AWS DevOps Image¶

AWS-optimised container with all essential DevOps tools plus AWS-specific CLIs and libraries. Perfect for AWS-centric workflows while maintaining full platform tool support.

Pull the Image¶

GHCR (Recommended)GitLab RegistryDocker Hub

# Latest version
docker pull ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest

# Specific version (recommended for CI/CD)
docker pull ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:1.0.abc1234

Why GHCR?

No rate limits for public images
Built-in GitHub integration for CI/CD
Faster pulls from GitHub Actions

# Latest version
docker pull registry.gitlab.com/jinal-shah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest

# Specific version
docker pull registry.gitlab.com/jinal-shah/devops/images/aws-devops:1.0.abc1234

When to use

Using GitLab CI/CD pipelines
Need GitLab Container Registry integration
Already authenticated with GitLab

# Latest version
docker pull js01/aws-devops:latest

# Specific version
docker pull js01/aws-devops:1.0.abc1234

Rate Limits

Docker Hub has pull rate limits for free accounts:

Unauthenticated: 100 pulls per 6 hours
Authenticated: 200 pulls per 6 hours

Consider using GHCR for CI/CD to avoid rate limit issues.

What's Included¶

Base Platform Tools¶

All standard DevOps tools from the base image:

Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, Terragrunt, TFLint, Packer
Kubernetes: kubectl, Helm 3, k9s, kustomize
Security: Trivy (container scanning), ansible-lint
Configuration Management: Ansible
Development: Python 3.12, Node.js 20, Git, jq, yq
AI CLIs: claude, codex, copilot, gemini
Utilities: gh (GitHub CLI), Task, zsh, vim, curl, wget

AWS-Specific Additions¶

Tools optimised for AWS workflows:

AWS CLI v2: Latest AWS command-line interface
AWS Session Manager Plugin: Direct SSH-like access to EC2 instances
Python Libraries:
boto3: AWS SDK for Python automation
cfn-lint: CloudFormation template validation
s3cmd: Advanced S3 operations
crcmod: CRC32c verification for uploads

Quick Start¶

Interactive Shell¶

# Basic interactive shell with AWS credentials
docker run -it --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \  # (1)!
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \  # (2)!
  -w /workspace \  # (3)!
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest

Mount current directory to /workspace for file access
Mount AWS credentials for authentication
Set working directory to your project

One-Off Commands¶

AWS CLITerraform + AWSCloudFormationPython + Boto3

# Verify AWS identity
docker run --rm \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws sts get-caller-identity

# List S3 buckets
docker run --rm \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws s3 ls

# Terraform plan with AWS credentials
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  terraform plan

# Terraform apply
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  terraform apply -auto-approve

# Validate CloudFormation template
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  cfn-lint template.yaml

# Deploy stack
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws cloudformation deploy \
    --template-file template.yaml \
    --stack-name my-stack

# Run Python script with boto3
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  python3 aws-automation.py

Authentication Methods¶

Method 1: Mount AWS Credentials (Recommended)¶

docker run -it --rm \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \  # (1)!
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws sts get-caller-identity

Mounts your local ~/.aws directory containing credentials and config files

Files mounted: - ~/.aws/credentials - AWS access keys - ~/.aws/config - AWS CLI configuration (regions, output format)

Method 2: Environment Variables¶

docker run -it --rm \
  -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE \  # (1)!
  -e AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY \  # (2)!
  -e AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1 \  # (3)!
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws s3 ls

Your AWS access key ID
Your AWS secret access key
Default AWS region for operations

Security

Environment variables are visible in docker inspect output. For production, prefer mounting credentials or using IAM roles.

