Chapter 17 Cloning (EC2 Server)

This document covers getting the shiny app files onto your AWS EC2 Server. By the end of this document, you will have used git clone to clone your files and used docker run to run a Test Application publically on you EC2 Server.

17.1 Prerequisites

You must have a remote repository on GitHub to clone. This repository contains the 3 shiny app directories with supporting files.

17.2 GitHub Clone URL

On you GitHub Repo, get the URL string for cloning the repo.

Click Clone or Download
Copy the URL for your GitHub Repo

17.3 Clone the Directory on EC2 Server

This creates a local copy that is linked to your remote.

Use git clone your_remote_repo_url
Use tree to verify a folder has been added with contents of your github repo.

17.4 Test an App

Finally, we’ll test that we can get an app running in development mode combining docker and the /test_app.

17.4.1 Step 1 - Run Docker with the Test App

Run the following command (modify as necessary to fit your ubuntu directory setup):

sudo docker container run --rm  -p 3838:3838 \
-v /home/ubuntu/business_science_apps/test_app/:/srv/shiny-server/test_app \
-v /home/ubuntu/log/shiny-server/:/var/log/shiny-server/ \
mdancho/shinyauth

What’s happening?

sudo docker container run --rm -p 3838:3838 - We are setting up a development docker container linking port 3838 (EC2) to 3838 (Container), which is what Shiny Server runs on.
There are two volumes that need to be linked for shiny apps:
1. App Files - The Test App files are being linked to a volume inside the container at /srv/shiny-server/test_app/
2. Log Files - These track if anything goes wrong. We link a directory at /home/ubuntu/log/shiny-server/ to the container at /var/log/shiny-server/
We use mdancho/shinyauth image to load the R libraries and shiny server inside the container so the Test App can run

17.4.2 Step 2 - Navigate to the EC2 Server port to see your app in action

You should now see an app at the URL of your EC2 Server by appending :3838/test_app to the URL.

17.4.3 Step 3 - Shutdown the Test App

Use Ctrl+C to shutdown the Test App.

17.5 Wrapup

Congratulations. You’ve just launched and shutdown your first Shiny App on AWS EC2. You now know how to:

Clone your apps using git clone
Leverage docker and your Shiny App files to stand-up a simple shiny app

We’ll start adding more complexity once we get into Shiny App Deployment, but next we will cover making app changes.

The Shiny AWS Book