Create a docker image/container from EC2 AMI

docker dockerfile dockerhub docker-registry

24,338

Solution 1

Here is how I did it.

On source AMI locate root volume snapshot id in the description

/dev/sda1=snap-eb79b0b1:15:true:gp2

Launch instance with public Ubuntu 14.04 AMI
Create volume from snapshot snap-eb79b0b1 (in the same region that the instance runs).
Attach volume to the instance as /dev/sdf
mount volume to /mnt

mount /dev/xvdf /mnt

(or)

mount /dev/xvdf1 /mnt

install docker

https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/ubuntulinux/

import docker image from mounted root volume

tar -c -C /mnt/ . | docker import - appcimage-master-1454216413

docker run -t -i 6d6614111fcb03d5ca79541b8a23955202dfda74995d968b5ffb5d45c7e68da9 /bin/bash

Solution 2

Docker can create an image from a tar file using the docker import command. From the documentation:

Usage: docker import URL|- [REPOSITORY[:TAG]]

Create an empty filesystem image and import the contents of the tarball 
(.tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .bzip, .tar.xz, .txz) into it, then optionally
tag it.

So you should be able to create a tar archive from your AMI image and then feed that to docker.

Solution 3

When creating the tar file cd to the directory and tar the tree from there.

cd /media/my-external-drive
tar -czvf /tmp/drive-image.tgz

And then to create the image ...

docker import /tmp/drive-image.tgz

This allows the dockerized container to create the correct paths when you run it.

24,338

user1795516

Updated on August 28, 2020

Comments

user1795516 almost 4 years

I am very new to docker and am trying to import my AWS EC2 AMI into a docker image. The image is a m2 linux image.

I have also setup a private docker hub(artifactory) to which I intend to push the image and make it available for consumption. What are the steps for importing AMI into docker image without starting from a base image and updating.

Pointers to any explanation would work too.
Scooby about 9 years

'So you should be able to create a tar archive from your AMI image and then feed that to docker.' - how do I do that, I don't see an option in AWS to convert your AMI to tar ball.
larsks about 9 years

You could boot an instance from that particular AMI and then run tar inside the instance, for example.
Scooby about 9 years

What does run tar inside the instance mean ? I would still need to throw something at tar.
Mark Stosberg almost 9 years

@Scooby I would mount the target EBS volumen you want to dockerify as a non-boot volume on another instance. Then a syntax like tar -czvf drive-image.tgz /media/my-external-drive, assuming you mounted the volume at /media/my-external-drive and you have enough disk space on the root volume to hold the tar file.
Neftanic almost 7 years

Couple comments 1) mount /dev/xvdf1 /mnt 2) Docker install with script docs.docker.com/engine/installation/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu/…
Keith Harris over 5 years

This answer totally worked. However, I'm unable to run a container from this image. How did you do it?
rj487 about 5 years

I can't run it as well, does this answer still work? Or amazon modify something?
Anuj Kumar about 4 years

@CodaChang Are you using amazon linux or amazon Linux 2?
rj487 about 4 years

@AnujKumar I was trying to use RetHat7 image in AWS.