Trying to launch AWS Elastic beanstalk instance with Ubuntu AMI

Question

I am trying to create an elastic beanstalk instance in AWS with an Ubuntu AMI (Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS (HVM), SSD Volume Type - ami-d05e75b8) and MongoDB. To change the AMI I am following these steps . And I have a few questions.

1) I have gotten the impression that I cannot change the AMI to Ubuntu in elastic beanstalk without hacking away at it. Is this true?

If number 1) is False then ....

2) In the steps link: What is Number 7, under To create a custom AMI , referring to by repository version number . I do not see a date in the AMI for ubuntu (ami-d05e75b8)

3) I have gotten the impression that I cannot incorporate MongoDB in elastic beanstalk without hacking away at it. Is this true?

Thank you for your help! I would also be very appreciative with any other insight you can provide.

Answer 1

Not sure what you mean by "hacking away at it", but in general I wouldn't recommend taking that path. Using a custom AMI deprives you of future Beanstalk upgrades, so you'll have to recreate your AMI every couple of months just to keep up with the latest Beanstalk changes.

Instead, I'd vote to use the Docker version of Elastic beanstalk . It allows you to create a custom contain (eg Ubunto with Mongo) and let Elastic Beanstalk launch it. This way you focus on your container instead of the Beanstalk scripting.

If you're unfamiliar with Docker, here's a nice place to start: https://training.docker.com/self-paced-training