## Migrate AWS EC2 app: Laravel  
Move Laravel compute from AWS EC2 app to Ample, one component at a time. Destination verified on Ample: the app built, started and answered on its public HTTPS URL with encrypted configuration delivered.

### Source procedure:  
Collect the process environment from the instance (systemd unit or process manager config) into an env file kept out of the repository. 
Not migrated automatically: Cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead.

### Cutover:  
Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the instance or load balancer, keep the instance until verified, then stop it.

### Rollback:  
Keep the source untouched until you confirm; nothing at the source is changed or deleted by this guide.

### Prerequisites:  
- Authorized access to the AWS EC2 app source and its export tooling  
- An inventory of every component in scope and out of scope  
- A validated backup or copy before any cutover  
- An Ample account token with servers:write, databases:read

### Resource Requirements:  
- **Compute**: Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.  
- **Postgres**: Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.

### Workflow Steps:  
1. **Inventory the source**: List what AWS EC2 app provides beyond the component you are moving. Out of scope here: Cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead.  
2. **Source step 1**: Collect the process environment from the instance (systemd unit or process manager config) into an env file kept out of the repository.  
3. **Source step 2**: Replace the instance's process manager with the repository's start command; Ample supervises the process and restarts it.  
4. **Source step 3**: Inventory what else runs on the instance: databases, cron, reverse proxy rules, local files.  
5. **Deploy on Ample in parallel**: `composer install --no-dev from composer.lock`, then FrankenPHP serving public/ (php-server with the index.php fallback) reading PORT on the php-8.5 template. Pass the exported variables with --env; keep the source running. `ample deploy . --name  --public --env-file .env.production`  
6. **Validate before cutover**: Run the app's own checks and, for data, compare counts and checksums; the example checks are the pattern self-tests (/p/configuration-secrets, /p/relational-records).  
7. **Cut over**: Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the instance or load balancer, keep the instance until verified, then stop it.  
8. **Rollback**: Point DNS or configuration back to the source. The source was never modified; deletion is a separate, user-executed step after validation.

### Success Checks:  
- Destination app responds on its public URL  
- Configuration-secrets check from the destination example  
- Relational-records check from the destination example  
- Data or object counts and checksums match the source

### Limitations:  
- Documentation only: nothing is executed automatically and no execution binding is offered.  
- The source-side procedure is documented from AWS EC2 app's standard tooling and was not executed in this catalog's evidence; the destination side was verified with the pattern fixture.  
- No full source-product parity is claimed: cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead.  
- Verified on the php-8.5 template at s-1vcpu-1gb; region, compliance and request-duration limits are unknown.  
- Managed PostgreSQL 16 only; extensions, connection limits and backup or restore procedures on the managed side are not verified beyond the pattern checks.

### Cost Estimate:  
- **Currency**: USD  
- **Monthly Amount**: 10.0  
- **App Server**: 5.0  
- **Managed PostgreSQL Database**: 5.0

### Last Verified At:  
2026-09-20T20:36:21Z

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