On July 9, 2020, Docker[1] and Amazon Web Services (AWS)[2] announced they would make Docker application developers' lives easier by streamlining the process of deploying and managing containers from Docker Compose[3], Docker Desktop[4], and Docker Hub[5] to Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS)[6] and Amazon ECS on AWS Fargate[7].
Docker containers, of course, can be used anywhere. But while developers may use Docker Desktop[8] and the Docker CLI[9] for building applications on their desktop, they may also have used Docker Compose[10] to define and run multi-container applications via a YAML file. So far, so good.
The problem is that there hasn't been a simple seamless way to use Docker and deploy to AWS from their desktop. That's because essential Amazon ECS constructs were not part of the Docker Compose specification[11]. For instance, to run even a simple Compose file and deploy to ECS, developers are required to leave Docker tools and configure an Amazon VPC[12], Amazon ECS Cluster[13], and Amazon ECS Task Definition[14].
Put it all together, and it gives you a simplified, open-source workflow that takes you from the Docker CLI and Docker Compose to deployment via Docker Hub to Amazon ECS.
Going forward, developers will be able to use Docker development tools without needing to set up AWS resources because that will now be natively handled. By creating and switching to a new context[15] in Docker, a developer can simply issue an up command via Docker Compose, which will create those resources automatically in AWS. This will make it much easier for Docker developers to deploy