Since Google Tag Manager released the manual setup guide<\/a> for server-side tagging<\/a>, my mind has been spinning with the idea of walking through the deployment into Amazon\u2019s AWS<\/a>.<\/p>\n I personally prefer Google Cloud Platform<\/a> over AWS, because I think it\u2019s so much more user-friendly. Even though in this guide we\u2019ll be utilizing one of the simplest AWS services, Elastic Beanstalk<\/a>, the deployment is still much<\/em> more complex than if you were to use GCP\u2019s App Engine<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In this guide, I\u2019ll show you how to deploy the server-side tagging application into AWS.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t be a complete<\/strong> approach, as I won\u2019t go into the weeds of showing you how to add the credentials to get the BigQuery API to work<\/a> (there\u2019s going to be other guides for this).<\/p>\n We\u2019ll use Elastic Beanstalk<\/strong>, which is the closest analogy to Google App Engine that AWS has to offer. It\u2019s a very simple, almost turnkey way of deploying web applications, and it\u2019s perfect<\/em> for our needs. If you want to get down and dirty with the setup, you can use the Elastic Container Service<\/a>, but we will not be covering ECS in this guide.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be able to do everything through the AWS console, so there\u2019s no need to install any new software on your computer.<\/p>\n Thank you to Google\u2019s Andrew Lee for helping me out with some of the particulars in the manual setup.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This will not<\/strong> be an AWS guide. I\u2019m only going to show you how to get things running, and hopefully you\u2019ll understand how the server container application works. But tweaking the instances and making it work in your overall AWS infrastructure is up to you.<\/p>\n \n \n Subscribe to the Simmer newsletter<\/a> to get the latest news and content from Simo Ahava into your email inbox!\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n If you don\u2019t already have an AWS account, go ahead and create one<\/a>. You\u2019ll need to provide a credit card for billing as well.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve created the account (or signed in), make sure you select a region<\/strong> you want to work in. All the services you enable should run within the same region for the purposes of this exercise. If you are unsure which region to select, choose one that is geographically closest to you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n I’m working in the eu-central-1 region (Frankfurt)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The final mandatory<\/strong> thing you\u2019ll need is access to a custom domain<\/strong> and the rights to modify its DNS records<\/strong>. In this exercise, you\u2019ll be mapping two<\/strong> domains:<\/p>\n Important! If you don\u2019t know how to update DNS records, work with someone who does<\/strong>. Also, make sure you are working with a domain namespace that is not being used for something else<\/strong>. In the example above, I might be using Unlike with GCP App Engine, it\u2019s not possible<\/strong> to setup the server container application without HTTPS-protected custom domains.<\/p>\n You are going to create an Elastic Beanstalk<\/strong> application, which runs on two environments<\/strong>. One environment will be for your auto-scaling tagging server<\/strong>, and one for your single-instance preview server<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Both environments are created with a Docker container image<\/strong> provided by Google. This Docker container is configured with some environment variables<\/strong> \u2013 mainly the link to your actual Google Tag Manager container and details about the preview server setup.<\/p>\n Once everything is done, your tagging server<\/strong> will be able to process incoming HTTP requests just like a regular Google Tag Manager server container. Requests sent while in preview mode will be automatically processed by the preview server<\/strong> (this logic is handled by the servers themselves \u2013\u00a0you don\u2019t have to write any routing rules).<\/p>\n The actual steps we\u2019ll take are:<\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s a lot to cover, and yes, it\u2019s somewhat complicated. However, the steps to create the two servers are almost identical. Once you actually start working through the process, it should all make some sense.<\/p>\n The first thing you\u2019ll need to do is request an SSL certificate from Amazon so that the traffic to both your tagging server and your preview server will be behind HTTPS.<\/p>\n While this is optional (but highly recommended) for the tagging server, it\u2019s required<\/strong> for the preview server. If the preview server is not behind HTTPS, the deployment will not work.<\/p>\n Unlike App Engine, the default URL provided by Elastic Beanstalk can not<\/strong> be protected by HTTPS, which is why we need to map the custom domains before we can even test our setup properly.<\/p>\n To get started, go to AWS Certificate Manager<\/a> and choose to provision \/ request a new certificate. Select the public certificate<\/strong> option.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the next screen, add both of the domains you want to register for your servers. As mentioned before, make sure the preview<\/strong> server is a subdomain of the tagging<\/strong> server. For example, this is the configuration I chose for this demo:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the next view, select the DNS validation<\/strong> option and proceed.<\/p>\n Skip through the Add tags<\/strong> and Review<\/strong> screens, and click Confirm and request<\/strong> to start the process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the Validation<\/strong> view, expand both of the domains.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n You\u2019ll need to create CNAME records<\/strong> for both of these domains in your DNS settings. For example, as the DNS records for my <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once done, you can click Continue<\/strong> to complete the certificate request in AWS Certificate Manager.<\/p>\n If your certificates aren\u2019t immediately validated, it means that the DNS changes haven\u2019t propagated yet. It might take anything from a few seconds to some hours, depending on if the domain names are being reused. You can click the refresh<\/strong> button to update the validation status.<\/p>\n However, you can actually continue with the setup even if the validation isn\u2019t complete, so proceed to the next step when ready!<\/p>\n The final DNS update you need to do is to register a hosted zone<\/strong> in AWS Route53.<\/p>\n A hosted zone is where you basically point the name servers<\/strong> of your custom domains to AWS. This way you delegate AWS with full control over the DNS of these domains. This is pretty much mandatory if you want to map custom domains to the Beanstalk environments you\u2019ll be creating soon.