EC2 Deployment

Learn the concepts, configuration, commands, and practical workflow required to securely deploy applications to Amazon EC2 virtual servers using Jenkins.

What is EC2 Deployment?

EC2 Deployment is the process of taking a compiled application artifact (such as a JAR, ZIP, or Docker container image) and distributing it onto an **Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)** instance.

Within a modern Phase 5 CI/CD pipeline, this mechanism replaces manual server patching and interactive terminal updates with auditable, zero-downtime automation scripts that manage application process lifecycles.

Key Concepts

Practical Jenkins Example

The following Declarative Pipeline demonstrates how to pull compiled artifacts from a staging folder, securely authenticate via SSH, copy a target package, and restart an system service on an EC2 instance:

pipeline {
    agent any








    environment {
        SSH_KEY_ID      = 'ec2-prod-ssh-key' 
        TARGET_HOST     = '10.0.1.45'        
        REMOTE_USER     = 'ubuntu'
        DOCKER_REGISTRY = 'docker.io/mycompany'
        IMAGE_NAME      = 'web-application'
        IMAGE_TAG       = "$${BUILD_NUMBER}"  
    }

    stages {
        stage('Pull & Compile') {
            steps {
                checkout scm
                echo "Packaging distribution application modules..."
            }
        }

        stage('Secure Multi-Phase EC2 Deployment') {
            steps {
                sshagent(credentials: ["$${SSH_KEY_ID}"]) {
                    script {
                        echo "Opening secure tunnel channel to virtual node: $${TARGET_HOST}"
                        
                        sh """
                            ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no $${REMOTE_USER}@$${TARGET_HOST} '
                                docker stop $${IMAGE_NAME} || true &&
                                docker rm $${IMAGE_NAME} || true
                            '
                        """

                        sh """
                            ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no $${REMOTE_USER}@$${TARGET_HOST} '
                                docker login -u "\$$REGISTRY_USER" -p "\$$REGISTRY_PASS" &&
                                docker run -d --name $${IMAGE_NAME} -p 80:8080 $${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/$${IMAGE_NAME}:$${IMAGE_TAG}
                            '
                        """
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    post {
        cleanup {
            cleanWs()
        }
    }
}

Practice Exercise

1. Open Jenkins and identify the relevant configuration area.
2. Create or update a small test job or pipeline for this lesson.
3. Run the job and inspect the Console Output.
4. Record what changed and verify the result.