# Amazon ECR : AWS Container Repositories

🚀 Hello to all cloud enthusiasts and those venturing into the realm of AWS containers! Are you ready for a swift tour through Amazon ECR (Elastic Container Registry)?

🔍 In this blog post, we're diving directly into the core of Amazon Web Services' container repository service, ECR.

📚 Consider this blog post as your friendly navigator, here to help you quickly grasp or refresh your understanding of essential ECR concepts.

# ECR - Elastic Container Registry

### **Overview of Elastic Container Registry (ECR):**

* ECR is a fully managed service for securely storing and managing Docker images, which can be distributed and deployed across applications.
    
* Developers use ECR to centrally push, pull, and manage their Docker images.
    

### **Components of ECR:**

1. **Registry:** A storage location for hosting Docker images and creating image repositories.
    
2. **Authorisation Token:** Required for authenticating Docker clients before they can interact with the registry.
    
3. **Repository:** Organises and secures Docker images, allowing them to be grouped into different categories.
    
4. **Repository Policy:** A resource-based policy that controls access and permissions for specific users.
    
5. **Image:** Docker images stored in the repository.
    

### **Authentication and Authorisation in ECR:**

* The docker command line interface requires authentication as an AWS user before accessing ECR.
    
* An authorization token is used to authenticate the Docker client with the registry.
    
* The token is obtained using the `aws ecr get-login` command.
    
* The token is valid for 12 hours and needs to be refreshed after that period.
    

### **Using IAM and Repository Policies:**

* Access to repositories and images can be controlled using both IAM policies and repository policies.
    
* There are managed IAM policies for ECR access, such as `AmazonEC2ContainerRegistryFullAccess`, `AmazonEC2ContainerRegistryPowerUser`, and `AmazonEC2ContainerRegistryReadOnly`.
    
* Repository policies are resource-based and determine user access and permissions.
    

### **Pushing and Pulling Images:**

* Images can be pushed into ECR using the `docker push` command.
    
* Images can be pulled from ECR using the `docker pull` command.
    

*Docker commands for pushing and pulling images can be found in the AWS documentation.*

💡 Resources:

[**Course: Overview of AWS Identity & Access Managment (IAM)**](https://cloudacademy.com/course/overview-of-aws-identity-and-access-management-iam/)

[**Docker Push**](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECR/latest/userguide/docker-push-ecr-image.html)

[**Docker Pull**](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECR/latest/userguide/docker-pull-ecr-image.html)