Expense Tracker App

A full-stack Expense Tracking Web Application built with Java EE technologies, featuring user authentication, expense management, and a complete admin dashboard. Deployed on AWS EC2 with Apache reverse proxy and PostgreSQL on Amazon RDS.

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Live Demo

Deployed on AWS EC2 (Ubuntu) with Apache HTTP Server as reverse proxy to Apache Tomcat.
(Deployment may be taken down after project presentation)

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Features

Authentication

• User Signup & Login with session management
• Secure password handling
• Session-based access control

Expense Dashboard

• Add, view, and manage personal expenses
• Track transactions with categories and amounts
• Visual expense summary dashboard

Admin / User Management

• View all registered users
• Add / Edit / Delete user accounts
• Ban / Unban users
• Full CRUD operations on user accounts

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Application Screenshots

Authentication

Dashboard

Expense Management

Admin Panel

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Java 17
Web Layer	Java Servlets, JSP
ORM	Hibernate 6 / JPA
Database	PostgreSQL
Build Tool	Maven
App Server	Apache Tomcat 10
Web Server	Apache HTTP Server (Reverse Proxy)
Cloud	AWS EC2, AWS RDS, AWS VPC
OS	Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

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AWS Infrastructure

Browser
   ↓
Apache HTTP Server (Port 80) ← Reverse Proxy
   ↓
Apache Tomcat (Port 8080)
   ↓
AWS RDS PostgreSQL (Private Subnet)
   ↑
AWS VPC (Public + Private Subnets)

Infrastructure Setup

• VPC with public and private subnets across multiple availability zones
• EC2 instance (Ubuntu) in public subnet running Tomcat + Apache
• RDS PostgreSQL in private subnet — not publicly accessible
• Internet Gateway + custom route tables for secure traffic routing
• Security Groups configured to allow only necessary traffic
• Apache reverse proxy forwarding port 80 → 8080

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📁 Project Structure

src/
└── main/
    ├── java/
    │   └── com/example/assignment02/
    │       ├── dao/          # Data Access Layer (DAO Pattern)
    │       ├── model/        # Entity classes (User, Expense, Transaction)
    │       ├── servlet/      # HTTP Servlets (Login, Dashboard, Transactions)
    │       └── web/          # Web Servlets (Signup, User Management)
    ├── resources/
    │   └── META-INF/
    │       └── persistence.xml.template  # DB config template
    └── webapp/
        ├── WEB-INF/
        │   └── web.xml
        ├── dashboard.jsp
        ├── login.html
        ├── login.jsp
        ├── user-form.jsp
        └── user-list.jsp

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☁️ AWS Infrastructure

Architecture Diagram

EC2 Instance

RDS Database

Security Groups

VPC Setup

Local Setup

Prerequisites

• Java 17+
• Maven 3.8+
• PostgreSQL installed and running
• Apache Tomcat 10

Steps

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/mubashirnaqvi212/expense-tracker-app.git
cd expense-tracker-app

2. Set up the database

CREATE DATABASE expense_db;
CREATE USER your_user WITH PASSWORD 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE expense_db TO your_user;

3. Configure database connection

Copy the template and fill in your credentials:

cp src/main/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml.template \
   src/main/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml

Edit persistence.xml with your database details:

<property name="jakarta.persistence.jdbc.url"
          value="jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/expense_db"/>
<property name="jakarta.persistence.jdbc.user" value="your_user"/>
<property name="jakarta.persistence.jdbc.password" value="your_password"/>

4. Build the WAR file

mvn clean package

5. Deploy to Tomcat

Copy the WAR to your Tomcat webapps directory:

cp target/Assignment02-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war /opt/tomcat/webapps/Assignment02.war

6. Access the app

http://localhost:8080/Assignment02/users

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Deployment on Linux (AWS EC2)

Install Java & Tomcat

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk -y
cd /opt && sudo wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-10/v10.1.24/bin/apache-tomcat-10.1.24.tar.gz
sudo tar -xvzf apache-tomcat-10.1.24.tar.gz
sudo mv apache-tomcat-10.1.24 tomcat
sudo /opt/tomcat/bin/startup.sh

Set up Apache Reverse Proxy

sudo apt install apache2 -y
sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_http
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Add inside <VirtualHost *:80>:

ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass /Assignment02 http://localhost:8080/Assignment02
ProxyPassReverse /Assignment02 http://localhost:8080/Assignment02

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Access via reverse proxy

http://your-ec2-ip/Assignment02/users

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📋 Key Learning Outcomes

• Built a complete MVC architecture using Java Servlets and JSP
• Implemented JPA/Hibernate ORM with PostgreSQL
• Applied DAO design pattern for clean data access separation
• Configured AWS VPC with public/private subnet architecture
• Set up Apache HTTP Server as reverse proxy to Tomcat
• Managed Linux server via SSH (file permissions, services, deployment)
• Deployed production WAR file to cloud server
• Worked with Amazon RDS in a private subnet for secure database hosting

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License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

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Author