local-to-cloud-starter

From a blank Windows laptop → HTML app → Nginx → Docker container → Docker Hub → Azure Static Web Apps with GitHub Actions CI/CD. The full local-to-cloud migration arc, one phase at a time.

Live demo: 🚀 ashy-bay-0d76ae90f.7.azurestaticapps.net

Stack: WSL2 · Ubuntu 24.04 · Nginx · Docker · Docker Hub · GitHub Actions · Azure Static Web Apps

Docker image: hub.docker.com/r/rajankumar656/my-cloud-app

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Why this project exists

Most cloud tutorials skip the bridge between "I wrote some code" and "it runs on cloud with a public URL." This repo builds that bridge step by step - each phase is a real deployable artifact, not a slide deck.

Goal: learn by shipping, one phase at a time, until the same app that runs locally serves traffic from Azure with auto-deploy from GitHub.

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Architecture

┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│  Windows 11      │    │  WSL2 Ubuntu     │    │  Docker Hub      │
│  (host)          │───▶│  24.04 LTS       │───▶│  public registry │
│  Browser         │    │  Nginx + Docker  │    │  my-cloud-app:v1 │
└──────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘

                            ┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
                            │  GitHub repo     │───▶│  GitHub Actions  │
                            │  main branch     │    │  build + deploy  │
                            └──────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘
                                                              │
                                                              ▼
                                                   ┌──────────────────┐
                                                   │  Azure Static    │
                                                   │  Web Apps (Free) │
                                                   │  HTTPS + CDN     │
                                                   └──────────────────┘

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Phases

Phase	What it ships	Status
1 - WSL2 Dev Environment	Ubuntu 24.04 + Docker + Terraform + Nginx on WSL2	✅ Done
2 - First Project: HTML → Container → Registry	Nginx serves HTML → Docker image → pushed to Docker Hub	✅ Done
3 - Azure Static Web Apps Deploy	GitHub push → Actions workflow → live on Azure with HTTPS	✅ Done

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Quick start (run locally)

Option A - Docker (recommended)

docker pull rajankumar656/my-cloud-app:v1
docker run -d -p 8080:80 --name my-cloud-app rajankumar656/my-cloud-app:v1
# → http://localhost:8080

Option B - Clone + open

git clone https://github.com/imrajankumar95/local-to-cloud-starter.git
cd local-to-cloud-starter/phase-2-first-project/app
# Open index.html in browser

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How the deploy works

1. Push to main on GitHub
2. .github/workflows/azure-static-web-apps-*.yml triggers
3. Action uploads phase-2-first-project/app/ to Azure Static Web Apps
4. Azure publishes to global CDN with HTTPS
5. Live in ~40 seconds

No servers to manage. No containers running 24/7. No quota fights.

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What I learned

• WSL2 beats Vagrant for Docker workflows - native kernel integration, no VM overhead, sub-2-second boot. Originally scaffolded with Vagrant + VirtualBox; switched mid-project after hitting disk/perf ceilings.
• Azure Student subscription has guardrails - region policies, zero vCPU quota by default on B-series, F1 App Service also quota-locked. Real cloud engineering problem, not a tutorial bug.
• Pivot beats perfection - original plan was Azure B1s VM + docker run. Blocked by quota. Pivoted to Static Web Apps in 10 minutes. Shipped same day. "Ship broken > hoard perfect."
• GitHub Actions auto-wire is free CI/CD - Azure Static Web Apps wrote the workflow file into my repo on creation. Zero manual YAML needed for v1.
• Docker Hub = poor man's ACR - free public registry, same pull/push semantics as Azure Container Registry. Good training ground before paying for cloud registries.
• nginx:alpine base image is ~8 MB vs ~140 MB for nginx:latest. Layer size matters when pulling on constrained cloud free tiers.

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Cost

$0/month. Azure Static Web Apps Free tier:

• 100 GB bandwidth/mo
• 2 custom domains
• SSL included
• Global CDN

No credit card charge as long as site stays on Free tier.

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Part of a larger roadmap

This is Project 1 of 4 on the path to a Cloud/DevOps co-op role by Sep 2026:

1. local-to-cloud-starter ← you are here ✅
2. the-migration-arc - Flask + GitHub Actions CI/CD → Azure App Service
3. infrastructure-monitoring - Prometheus + Grafana observability stack
4. capstone - AKS + full stack (Terraform + CI/CD + monitoring + app)

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Author

Rajan Kumar - Cloud Computing student, George Brown College (T465) 🔗 LinkedIn · GitHub