Skip to content

Restarting the ieeg.org AWS Server

What this page tells you

When ieeg.org is degraded, log into AWS (account upenn-ieeg, us-east-1), open Elastic Beanstalk environment Ieegview-env-cpu-upgrade, and use Actions > Restart app server(s) only. Also explains subscribing to SNS health alerts and editing the alarm.

Restarting the ieeg.org environment

  1. Go to aws.amazon.com and click "Sign in to the Console"

  2. Login with the following credentials, then click "Sign in"

    1. Account ID / alias: upenn-ieeg
    2. IAM username
    3. Password
      AWS IAM sign-in form, account upenn-ieeg, user asuncion, masked password

  3. In the upper right hand corner, make sure that the "United States (N. Virginia) us-east-1" region is selected.

  4. Search for and navigate to "Elastic Beanstalk"
    AWS console search for Elastic Beanstalk

  5. You will see the Ieegview-env-cpu-upgrade environment and its current Health. Click on the environment name
    Elastic Beanstalk environments list, single ieegview environment

  6. If the environment Health is Degraded and you would like to restart the server, click the dropdown "Actions" button, then click "Restart app server(s)"

    1. WARNING: DO NOT CLICK ANY OF THE OTHER OPTIONS IN THE DROPDOWN OR YOU MIGHT ACCIDENTALLY TAKE DOWN THE ENTIRE PLATFORM
      Elastic Beanstalk ieegview environment page with Actions menu open

  7. Once you click "Restart app server(s)", the page will refresh and you will see that the server is restarting. Feel free to close the tab. It should take a few minutes before the server is back up and running and the Health is restored to OK.

  8. In a few minutes, logon to ieeg.org to verify that the server is up and running again.

Optional: Subscribe to AWS automated alerts

You are able to have AWS automated alerts sent to your email whenever Elastic Beanstalk notices that the ieeg.org server Health is degraded.

  1. Logon to https://console.aws.amazon.com/sns/home

  2. Click Amazon SNS, click Topics, then click the Topic name "ElasticBeanstalkNotifications-ieegview-e-4dq3mbq7dw-EnvironmentHealth-Average"
    AWS SNS topics list for ieegview environment

  3. Click the "Subscriptions" tab, then click the "Create Subscription" button
    AWS SNS topic details with ARN, account ID and staff email subscription

  4. Fill out the form with the following details:

    1. Topic ARN: "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:078887448127:ElasticBeanstalkNotifications-ieegview-e-4dq3mbq7dw-EnvironmentHealth-Average" (don't change)
    2. Protocol: Email
    3. Endpoint: insert your email address
  5. Click "Create subscription" at the bottom. You will then receive a confirmation email from Amazon SNS, which you will need to confirm first before you can start receiving notifications.

If you would like to edit the settings for the Ieeg Env Health Alarm:

  1. In Elastic Beanstalk, in Environments, in the Ieegview-env-cpu-upgrade environment menu, click the "Alarms" tab
    Elastic Beanstalk ieegview environment Alarms tab

  2. Click the checkbox for the "IeegEnvHealth" Alarm, then click the blue "Edit" button

  3. You are free to adjust the following parameters as needed. Do not change anything else.
    1. Period
    2. Change state after
      AWS Elastic Beanstalk edit alarm IeegEnvHealth form

Instructions on how I created this Alarm, if you would like to create your own Alarm:

  1. In Elastic Beanstalk, in Environments, in the Ieegview-env-cpu-upgrade environment menu, click the "Alarms" tab
  2. Click the "Create a new alarm" button
  3. Fill out the form with the following details:
    1. Resource: Ieegview-env-cpu-upgrade (don't change)
    2. Metric: EnvironmentHealth (don't change)
    3. Dimensions: no dimensions (don't change)
    4. Statistic: Average
    5. Name: insert whatever name you want
    6. Description - optional: leave blank
    7. Period: 1 minute
    8. Change state after: 1 minute
    9. Threshold: > 20
    10. Notify: Create a new SNS topic
    11. Topic name: insert whatever name you want
    12. Email: insert your email address
    13. Notify when state changes to: Alarm