Method 3: IAM Role (ECS/EC2)¶

When running on AWS infrastructure (ECS, EC2, EKS), the container automatically inherits IAM credentials:

# No credentials needed - uses instance/task role
docker run -it --rm \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws sts get-caller-identity

Supported AWS environments: - ECS tasks with task roles - EC2 instances with instance profiles - EKS pods with IRSA (IAM Roles for Service Accounts)

Common Workflows¶

Terraform on AWS¶

#!/bin/bash
# Deploy infrastructure to AWS

docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  sh -c "
    terraform init
    terraform validate
    terraform plan -out=tfplan
    terraform apply tfplan
  "

Ansible with EC2 Dynamic Inventory¶

# Run playbook against EC2 instances
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -v ~/.ssh:/root/.ssh \  # (1)!
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  ansible-playbook \
    -i aws_ec2.yml \  # (2)!
    deploy.yml

Mount SSH keys for EC2 instance access
AWS EC2 dynamic inventory plugin

Security Scanning¶

# Scan CloudFormation templates
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  sh -c "
    cfn-lint cloudformation/**/*.yaml
    trivy config cloudformation/
  "

Python Automation with Boto3¶

# Run AWS automation script
docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  python3 scripts/cleanup-unused-ebs.py

Best Use Cases¶

Perfect For

✅ AWS-first DevOps teams: No GCP tools to reduce image size
✅ AWS-only CI/CD pipelines: Faster startup than multi-cloud image
✅ CloudFormation workflows: Built-in cfn-lint validation
✅ Terraform on AWS: Full Terraform + AWS CLI integration
✅ Python automation: Pre-installed boto3 and AWS libraries
✅ EKS deployments: kubectl + Helm + AWS CLI in one image

Consider all-devops if you need

Multi-cloud (AWS + GCP) support
gcloud CLI for hybrid workflows
Team works across cloud providers

Image Size¶

Image	Size	AWS Tools
aws-devops	~2.8 GB	AWS CLI, boto3, cfn-lint, Session Manager
all-devops	~3.2 GB	AWS + GCP tools

Size savings: ~400 MB compared to all-devops by excluding GCP-specific tools.

Dockerfile Reference¶

Want to build your own? See Building AWS DevOps Image for:

Complete Dockerfile
Build arguments
Customisation options
Multi-platform builds

Advanced Usage¶

Cache Terraform Plugins

Speed up repeated Terraform runs by caching provider plugins:

docker run --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -v ~/.terraform.d:/root/.terraform.d \  # (1)!
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  terraform init

Cache Terraform plugins across runs (saves download time)

Named Container for Persistent Shell

Keep a persistent container for ongoing work:

# Create named container
docker run -it --name aws-dev \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest

# Later, restart the same container
docker start -i aws-dev

Custom Shell Alias

Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

alias aws-devops='docker run -it --rm \
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -v ~/.ssh:/root/.ssh \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest'

# Usage
aws-devops terraform plan
aws-devops aws s3 ls

Troubleshooting¶

AWS credentials not found

Problem: Unable to locate credentials

Solutions:

Verify credentials exist locally:
```
cat ~/.aws/credentials
```

Check mount is working:

docker run --rm -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  ls -la /root/.aws

Use environment variables instead:

docker run --rm \
  -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=$AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID \
  -e AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=$AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws sts get-caller-identity

Region errors

Problem: You must specify a region

Solutions:

Set default region in ~/.aws/config:
```
[default]
region = us-east-1
```

Pass as environment variable:

docker run --rm \
  -e AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1 \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  aws s3 ls

Permission denied on files

Problem: Cannot write files created by container

Solution: Run with your user ID:

docker run --rm \
  --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \  # (1)!
  -v $PWD:/workspace \
  -v ~/.aws:/root/.aws \
  -w /workspace \
  ghcr.io/jinalshah/devops/images/aws-devops:latest \
  terraform fmt

Use your local user/group ID to match file ownership

Next Steps¶

Authentication Guide - Detailed credential setup
Quick Reference - Command cheat sheet
Docker Compose Examples - Multi-container setups
Terraform Workflows - Advanced Terraform patterns
CI/CD Integration - Use in pipelines