🚀Deployed a Containerized Flask Message App on AWS EC2 using Docker

In this article, I’ll walk through how I built and deployed a containerized Message Board Web Application using Python Flask and MySQL on AWS EC2. This project helped me gain hands-on experience with Docker, cloud deployment, and backend development.

📌 Project Overview

The application is a simple message board where users can:

• Add messages
• Delete messages
• Store data in a MySQL database

Both the application and database are containerized using Docker and communicate over a shared network.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Python
• Flask
• MySQL
• Docker
• AWS EC2
• Linux

🏗️ Architecture

The project consists of two main containers:

• Flask Application Container
• MySQL Database Container

These containers are connected via a custom Docker network:

message-network

The Flask app connects to MySQL using the container name (mysql-db) as the hostname.

⚙️ Step-by-Step Implementation

1️⃣ Create Docker Network

docker network create message-network

2️⃣ Run MySQL Container

docker run -d \
--name mysql-db \
--network message-network \
-e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root \
-e MYSQL_DATABASE=messagedb \
mysql:8

3️⃣ Build Flask App Image

docker build -t flask-message-app .

4️⃣ Run Flask Container

docker run -d \
-p 5001:5001 \
--network message-network \
--name flask-app \
flask-message-app

🌐 Deployment on AWS EC2

I deployed this project on an AWS EC2 instance by:

• Launching a Linux-based EC2 instance
• Installing Docker
• Running both containers inside the instance
• Configuring the Security Group to allow inbound traffic on port 5001

🔗 Live Demo

🌐 http://13.235.243.101:5001

📷 Screenshots

• Web Application UI

• Mobile View

• Running Docker Containers

• MySQL Database Table

📚 Key Learnings

• Understanding Docker containerization
• Managing multi-container applications
• Setting up Docker networks for communication
• Deploying applications on AWS EC2
• Troubleshooting real-world issues

🚀 Future Improvements

• Add message timestamps
• Implement edit functionality
• Use Docker Compose
• Add Nginx reverse proxy
• Set up CI/CD pipeline

🔗 GitHub Repository

👉 https://github.com/Avinash8600/containerized-flask-message-app

👨‍💻 About Me

I’m a Software Engineer with a focus on Cloud and DevOps, passionate about building and deploying scalable applications.

💬 Conclusion

This project was a great hands-on experience in combining backend development with cloud and containerization technologies. It helped me understand how real-world applications are deployed and managed.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to share!