Secure an AWS deployment of Mastodon, Discourse, or Chatwoot by treating AWS and the application as separate parts of the security boundary: restrict identity and network access, keep the operating system and application updated, protect data and secrets, and verify each product’s own deployment and backup requirements. AWS hosting does not make an EC2-hosted application secure automatically, and the products do not all have the same documented storage or configuration needs.
Who is responsible for security on AWS?
AWS secures the underlying cloud infrastructure; the customer remains responsible for security in the cloud. For EC2, that includes network access to instances, connection credentials, the guest operating system and installed software, and permissions attached to instance IAM roles. AWS explains this division in its EC2 security guidance.
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That means a secure deployment needs named owners for patching, access reviews, configuration changes, logging, backups, and incident response. Managed AWS components can change who operates a particular layer, but they do not remove the need to secure the application and its access paths. The exact split depends on the architecture you choose.
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How should you secure the AWS account and workload identities?
Protect administrator access
Use individual administrator identities rather than shared logins, enable multi-factor authentication, and review who can administer the AWS account and deployment. AWS recommends MFA, TLS for communications with AWS, CloudTrail for API and user-activity logging, and encryption controls in its EC2 data-protection guidance.
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Use scoped workload permissions
When an application needs AWS access, prefer an IAM role attached to the workload over long-lived AWS credentials stored in application configuration or on the server. Limit the role to the bucket and actions the application actually needs, and review its trust relationship and permissions when the deployment changes. AWS describes these practices in its EC2 best-practices guidance and S3 security best practices.
How should you separate public, application, and database access?
Design the network so that public entry points are distinct from internal application, worker, cache, and database paths. Do not expose a database or other internal component merely because the application needs to reach it. The exact services and network rules depend on the product’s current deployment documentation and your chosen architecture; the available product references do not establish one universal port map for all three applications.
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For Amazon RDS, AWS recommends placing the database in a VPC, using security groups to control which addresses or EC2 instances may connect, managing resource permissions with IAM, and using TLS for supported database engines. See Security in Amazon RDS. Apply the same principle to other internal services: permit only the connections needed by the selected deployment, and review those rules as it evolves.
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What should you protect in storage, transport, and monitoring?
Use TLS for communications where supported, encrypt stored data, and monitor and audit relevant activity. For S3, AWS recommends policy-based access, encryption at rest, HTTPS-only access through policy conditions, IAM roles for application access, and monitoring controls such as CloudTrail. Its S3 security guidance also recommends disabling ACLs unless a use case requires per-object control.
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Do not apply the S3 ACL recommendation blindly to Mastodon: Mastodon’s AWS S3 configuration documentation says the bucket must support ACLs. Confirm the requirements for the Mastodon version and bucket configuration you will run, then choose the narrowest compatible access policy. AWS’s guidance reports an April 2026 change that disables SSE-C by default for new general-purpose buckets; if your design depends on SSE-C, verify the current S3 behavior and enable it deliberately if needed.
What application-specific requirements should you check?
| Application | What the available official documentation establishes | What to verify before deployment |
|---|---|---|
| Mastodon | Its documentation covers S3-compatible media storage, configuration, and backup priorities. See Object storage, Configuring your environment, and Backing up your server. | Check the current version’s storage and ACL requirements, media visibility, configuration, and backup procedure. |
| Discourse | The official Self-Hosting index links to production installation, S3-compatible uploads, HTTPS/SSL, and backups. | Follow the current linked procedures; the index alone does not establish detailed hardening settings, backup inclusion defaults, or an AWS architecture. |
| Chatwoot | Chatwoot-specific AWS deployment and security requirements are not established by the available official references. | Consult and verify current official self-hosting and environment-configuration documentation before deciding service exposure, secrets, TLS proxy assumptions, database or cache access, object storage, upgrades, and backup or restore procedures. |
Mastodon: treat media storage as a distinct access path
Mastodon supports S3-compatible object storage. Its documentation describes application write, delete, and permission-modification operations through the S3 API, while media reads use anonymous HTTP GET requests to URLs sent to clients and federated servers. A publicly readable media URL does not give someone permission to administer the bucket, but it does mean you should explicitly decide which media is readable and how object access behaves when accounts or content are removed.
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The Mastodon guide says served files must not be directory-listed and that some interface functionality needs CORS headers. It also warns that when changing the media host, the Content-Security-Policy must be updated in advance: service workers may cache the old value for up to a week. Account for that behavior when moving media behind a proxy or CDN. See the official Mastodon object-storage guide.
Discourse: use its product-specific deployment procedures
Start with Discourse’s current production installation guidance, then follow its own procedures for HTTPS/SSL, uploads, and backups. The official self-hosting documentation index points to those topics, but does not by itself substantiate particular AWS security-group rules, backup defaults, or storage settings. Verify those details in the current linked procedures rather than borrowing Mastodon’s requirements.
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Chatwoot: verify the supported setup rather than infer it
Do not assume Chatwoot uses Mastodon’s or Discourse’s topology, secret handling, storage behavior, or backup process. Before exposing a Chatwoot deployment, establish its supported installation pattern and required connections from current official Chatwoot documentation. Until those details are verified, there is no basis here for prescribing a Chatwoot-specific AWS port map, S3 policy, or recovery procedure.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What must a backup plan include?
For Mastodon, the official backup guide prioritizes PostgreSQL data, application secrets, uploaded files, and Redis, in that order, and recommends keeping backups off-site. It notes that when uploaded files are already in external object storage such as S3, its described plan does not require copying those files as local server files. Object storage does not, by itself, back up the database or secrets. Follow the current Mastodon backup guidance for the deployment you operate.
For Discourse and Chatwoot, establish the backup scope and restore procedure from each product’s current documentation; the available references do not verify their detailed defaults. Across products, make the plan explicit about what is backed up, where the off-site copy resides, how long it is retained, who can access it, and how restoration is performed. A backup that has not been restored using the intended procedure is not evidence that recovery will work.
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How do you turn these controls into a deployment plan?
- Confirm the product procedure. Use the current official installation, HTTPS, storage, upgrade, and backup guidance for the exact application and version. For Chatwoot, verify its official self-hosting and environment requirements before choosing the architecture.
- Assign layer owners. Record who maintains AWS configuration, the operating system, application releases, credentials, monitoring, backups, and incident response, including any responsibilities handled by managed components.
- Constrain identities and paths. Enable administrator MFA, use workload roles with only required permissions, and set security groups so only intended sources can reach public entry points and internal services.
- Configure data controls for the application. Set TLS, encryption, storage access, and logging according to AWS guidance and the product’s documented needs. Resolve product-specific exceptions, such as Mastodon’s documented S3 ACL requirement, rather than applying a generic bucket setting.
- Plan recovery before relying on it. Document the required data and secrets, off-site location, retention, access controls, and restoration sequence. Use the application’s current backup instructions, then validate the recovery procedure for your own deployment.
- Review changes continuously. Revisit access permissions, network rules, patches, storage configuration, and recovery arrangements as the application and AWS services change. AWS and application documentation are configuration guidance, not proof that a particular deployment is secure.
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