AWS Day 38: Deploying Containerized Applications with Amazon ECS

Containerization has become the standard way to package and deploy modern applications. Instead of installing software directly on virtual machines, developers package everything—including dependencies—inside Docker containers.

AWS simplifies container deployments through two powerful managed services:

• Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) for storing Docker images.

• Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) for running containers.

When combined with AWS Fargate, you don't even need to manage EC2 instances. AWS provisions and manages the infrastructure while you focus on your application.

In today's lab, I deployed a Dockerized web application from Amazon ECR to Amazon ECS using the Fargate launch type.

Step 1 — Create a Private Amazon ECR Repository

Created a private repository named:

xfusion-ecr

This repository securely stores Docker images that can later be deployed to Amazon ECS.

Step 2 — Authenticate Docker with Amazon ECR

Logged in to Amazon ECR using AWS CLI.

This allows Docker to push images securely into the private repository.

Step 3 — Build Docker Image

Built the Docker image from the Dockerfile located inside:

/root/pyapp

After building successfully, Docker generated the local image.

Step 4 — Tag the Docker Image

Tagged the image using the repository URI.

Using tags helps version container images and identify releases.

Step 5 — Push Docker Image to Amazon ECR

Pushed the image successfully to Amazon ECR.

Now the image becomes available for ECS deployments.

Step 6 — Create Amazon ECS Cluster

Created an ECS Cluster named:

xfusion-cluster

Selected

• AWS Fargate

instead of EC2 launch type.

Since Fargate is serverless, AWS manages the infrastructure automatically.

Step 7 — Create ECS Task Definition

Created

xfusion-taskdefinition

Configured

• Docker Image URI

• CPU

• Memory

• Port Mapping

The Task Definition acts as a blueprint describing how the container should run.

Step 8 — Create ECS Service

Created

xfusion-service

Configured the service to maintain:

• Desired Tasks = 1

This ensures ECS automatically keeps one healthy container running.

Step 9 — Verify Deployment

Once deployment completed,

The task entered the Running state.

Accessing the application through the public IP displayed the web page successfully.

Deployment completed successfully.

Conclusion

This lab demonstrated a complete end-to-end container deployment workflow on AWS. Starting with a Docker image, storing it securely in Amazon ECR, and deploying it through Amazon ECS Fargate highlights how AWS simplifies modern application deployment without requiring server management.

Understanding Amazon ECS, Amazon ECR, and AWS Fargate is a foundational skill for Cloud Engineers and DevOps Engineers building scalable, cloud-native applications.