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Prerequisites

Before deploying the New Hires Reporting System, ensure you have the following requirements met.

System Requirements

Required Software

  • Docker: Version 20.10 or later
  • Docker Compose: Version 2.0 or later
  • AWS CLI: Recommended for ECR authentication (optional but helpful)

System Resources

  • RAM: Minimum 4 GB (8 GB recommended for production)
  • Disk Space: 20 GB minimum
  • CPU: 2+ cores recommended

AWS Account and Credentials

AWS Bedrock Access (Required for AI Features)

The AI-powered correction features require AWS Bedrock with Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Llama 4 Scout models.

Setting Up AWS Bedrock

  1. AWS Account: Active AWS account with billing enabled
  2. Bedrock Access: Enable AWS Bedrock in us-east-1 region
  3. Model Access: Request access to Claude Sonnet 4.5 and/or Llama 4 Scout models
  4. IAM Credentials: Create IAM user with bedrock:InvokeModel permission

Detailed Instructions: See AWS Bedrock Setup Guide

Cost Estimate: - Claude Sonnet 4.5: ~$0.045 per correction job - Llama 4 Scout: ~$0.015 per correction job (budget option)

Supported Models:

Model Provider Speed Accuracy Cost Recommended For
Claude Sonnet 4.5 Anthropic Fast Excellent Medium Production (best accuracy)
Llama 4 Scout Meta Very Fast Good Low Budget deployments

Required IAM Policy

Your AWS IAM user/role needs this policy attached:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "BedrockModelInvocation",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "bedrock:InvokeModel"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:bedrock:us-east-1::foundation-model/us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929-v1:0",
        "arn:aws:bedrock:us-east-1::foundation-model/us.meta.llama4-scout-17b-instruct-v1:0"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Docker Image Access

AWS ECR Authentication (Required)

The application images are hosted in AWS Elastic Container Registry (ECR).

ECR Access

You'll need to authenticate Docker to pull images from ECR: 

aws ecr get-login-password --region us-east-1 | \
  docker login --username AWS --password-stdin \
  878796852397.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com

Note: ECR credentials expire after 12 hours. You'll need to re-authenticate periodically.

Network Requirements

Outbound Connections

The system requires outbound internet access to:

Service URL Port Purpose
AWS Bedrock API bedrock-runtime.us-east-1.amazonaws.com 443 AI model invocation
AWS ECR *.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com 443 Docker image pull

Ports

The following ports will be used locally:

Service Port Description
Backend API 8000 FastAPI REST API
Frontend 8080 React + Nginx web interface
Database 5432 PostgreSQL (internal only)

Port Conflicts

If ports 8000 or 8080 are already in use, you can change them in docker-compose.prod.yml or use a reverse proxy.

Production Requirements

For production deployments, additional considerations:

Optional: Reverse Proxy

Recommended for production HTTPS and domain name support:

  • Nginx (recommended)
  • Caddy (easiest SSL setup)
  • Traefik (Docker-native)
  • Apache (if already in use)

See Reverse Proxy Setup for configuration.

Optional: SSL Certificate

For HTTPS support:

  • Let's Encrypt (free, recommended)
  • Commercial SSL certificate
  • Self-signed certificate (testing only)

See SSL Certificates for setup.

  • Plan for regular PostgreSQL backups
  • Consider automated backup scripts (cron jobs)
  • Test restore procedures

See Docker Compose Guide for backup commands.

Verification Checklist

Before proceeding, verify:

  • [ ] Docker installed: Run docker --version (20.10+)
  • [ ] Docker Compose installed: Run docker-compose --version (2.0+)
  • [ ] AWS account: Active account with Bedrock access
  • [ ] Model access: Claude Sonnet 4.5 enabled in us-east-1
  • [ ] IAM credentials: Access key and secret key with Bedrock permissions
  • [ ] ECR access: Can authenticate to Docker registry
  • [ ] Ports available: 8000 and 8080 not in use
  • [ ] Outbound internet: Can reach AWS services

Quick Verification Commands

# Check Docker
docker --version
docker-compose --version

# Check AWS CLI (if installed)
aws --version
aws sts get-caller-identity  # Verify AWS credentials

# Check ports are available
netstat -an | grep -E '8000|8080'  # Should return nothing

# Test AWS Bedrock access
aws bedrock list-foundation-models --region us-east-1 --query 'modelSummaries[?contains(modelId, `claude`)].modelId'

Estimated Setup Time

  • AWS Bedrock Setup: 15-30 minutes (first time)
  • Docker Installation: 10-15 minutes (if needed)
  • Application Deployment: 10-15 minutes

Total: 30-60 minutes for first-time setup

Next Steps

Once all prerequisites are met:

  1. AWS Bedrock Setup - Configure AWS and get credentials
  2. Quick Start Guide - Deploy the system
  3. Environment Variables - Configure your environment

Troubleshooting Prerequisites

"Cannot authenticate to ECR"

Solution: Ensure AWS credentials are configured: 

aws configure
# Enter your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key

"Bedrock access denied"

Solution: 1. Check model access is enabled in AWS Bedrock console 2. Verify IAM policy includes bedrock:InvokeModel permission 3. Confirm correct AWS region (us-east-1)

"Ports already in use"

Solution: 

# Find what's using the ports
sudo lsof -i :8000
sudo lsof -i :8080

# Stop the conflicting service or choose different ports in docker-compose.prod.yml

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