ARISE AFRICA NETWORK VOCATIONAL COURSE (AAN)

Module 9 — Hosting, Deployment & DevOps Basics

Learning Objectives

Key Terms & Definitions

Domain
Human-friendly name registered for a website.
DNS
Domain Name System — maps names to IP addresses.
A record
DNS record mapping a domain to an IPv4 address.
CNAME
Alias record pointing one name to another.
SSL/TLS
Certificates that encrypt traffic (HTTPS).
CI/CD
Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment — automated build and deploy pipeline.
Build
Process that compiles/optimises source code into distributable files.
Rollback
Reverting to a previous stable release.
Load balancer
Distributes traffic across multiple servers.

Theory — Hosting, Domains & Deployment Workflow

Choose hosting based on project needs. For front-end sites, static hosts (GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel) offer simple CI/CD and free HTTPS. For dynamic apps, use managed platforms or VPS. Understand DNS propagation and TTL, and always enable HTTPS.

Deployment checklist

  1. Prepare build: minify CSS/JS, compress images, set proper caching headers.
  2. Push code to GitHub and connect to host for automatic deploys.
  3. Configure custom domain and add A/CNAME records as instructed by host.
  4. Enable HTTPS and test using multiple devices and tools.
  5. Set up simple uptime monitoring and daily backups where possible.

Practical Labs

  1. Deploy your existing project to GitHub Pages or Netlify and confirm HTTPS.
  2. Set a custom domain mock (document the A/CNAME you'd set) and explain TTL impact.
  3. Create a simple GitHub Actions workflow to build and deploy a static site on push to main branch.
Faith Corner

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance." — Proverbs 21:5. Prepare deployment checklists and backups — diligence prevents outages.

Knowledge Check — 5 Questions

Q1. Which hosting is best for simple static front-end sites?


Q2. What does A record do?


Q3. Why enable HTTPS?


Q4. What is CI/CD?


Q5. Best rollback strategy?