HOWTO deploy a docker container on aws without using elastic beanstalk or ec2 container service

Question

I\'d like to use docker containers without having to use elastic beanstalk or ec2 container service. I\'d like to upload a .zip file describing the container (like

Answer 1

The user data is basically just a bash script that is run when the instance boots up first time.

If you want to look into setting up an instance from scratch on instance creation I suggest you have a look at CloudInit and how to use it in CloudFormation. http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-resource-init.html

With CloudInit you can describe files to be placed, packages to be installed and services to be enabled for start at boot.