Installing LocalStack (To Simulate AWS) using Docker Desktop for Windows

Ideal for AWS-like local testing, especially for AWS SDK-based code

Step-by-step guide to install LocalStack for AWS emulation, allowing testing AWS services locally, including S3, RDS, Lambda, and many others.

Step 1: Install Docker (if not yet installed)

Install Docker Desktop for Windows, if it’s not already installed

Step 2: Start Docker Desktop

Start Docker Desktop and ensure it’s running before proceeding.

Step 3: Install LocalStack

Using CLI command

docker pull localstack/localstack

Step 4: Start LocalStack

docker run -d --name localstack -p 4566:4566 -p 4510-4559:4510-4559 localstack/localstack

The -p flags map ports for accessing various LocalStack services.

Step 5: Wait for few minutes ⌛

It is now installed and ready to be configured 😊

Step 6 (optional): Verify its running

Verify LocalStack is running on http://localhost:4566. Use the browser and developer tools using F12

Step 7: Configure AWS CLI to Use LocalStack

To interact with LocalStack using the AWS CLI, configure it to use LocalStack’s endpoints.

Run the following command to set up a new AWS profile for LocalStack.

useme@DESKTOP-XXXXXX:~$ aws configure --profile localstack

Provide the values (for example)

AWS Access Key ID [None]: test
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: test
Default region name [None]: us-east-1
Default output format [None]: json

Step 8: Running the preferred services

To run S3 — for example — override Endpoints in CLI Commands.

You need to specify LocalStack’s endpoint URL for each AWS service. For example, to run S3 (Simple Storage Service) and to create an S3 bucket:

aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 s3 mb s3://my-bucket --profile localstack

and the response should be:

make_bucket: my-bucket

Or to run SQS (Simple Queue Service):

aws --endpoint-url=http://localhost:4566 sqs create-queue --queue-name my-queue --profile localstack

and the response should be:

{
    "QueueUrl": "http://sqs.us-east-1.localhost.localstack.cloud:4566/000000000000/my-queue"
}

Step 9: Test the health of services

To verify the services are running and healthy, access http://localhost:4566/_localstack/health using the browser

and the response should be:

Services are ready to be used 😊

Many tools and kits available to manage and use the services, examples in the following steps.

Step 10 (optional): Exploring S3

You can, for example, use S3 Browser tool to browse and manage S3 buckets:

• Download it from their website S3 Browser,
• Install it
• Configure it to use the LocalStack

and the result 😊

Done.