Can I deploy multiple front-end apps (web/mobile) with 1 back-end on the same server?

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I need some help with deciding on the architecture of my project (a web app for unlocking discounts). I am first planning on creating the website (React for the front-end & Django for the back-end, PostgreSQL database). In the future, I may create a mobile app too for Android & iOS (unsure what front-end framework yet).

So I have decided I want the front-end and back-end to be completely separated so the back-end is a REST api. This will allow me to not have to create multiple back-ends for mobile apps.

But, after researching, I have found that this could be quite expensive in terms of server costs. This is a new business and I am the only developer so funding isn't high. So I was thinking that I could deploy the front-end & back-end on the same server but as separate apps that talk via nginx?

I have 4 questions about this:

  1. If I do this, would it still be possible to reuse the back-end as a REST api for the mobile apps or is that a no because it's linked to the web front-end?
  2. If it is possible, would I be able to host the mobile front-end in the same server (so have everything hosted on 1 server)?
  3. Is this a stupid idea - would I just be better off deploying everything into separate servers in the long-run (to reduce load)?
  4. Should I just worry about this in the future? And for now just deploy the separated web front-end & back-end to the same server.

I have never really deployed anything into a real life production environment so I'm sorry if my questions seem silly. I haven't started development yet but I want to think about scalability & future extensibility before I start. Thank you.

server production deployment rest architecture
2 Answers

Nowadays I'd go with a serverless approach. Instead of having servers to maintain you can focus on your app functionalities.

There are a lot of options. You can check, for example, AWS Amplify (https://aws.amazon.com/amplify/) or Netlify (https://www.netlify.com/) for a more "full-stack" approach.

In AWS, you also can keep separated projects, having your backend in lambdas and your frontend served through S3 + CloudFront. You also don't have servers to care about.

There are only examples of how you can solve your problem without servers, but answering your questions:

  1. You can reuse your APIs regardless of the way your app is deployed. It will be more related to how you designed them;
  2. Yes, you can host everything in a single server if you want, but I really don't recommend that;
  3. If you don't want to pay for 24/7 servers, you can go for a serverless approach;
  4. As I told you before, you can do what you want without worrying about servers.
user_27525960

Your main point of focus is to keep the cost lower and to implement a good solution also. My suggestion would be to look for AWS Lightsail. Lightsail offers fixed price VM which you can configure yourself, and it starts from $3.5 / month at the time of writing this answer.

My answers to your questions

  1. If I do this, would it still be possible to reuse the back-end as a REST api for the mobile apps or is that a no because it's linked to the web front-end?

    • Yes, it's possible. Keep the frontend and backend in different repo, and you can deploy it as docker instances on the same server. You will have 1 frontend docker container and 1 backend docker container, and they can communicate with each other.

  2. If it is possible, would I be able to host the mobile front-end in the same server (so have everything hosted on 1 server)?

    • For mobile, you will develop a mobile application which you can publish to playstore or deploy to smartphone. Your app can then call the backend service and get the JSON in response. So you have to design your backend in such a way that it can serve data to both requests.

  3. Is this a stupid idea - would I just be better off deploying everything into separate servers in the long-run (to reduce load)?

    • For long term and design perspective, you need to consider factors like scalability, maintainability, security etc.., so its always better to have multiple server to avoid single point of failure.

  4. Should I just worry about this in the future? And for now just deploy the separated web front-end & back-end to the same server.

    • My advice to you will be to think carefully now, so you don't get nightmares in the future. Invest your time now and design a stable solution which could help you in long-term. As you mentioned that its a small business, but your solution should be able to easy handle growth.

My suggestion

  • As suggested by the Paulo, S3 + CloudFront looks good for frontend. You can get 1 year free CDN using Lightsail.

  • For Backend, you should at least have 2 (I will suggest minimum 3) servers and deploy backend docker containers. You can use docker compose to automate the deployment. If you want to orchestrate then Docker Swarm Mode is best. With this you will avoid single point of failure. You can get very affordable servers from Amazon Lightsail

  • For database, you need to make it scalable. To ensure scalability and High Avalability we should have replicated DB. Minimum 3 DB instances will be good starting point. MongoDB is a good choice. With simple configuration you can enable DB replication. 1 Master 2 slaves instances.

  • 1 Load-balancer in front of your servers to distribute the load. To save the cost you can configure the Load-balancer yourself but this will add learning curve and you will have to spent time and understanding the details. The better solution is to use a managed load balancer. Lightsail offers Load Balancer for $18 / month at the time writing this answer.

The above mentioned solution is cost-effective and will give you long-term benefit and also you can estimate the cost based on your solution.
Obviously, this can still be improved but I tried to cover the necessary aspects of the question asked.

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