Concepts
Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers multiple solutions to handle container orchestration, such as Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS). Both services facilitate the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications, but they cater to different use cases and preferences.
Amazon ECS: Simplified Container Orchestration
Amazon ECS is a fully managed container orchestration service that supports Docker containers. It allows you to run and scale containerized applications on AWS easily. ECS abstracts the cluster management and provides deep integration with AWS services like Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon CloudWatch, and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM).
With ECS, you can define tasks, which are JSON or YAML files that specify the Docker container(s) to use, CPU and memory allocations, network settings, and more. ECS then ensures that your tasks are placed on the cluster’s instances and managed throughout their lifecycle.
For example, defining a task in ECS might look like this:
{
“family”: “web-application”,
“containerDefinitions”: [
{
“name”: “web”,
“image”: “nginx”,
“memory”: 256,
“essential”: true,
“portMappings”: [
{
“containerPort”: 80,
“hostPort”: 80
}
]
}
]
}
Amazon EKS: Kubernetes on AWS
Amazon EKS, on the other hand, brings Kubernetes to AWS as a managed service. Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. EKS removes the need to set up, operate, and maintain your own Kubernetes control plane, which can be complex and resource-intensive.
EKS is fully compatible with Kubernetes community tools and services, which means you can easily migrate any standard Kubernetes application to EKS without code modification. EKS clusters can integrate with AWS services like Amazon VPC, AWS Fargate, and Application Load Balancers.
An example of creating a deployment in EKS using the Kubernetes command-line tool kubectl might look like this:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nginx-deployment
labels:
app: nginx
spec:
replicas: 2
selector:
matchLabels:
app: nginx
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: nginx
spec:
containers:
– name: nginx
image: nginx:1.14.2
ports:
– containerPort: 80
ECS vs EKS: Comparison
| Feature | Amazon ECS | Amazon EKS |
|---|---|---|
| Management Overhead | Low (Simplified service) | Medium (Kubernetes expertise needed) |
| Portability | Lower (AWS-specific) | High (Standard Kubernetes) |
| Integration | Deep AWS service integration | General AWS service integration |
| Pricing | You pay for AWS resources used | EKS control plane pricing + AWS resources used |
| Scalability | Native auto-scaling | Kubernetes auto-scaling |
| Networking | AWS VPC, Task IAM Roles, Service Discovery | AWS VPC, CNI plugins |
| Serverless Options | AWS Fargate | AWS Fargate for EKS |
| Load Balancing | ELB, ALB, NLB Integration | ALB and NLB via Ingress Control |
| Launch Types | EC2 and Fargate launch types | Managed Node Groups, Self-managed nodes or Fargate |
In preparation for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) exam, you’ll need to understand when and why to use either ECS or EKS based on the application requirements and team expertise. Knowing the fundamental differences between ECS tasks and EKS pods, how each service integrates with other AWS services, and how to architect solutions that are scalable, secure, and cost-effective will be crucial.
When to choose Amazon ECS:
- When simplicity and tight AWS integration are priorities.
- When you need to run containers on serverless infrastructure with AWS Fargate.
- When you don’t require Kubernetes’ extended functionalities.
When to choose Amazon EKS:
- When you need to use Kubernetes because of team familiarity, existing workflows or community plugins.
- When you require portability of workloads across different environments that support Kubernetes.
- When you’re operating at a large scale and need Kubernetes’ advanced orchestration features.
By selecting the appropriate container orchestration service, AWS architects can ensure that their application deployments are efficient, scalable, and maintainable to meet modern application development needs.
Answer the Questions in Comment Section
True or False: Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) requires you to install your own container orchestrator on EC2 instances.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Amazon ECS is a fully managed container orchestration service, meaning AWS manages the container orchestrator for you, and there is no need to install your own.
Which AWS service is a fully managed Kubernetes service?
- Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS)
- Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
- Amazon Elastic Beanstalk
- AWS Fargate
Answer: Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
Explanation: Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a fully managed Kubernetes service, which automates key tasks such as Kubernetes masters’ deployment, scaling, and upgrades.
True or False: AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers that works with both Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: AWS Fargate is a serverless computing engine for containers that allows you to run containers without managing servers or clusters. It integrates with both Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS.
Which of the following are container orchestration features provided by Amazon ECS? (Select two)
- Horizontal scaling
- Automated rollbacks
- Virtual machine management
- Service discovery
- Automated backups
Answer: Horizontal scaling, Service discovery
Explanation: Amazon ECS provides features such as horizontal scaling of services and service discovery to connect containers with each other and with load balancers.
True or False: With Amazon EKS, you can bring your own Kubernetes clusters that you’ve set up on-premises or on other cloud providers.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Amazon EKS manages Kubernetes control plane instances across multiple availability zones, ensuring high availability. You cannot bring your pre-existing Kubernetes clusters directly into Amazon EKS, but you can configure on-premises or external cloud Kubernetes clusters to work alongside EKS clusters.
Which service ensures you pay only for what you use in terms of vCPU and memory resources consumed by containers?
- AWS Lambda
- Amazon EC2
- Amazon ECS
- AWS Fargate
Answer: AWS Fargate
Explanation: With AWS Fargate, you pay for the vCPU and memory that your containerized application requests when a container is running, effectively aligning costs with usage.
True or False: It’s possible to use the AWS Management Console to run tasks on Amazon ECS.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: You can use the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or SDKs to run task definitions on Amazon ECS.
What Amazon service enables you to use Elastic Load Balancing with containers?
- Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
- Amazon RDS
- Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR)
- Amazon ECS
Answer: Amazon ECS
Explanation: Amazon ECS supports the integration of Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) services such as Application Load Balancer (ALB), Network Load Balancer (NLB), and Classic Load Balancer (CLB) to distribute traffic across your containers.
Which service would you use to store and retrieve container images?
- Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
- Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR)
- AWS Artifact
- Amazon CloudFront
Answer: Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR)
Explanation: Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) is a fully managed Docker container registry that allows developers to store, manage, and deploy Docker container images.
True or False: You need to manage underlying EC2 instances when using Amazon ECS with the Fargate launch type.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: When using the AWS Fargate launch type with Amazon ECS, the underlying EC2 instances are managed by AWS, and you do not need to provision or manage them yourself.
In Amazon EKS, who is responsible for patching, scaling, and updating the Kubernetes control plane?
- The customer
- AWS
- The control plane is self-managed and does not require patching.
- Third-party service providers
Answer: AWS
Explanation: AWS is responsible for the installation, operational health, maintenance, scaling, and updating of the control plane in Amazon EKS.
True or False: Amazon EKS automatically distributes your containerized applications across multiple Availability Zones for high availability.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Amazon EKS runs Kubernetes control plane instances across multiple Availability Zones to ensure high availability and automatically replaces unhealthy control plane instances.
Great article on Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS. I found the comparison very useful.
Thanks for the post! It cleared up a lot of confusion I had about container orchestration in AWS.
Can anyone explain the main differences between ECS and EKS?
Does anyone know how ECS handles scaling compared to Kubernetes in EKS?
I prefer EKS because it offers more flexibility and customization through Kubernetes. ECS seems more limiting.
Thank you for this informative post!
Does AWS Fargate support both ECS and EKS?
Very helpful article. Thanks!