In this, we’ll go step by step through the process of launching two EC2 instances in different availability zones, setting up Apache web servers, uploading a website template, and configuring an Application Load Balancer (ALB) with target groups for high availability and load distribution.

🖥️ Step 1: Create the First EC2 Instance

Go to the AWS EC2 dashboard and follow these steps:

• Click Launch Instance
• Name: Web Server
• AMI: Amazon Linux
• Instance Type: t2.micro (Free Tier eligible)
• Key Pair: Select an existing key or create a new one
• Network Settings:
  • Edit settings
  • Choose Default VPC
  • Enable Auto-assign Public IP
  • Set Availability Zone: ap-south-1a
• Security Group: Choose existing security group (Launch Wizard 1)
• Click Launch Instance

🖥️ Step 2: Create the Second EC2 Instance (in a different zone)

Repeat the process above with a slight change:

• Availability Zone: Select ap-south-1b

This ensures your setup is multi-AZ for better fault tolerance.

🔐 Step 3: Security Group Settings

For simplicity in testing:

• Go to Security Groups
• Select Launch Wizard 1
• Edit inbound rules:
  • Type: All traffic
  • Protocol: All
  • Port Range: All
  • Source: Custom – 0.0.0.0/0

⚠️ Warning: Allowing all traffic from anywhere is only recommended for testing/demo purposes.

📁 Step 4: Upload Website Template to EC2 Instances

1. Connect to EC2:

In EC2 dashboard:

• Select the instance
• Click Connect
• Choose EC2 Instance Connect → Connect

2. Run the Following Commands:

sudo su
yum update -y
yum install httpd -y
service httpd start

3. Move to Web Directory:

cd /var/www/html

4. Download Free Template:

Go to Free CSS Templates

Copy the ZIP link of your favorite template.

wget <paste-template-zip-link>
ls
unzip <template-name>.zip
ls
cd <unzipped-folder>
mv * ..

Repeat the same steps for the second instance, but use a different template for differentiation in load balancing.

⚖️ Step 5: Create Target Groups

Target Group 1:

• Navigate to Target Groups → Create Target Group
• Type: Instances
• Protocol: HTTP
• Port: 80
• VPC: Default
• Health Check Path: /index.html
• Name: TG1
• Register the first EC2 instance and set port to 80

Target Group 2:

Repeat the steps, name it TG2, and register the second EC2 instance.

🌍 Step 6: Create Application Load Balancer

Go to Load Balancers → Create Load Balancer → Application Load Balancer.

• Name: App-LB
• Scheme: Internet-facing
• IP address type: IPv4
• VPC: Default
• Availability Zones: Select both Zone A and Zone B
• Security Group: Launch Wizard 1

🎯 Step 7: Add Listeners and Target Groups

• Listener 1:
  • Port: 80
  • Forward to: TG1 (First Instance)

• Listener 2:
  • Add another port like 81 or 89
  • Forward to: TG2 (Second Instance)

🌐 Step 8: Test the Load Balancer

After creating the load balancer, go to:

• Load Balancer > Description
• Copy the DNS name

Open the DNS in your browser:

• http://<DNS> will load the first instance
• http://<DNS>:81 (or 89) will load the second one

✅ Conclusion

You’ve successfully:

• Created multi-AZ EC2 instances
• Deployed different web templates
• Set up target groups
• Created an Application Load Balancer
• Configured multiple listeners for routing

Now, you’ve got a scalable, resilient architecture ready for production (with more secure settings, of course).