routing 10% of traffic to the new version while monitoring error rates and performance metrics. Gradually increase traffic allocation (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) based on predefined success criteria.

Set up A/B testing frameworks to compare new features against existing functionality using real user traffic. This approach provides valuable insights into performance improvements and user experience changes before full rollout.

Create automated smoke tests that run immediately after deployment completion. These tests verify core functionality like user registration, data retrieval, and critical business workflows work correctly in the production environment.

Deploying NestJS applications on AWS EC2 opens up incredible opportunities for building robust, scalable web applications. From the initial setup and instance configuration to implementing rock-solid security measures and automated scaling, each piece of this puzzle works together to create a reliable production environment. The monitoring and performance optimization strategies we’ve covered will help you catch issues before they impact your users, while CI/CD automation takes the stress out of deployments.

The real magic happens when you combine all these elements into a cohesive system. Your NestJS app running on properly configured EC2 instances, protected by security best practices, and backed by auto-scaling capabilities gives you the foundation to handle whatever traffic comes your way. Start with the basics – get your app deployed and secured first, then gradually add the automation and scaling features as your application grows. Your future self will thank you for building these practices into your workflow from day one.