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Open Web Traffic

The PatientPing app is running on the server, but nobody can reach it because our patientping-public security group only allows inbound SSH traffic on port 22. Port 8080, where the app is listening, is blocked.

This is actually a good default. A firewall that blocks everything except what you explicitly allow is the safest starting point. You saw firsthand in the last lesson what that looks like: the browser just hangs because the packets never make it through.

Now let's poke a hole for web traffic.

Assignment

Add an inbound rule to the patientping-public security group to allow web traffic on port 8080.

Cost check: No new resources. Security group rules are free.

Navigate to "EC2" → "Security Groups" (under "Network & Security") in the AWS Console.
Select the patientping-public security group ID.
On the "Inbound rules" tab, click "Edit inbound rules."
Click "Add rule" and configure it:
- Type: Custom TCP
- Port range: 8080
- Source: Anywhere-IPv4 (0.0.0.0/0)
- Description: Allow web traffic for PatientPing site
Click "Save rules."
Open a browser on your local machine and go to http://<patientping-web-public-ip>:8080. You should now be able to access the PatientPing site.

Security group changes take effect almost immediately. You don't need to restart the instance or the application.

If the site loads (don't worry about pesky "Not Secure" warnings from your browser), you're good to go.

Run and submit the CLI tests.

Tip

If you want to use the CLI instead:

# Get the security group ID
aws ec2 describe-security-groups --filters 'Name=group-name,Values=patientping-public' --query 'SecurityGroups[0].GroupId' --output text

# Add the inbound rule
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress --group-id SG-ID --ip-permissions IpProtocol=tcp,FromPort=8080,ToPort=8080,IpRanges=[{CidrIp=0.0.0.0/0,Description="Allow web traffic for PatientPing site"}]