Short summary on a previous steps - we have created network infrastructure in VPC, created necessary IAM roles on AWS, and obtained access token for our docker hub to access private images. We have also created variables file where we have stored our findings.
In order to be ready to create our first cluster, we need to prepare some parameters in advance. Those are:
Let’s assume we want to deploy our solution to one of the docker friendly platforms available - Amazon ECS.
Most Dockerfiles start from a parent image. Application baseimage is a special Docker image that is configured for correct use within Docker containers and aware about your application requirements, expectations + set of additional tools.
Containers continue to be a buzz word this year too. A lot of teams try to implement microservices, dividing application into individual units: mini- website contains only presentation layer, REST API (sometimes several REST APIs) handling all business logic. Databases are hosted externally, in some situations running in containers too. Database — sometimes one, sometimes many (depending on business task)
Even today, approach to creating and managing containers is both manual and, in many ways, antiquated. Even for startups that use automation for their build processes, implementing containers often means maintaining complicated shell scripts to build the containers themselves. At the same moment, in classic server provisioning there are bunch of tools like Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Salt that efficiently take care on box provisioning. At the same moment, trying to apply those tools inside containers usually lead to size problem, as well as eliminating garbage upon use. That’s why for now still, if you want minimal image, you manage Dockerfile on your own.