7.7 KiB
EasyAttend – Classroom Attendance Checklist Application
Author: Somangsu Mukherjee
1. Description of the Application
EasyAttend is a web-based classroom attendance management application designed for teachers, lecturers, or classroom administrators. The application allows users to record student attendance quickly and efficiently through a clean web interface.
Main features:
- Add student names
- Record student arrival times
- Display attendance records in a structured table
- Delete incorrect attendance entries
- Store attendance records permanently in a database
The application is publicly accessible over the Internet and secured with HTTPS encryption.
2. Public Cloud, Cloud Services, Docker Objects, Persistent Volumes and Database Used
Public Cloud Platform
The application is deployed on Microsoft Azure public cloud infrastructure.
Cloud service used:
- Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine
- Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS
- Azure B2ats v2 virtual machine instance
- Public IP address
- Azure for Students subscription
The Azure virtual machine serves as the hosting environment for the complete Docker deployment.
Docker Architecture
The application uses Docker Compose to manage multiple containers.
Docker objects used:
Frontend Container
Container name:
attendance-frontend
Technology:
- Nginx
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
Purpose:
Serves the user interface and allows interaction with the attendance application.
Backend Container
Container name:
attendance-backend
Technology:
- Node.js
- Express.js
Purpose:
Handles application logic, API requests, and communication with the database.
Database Container
Container name:
attendance-db
Technology:
- PostgreSQL 16
Purpose:
Stores attendance records persistently.
Reverse Proxy Container
Container name:
attendance-proxy
Technology:
- Nginx
Purpose:
- Routes traffic to frontend and backend services
- Handles HTTPS encryption
- Redirects HTTP traffic to HTTPS
- Handles SSL certificate integration
Database Administration Container
Container name:
attendance-adminer
Technology:
- Adminer
Purpose:
Provides optional web-based database management.
Persistent Volumes
Persistent Docker volumes used:
PostgreSQL Persistent Volume
Volume name:
postgres_data
Purpose:
Stores PostgreSQL data files permanently so records remain available after container restart or redeployment.
Nginx Log Volume
Volume name:
nginx_logs
Purpose:
Stores web access logs for monitoring incoming Internet traffic.
3. Cost Analysis for One Year Operation
Estimated usage assumptions:
- 1000 users per day
- 50GB total database/storage usage
- lightweight application workload
Azure Virtual Machine
Resource:
Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine
Configuration:
- B2ats v2
- 2 vCPU
- 1 GB RAM
price:
USD 7.74 per month
Annual cost:
USD 92.88 per year
Billing interval:
Monthly
Storage
Resource:
Azure Managed Disk Storage
Estimated requirement:
50GB
Estimated monthly price:
USD 3–5 per month
Estimated annual price:
USD 36–60 per year
Billing interval:
Monthly
Domain Name
Resource:
DuckDNS
Price:
Free
Billing interval:
None
SSL Certificate
Resource:
Let's Encrypt
Price:
Free
Billing interval:
None
Estimated Total Annual Cost
Virtual machine:
USD 92.88/year
Storage:
USD 36–60/year
Domain:
USD 0/year
SSL certificate:
USD 0/year
Estimated total:
USD 128.88–152.88 per year
4. Description of Uploaded Files
docker-compose.yml
Defines all application containers, networks, persistent volumes, restart policies, and inter-container communication.
prepare-app.sh
Deployment automation script.
Functions:
- starts Docker services
- builds backend container
- initializes containers
- prepares networking
- prepares application deployment
remove-app.sh
Application removal script.
Functions:
- stops Docker containers
- removes application services
- removes associated Docker networks
frontend/index.html
Main user interface for the application.
frontend/styles.css
Visual styling and layout for the web application.
frontend/app.js
Frontend JavaScript functionality for communicating with backend API and updating attendance records dynamically.
backend/Dockerfile
Defines backend container image configuration.
backend/package.json
Node.js dependency configuration.
backend/server.js
Main backend API implementation.
Handles:
- student attendance insertion
- attendance retrieval
- attendance deletion
- database communication
db/init.sql
Initial PostgreSQL database schema definition.
Creates attendance table structure.
nginx/app.conf
Nginx reverse proxy configuration.
Handles:
- HTTP traffic
- HTTPS traffic
- SSL certificate integration
- reverse proxy routing
- frontend routing
- backend API routing
- Adminer routing
.gitignore
Prevents sensitive or unnecessary files from being uploaded to Git.
Excluded examples:
- .env
- SSL certificates
- SQL backup files
- SSH private keys
5. Brief Description of Configuration
Application configuration is managed through Docker Compose and environment variables.
Configured components include:
- PostgreSQL credentials
- database name
- domain name
- SSL certificate settings
- Docker networking
- persistent volume mappings
- reverse proxy rules
- restart policies
Sensitive values are stored in:
.env
This file is intentionally excluded from Git for security reasons.
6. Instructions to View and Use the Application
Application URL:
https://easyattend.duckdns.org
Instructions:
- Open a web browser
- Navigate to the application URL
- Enter a student name
- Select arrival time
- Click "Add student"
- Attendance record will appear in the attendance table
- Use the delete button to remove incorrect records
7. Instructions to Perform Data Backup
Database backup command:
docker exec attendance-db pg_dump -U attendance_user attendance_db > attendance_backup.sql
This creates:
attendance_backup.sql
This file contains a full backup of the PostgreSQL database.
8. Instructions to View Access Records from the Internet
Access logs are available through the Nginx reverse proxy container.
Command:
docker logs attendance-proxy
Displayed information includes:
client IP addresses timestamps requested URLs HTTP response codes browser user agents
9. Conditions Required to Run prepare-app.sh and remove-app.sh
Required conditions:
Ubuntu Linux environment Docker installed Docker Compose installed Internet connection properly configured .env file valid domain name configuration Docker permissions for executing user complete project file structure present
Deployment command:
./prepare-app.sh
Removal command:
./remove-app.sh
10. External Resources and Generative Model Usage
External Resources : Microsoft Azure documentation, Let's Encrypt documentation, DuckDNS documentation:
Generative Model Usage: Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT Method of usage: Debugging, architecture planning, troubleshooting, researching
All implementation, deployment, testing, debugging, and validation actions were manually performed by me.