Welcome to the second installment of the AWS VPC to ECS Day 2 Internet Gateway Public Route Table and ECR Repository series, where we continue building the cloud infrastructure step by step
On Day 1, we created the VPC and the base subnets. Now we expand that foundation to allow internet access and prepare the storage for container images
Objectives of this hands-on guide
• Attach an Internet Gateway (IGW) to the VPC
• Create a public route table and associate it with the public subnets
• Provision an ECR repository to store Docker images
About the Internet Gateway
The Internet Gateway (IGW) acts as the main gateway that connects the VPC to the Internet. Without it, public resources cannot communicate outside the VPC. It is an essential piece for resources that require public access, such as NAT gateways and exposed services
How to implement the IGW with CloudFormation
Flow summary: Create an AWS EC2 InternetGateway resource, tag it with name, team, and environment. Attach the IGW to the VPC and optionally store the identifier in SSM Parameter Store for future references. When deploying, use aws cloudformation deploy with the corresponding template
Public route table
The Route Table defines where network traffic enters and exits. For a subnet to be public, there must be a route 0.0.0.0/0 pointing to the IGW. Additionally, you must associate the route table with the public subnets we defined on Day 1
Key steps: Create the RouteTable resource and associate it with the VPC. Add a route whose DestinationCidrBlock is 0.0.0.0/0 and GatewayId is the IGW. Associate the table with the public subnets using SubnetRouteTableAssociation. Then deploy with aws cloudformation deploy
Elastic Container Registry (ECR)
Before deploying containers in ECS, we need a secure place to store the images. Amazon ECR is a fully managed private container registry that integrates with ECS, IAM, and supports lifecycle policies to keep storage under control
Benefits of using ECR
• Private and secure storage for Docker images
• Native integration with ECS and access control with IAM
• Lifecycle policies and image versioning
Recommended implementation: Create an ECR repository with a representative name. Add a lifecycle policy that keeps only the necessary versions and tags to facilitate management and billing. Then deploy the corresponding CloudFormation template
Recap of what was done today
• We enabled internet access for public resources by creating an IGW and a public route table with a default route to the IGW
• We provisioned an ECR repository to store our application images before deploying them in ECS
How to keep moving forward
In the following installments, we will integrate ECS by creating clusters, tasks, and services, as well as configuring roles, policies, and continuous deployment pipelines with integration to ECR. Stay tuned to see how to connect everything and deploy your containerized application
About Q2BSTUDIO
Q2BSTUDIO is a software development company that creates custom applications and bespoke software for businesses of all sizes. We specialize in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud services (AWS and Azure), business intelligence services, and AI solutions for companies. We offer AI agents, custom developments, Power BI integration, and cybersecurity strategies to protect your digital assets
Why choose Q2BSTUDIO
• Experience in cloud architecture and deployment on AWS and Azure
• Custom application development focused on business results
• Implementation of artificial intelligence solutions and AI agents to automate processes
• Business intelligence and Power BI services to turn data into decisions
Contact us to take your project to production with security practices and industrializable automation
Keywords: custom applications, bespoke software, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud services (AWS and Azure), business intelligence services, AI for businesses, AI agents, Power BI
If you want us to prepare CloudFormation templates ready for your environments or deploy the complete solution in your account, contact Q2BSTUDIO and we will help you design a scalable, secure, and cost-optimized architecture
Thank you for following the series, and we hope to see you in the next installment where we will dive into ECS and container deployment