<\/p>\n Head on over to Route53<\/a> and click Create hosted zone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In the Hosted zone configuration<\/strong>, add the domain of your tagging server<\/strong> (e.g. <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once done, you need to make some DNS record updates<\/strong> again. In your DNS provider, add the four NS<\/strong> records to your tagging server domain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In GoDaddy, this is what the records from the example above look like:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once you\u2019ve done these changes, we\u2019re ready to create the Beanstalk environments. We\u2019ll return to Route53 once we need to make the actual tagging and preview server domain mappings, but these can be done through Route53 and you won\u2019t need to make any more DNS changes outside AWS.<\/p>\n Our setup will be a single<\/strong> Elastic Beanstalk application running an environment<\/em> for the preview server<\/strong> and another environment<\/em> for the tagging server<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So the first thing you\u2019ll need to do is head on over to Elastic Beanstalk<\/a> and create a new application.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Give the application a name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Under Platform<\/strong>, choose Docker<\/strong> and keep the default settings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n At this point, we\u2019ll just want to create the application and not<\/em> worry about the environments, so scroll all the way down and click Configure more options<\/strong>. This creates the application.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In this next screen, scroll all the way down and click Cancel<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0we want to create the environment manually.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you now go to Applications<\/a>, you should see your new Beanstalk application. Nice work!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It might take some time for the application to appear, so be patient.<\/p>\n The first thing we\u2019ll do is create an environment for the Preview server<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It has just a single gotcha<\/em>: it needs a Load Balancer<\/strong> (so that you can map a custom domain to it), but it must not<\/strong> scale beyond one instance.<\/p>\n Click your application name in the list of Beanstalk applications to enter the application\u2019s environment list. The list should be empty, so click Create a new environment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Choose Web server environment<\/strong> and click Select<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Set the Environment name<\/strong> to something useful, such as <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Under Platform<\/strong>, choose Docker<\/strong> and keep the default settings.<\/p>\n Before proceeding, follow this link<\/a> and download the file as This file describes the Docker container<\/strong> for the GTM tagging server and how to fetch it from Google\u2019s public Docker repository. We\u2019ll be using this file to actually deploy the Google Tag Manager container into the environment.<\/p>\n Once downloaded, back in the AWS Console, select Upload your code<\/strong> in the Application Code<\/strong> Settings. Click Choose file<\/strong> and locate the <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next, click Configure more options<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"GTM](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/aws-gtm-server.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n X<\/span><\/p>\n
\n The Simmer Newsletter<\/strong>\n <\/p>\nWhat you will need<\/h2>\n
![\"I'm](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/aws-region.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n\n
tagging.domain.com<\/code>)<\/li>\ndebug.tagging.domain.com<\/code>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
domain.com<\/code> for my main site, so that\u2019s why I\u2019ve reserved the tagging.domain.com<\/code> for my tagging server. The tagging server and the website sending data to the tagging server should<\/strong> share the main (naked) domain name, though.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nThe outline<\/h2>\n
\n
1. Create the SSL certificates<\/h3>\n
![\"request](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/public-certificate.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"choose](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/certificate-domains.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Confirm](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/confirm-and-request.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"DNS](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/dns-records.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\nteamsimmer.com<\/code> domain are managed through GoDaddy<\/a>, I need to create the two records like this:<\/p>\n![\"GoDaddy](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/godaddy-records.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n2. Create a hosted zone for the custom domains<\/h2>\n
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/route53-create-hosted-zone.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\ntagging.teamsimmer.com<\/code>) into the Domain name<\/strong> field, keep the default settings, and click Create hosted zone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n![\"Hosted](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/create-hosted-zone.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/add-ns-records.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"NS](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/ns-records-in-godaddy.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n3. Create the Elastic Beanstalk application<\/h2>\n
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/create-beanstalk-application.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Application](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/application-name.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Docker](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/docker-platform.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Configure](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/application-configure-more-options.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/click-cancel.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Beanstalk](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/beanstalk-applications.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n4. Create the Preview server environment<\/h2>\n
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/create-preview-server-environment.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\ntagging-server-gtm-debug<\/code>. You don\u2019t need to change the Domain<\/strong> setting as we\u2019ll be using a custom domain anyway.<\/p>\n![\"Environment](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/environment-name.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\nDownload the Dockerrun.aws.json file<\/h3>\n
Dockerrun.aws.json<\/code> somewhere on your computer.<\/p>\nUpload the JSON<\/h3>\n
Dockerrun.aws.json<\/code> to upload it to the environment.<\/p>\n![\"Dockerrun](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/dockerrun-uploaded.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Configure](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/configure-debug-options.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![\"Edit](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/edit-software.jpg#ZgotmplZ\")
<\/p>\n![<\/p>\n](\"https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/images\/2021\/06\/container-settings.jpg\"){kind=link}