Demonstration 2 Create 2 Stage Pipeline

In this guide, you’ll set up a simple two-stage CI/CD pipeline on AWS using CodeCommit for source control and CodeDeploy for deployment. We’ll deploy a sample web application to an EC2 instance following the AWS CodePipeline simple tutorial.

1. Create a CodeCommit Repository

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open CodeCommit.
2. Ensure your region is set (we’re using us-west-2).

   Note

   Always match the region across CodeCommit, CodeDeploy, and EC2 to avoid cross-region issues.

3. Click Create repository, name it MyDemoRepo, and confirm.

Once the repo is ready, note the clone instructions:

2. Clone the Repository Locally

On your laptop or workstation:

# Create a working directory
mkdir -p ~/demo/MyDemoRepo
cd ~/demo/MyDemoRepo

# Clone via HTTPS
git clone https://git-codecommit.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/v1/repos/MyDemoRepo .
ls
# (directory is currently empty)

3. Add the Sample Application

1. Download the sample app ZIP from the AWS tutorial and extract its contents.

2. You should see:

   MyDemoRepo/
   ├── appspec.yml
   ├── index.html
   ├── LICENSE.txt
   └── scripts/
       ├── install_dependencies
       ├── start_server
       └── stop_server
   

   

3. Add, commit, and push:

   git add .
   git commit -m "Add initial sample application files"
   git push origin master
   

4. Verify the files in the AWS Console:

   

4. Create an IAM Role for EC2 (CodeDeploy Agent)

In the IAM console, go to Roles > Create role:

• Trusted entity: AWS service → EC2

• Attach policies:

  Policy Name	Purpose
  AmazonEC2RoleforAWSCodeDeploy	Grants CodeDeploy agent permissions
  AmazonSSMManagedInstanceCore	Allows AWS Systems Manager operations

3. Name the role EC2InstanceRole.
4. Use this trust policy:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": { "Service": "ec2.amazonaws.com" },
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
    }
  ]
}

After creation, you’ll see:

5. Launch an EC2 Instance

1. In the EC2 console (same region), choose Launch Instance.
2. Configure as follows:
   • Name tag: MyCodePipelineDemo
   • AMI: Amazon Linux 2 (Free Tier)
   • Instance type: t2.micro (Free Tier)
   • Key pair: Proceed without one (demo only)
   • Network: Enable auto-assign Public IP
   • Security group:
     • SSH (port 22) from My IP
     • HTTP (port 80) from My IP

Under Advanced details, assign the EC2InstanceRole profile and click Launch instances.

6. Create a CodeDeploy Application & Deployment Group

6.1 Service Role for CodeDeploy

In IAM, choose Roles > Create role:

• Trusted entity: AWS service → CodeDeploy
• Managed policy: AWSCodeDeployRole
• Role name: CodeDeployRole

Use this trust policy:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": { "Service": "codedeploy.amazonaws.com" },
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
    }
  ]
}

6.2 Application & Deployment Group

1. Open CodeDeploy > Applications > Create application:

   • Name: MyDemoApplication
   • Compute platform: EC2/On-premises

   

2. Under Deployment groups, click Create deployment group:

   • Name: MyDemoDeploymentGroup
   • Service role: CodeDeployRole
   • Deployment type: In-place
   • Environment configuration: Tag instances Name = MyCodePipelineDemo
   • Load balancing: Disabled
   • Agent configuration: AWS Systems Manager

   

When complete, review details:

7. Create the CodePipeline

In CodePipeline, click Create pipeline and configure:

1. Pipeline name: MyFirstPipeline
2. Service role: New service role

Source Stage

• Provider: AWS CodeCommit
• Repository name: MyDemoRepo
• Branch name: master

Skip Build

Choose Skip build stage.

Deploy Stage

• Action provider: AWS CodeDeploy
• Region: US West (Oregon)
• Application name: MyDemoApplication
• Deployment group: MyDemoDeploymentGroup

Review and click Create pipeline. The pipeline will start automatically:

8. Verify the Initial Deployment

Once Source and Deploy stages complete, get the Public IPv4 DNS of your EC2 instance:

Paste the address into your browser to see the welcome page:

9. Update the Application and Redeploy

1. Modify index.html locally. Example update:

   <!DOCTYPE html>
   <html>
   <head>
     <title>Updated Sample Deployment</title>
     <style>
       body { background-color: #CCFFCC; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; }
       h1 { font-size: 250%; margin-bottom: 0; }
       h2 { font-size: 175%; margin-bottom: 0; }
     </style>
   </head>
   <body>
     <div align="center"><h1>Updated Sample Deployment</h1></div>
     <div align="center"><h2>Deployed via CodePipeline, CodeCommit & CodeDeploy.</h2></div>
     <div align="center">
       <p>Learn more:</p>
       <p><a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codepipeline/latest/userguide/">CodePipeline User Guide</a></p>
       <p><a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codecommit/latest/userguide/">CodeCommit User Guide</a></p>
       <p><a href="https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codedeploy/latest/userguide/">CodeDeploy User Guide</a></p>
     </div>
   </body>
   </html>
   

2. Commit and push:

   git add index.html
   git commit -m "Update index.html for new deployment"
   git push origin master
   

The pipeline auto-triggers and redeploys:

After deployment, refresh to view changes:

Conclusion

You’ve successfully created and tested a two-stage AWS CodePipeline using CodeCommit and CodeDeploy. In this lesson you:

• Set up and cloned a CodeCommit repository
• Added a sample web application
• Configured IAM roles for EC2 and CodeDeploy
• Launched an EC2 instance with the CodeDeploy agent
• Defined a CodeDeploy application and deployment group
• Built a Source → Deploy pipeline
• Verified initial deployment and automated updates

Up next: we’ll extend this pipeline with build and test stages for a complete four-stage CI/CD workflow.

References

• AWS CodePipeline User Guide
• AWS CodeCommit User Guide
• AWS CodeDeploy User Guide