What is AWS ECS Service and What Are Its Limitations?

Amazon provides AWS ECS, which upscales and enhances the application's performance through software technology to manage containers efficiently. Containerization is a process which enables you to create a software package that can support any device. This concept helps to deploy and manage long-running applications, services, and batch processes without needing to install, and scale your own cluster management infrastructure. In recent days, it has been observed that cross-platform software is in high demand, and thus, the role of containerization has increased. 

AWS ECS has been introduced to simplify a complex process. In this article, you will go through every parameter associated with ECS AWS, including containerization, methods involved, controllers, application lifecycle, and more.

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A Quick Overview of Containers

In the above stanza, you have encountered the term Containerization and must be eager to understand its meaning. Well, containerization is a software deployment method that uses cloud computing image files to contain everything needed to run the software: code, libraries, environment variables, configuration files, and runtime. 

However, while the process seems smooth theoretically, it's very complex practically because the container retains thousands of microservices, and arranging them manually is a tough task. So, Container Orchestration comes into play. Developers use container orchestration tools to automate container processes.

The open-source image specification tool creates a container image in the app development stage, which sets the standard for a container. The container engine then creates a container from the read-only container image.

A container engine is just a program that helps an application run by providing the necessary information. After the building process is completed, containers are stored in a registry. The detailed information on the container and its creation will help you understand the workings of AWS ECS effectively.  

Introduction of AWS ECS

You might have searched for an answer to what is AWS ECS and scratched your head. But after understanding the concept of container and container orchestration, it will be very easy for you to understand Amazon Elastic Container Service (AWS- ECS). It manages container orchestration and enables developers to deploy and manage containers effectively.

This service will help you launch multiple containers at a larger scale, and you don’t have to worry about the server because ECS AWS provides a serverless compute engine known as AWS Fargate. Now, let’s look at the fundamentals of AWS ECS, as understanding them will help you operate the container orchestration easily.

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Fundamentals of AWS ECS 

Like the container layering where the image is at the top, the same layering pattern is observed in the AWS ECS, which contains capacity, controller, and provisioning. A Capacity determines the number of times the container runs, and based on your container, you can set the capacity. In addition, to manage clusters of containers, you can opt for AWS Fargate or a virtual machine, as this feature is also available in the ECS AWS. 

Amazon ECS Scheduler deploys and manages an application in a container effectively for smooth performance.

Next is the provisioning layer, where you will use a series of tools to interface with the scheduler for the smooth deployment of applications. This feature will give you multiple options to deploy and manage the applications and containers. Now, let’s see them in a comprehensive manner.

1. AWS Management Console

The management consoles help users interact with the applications that they have created. After entering into the management console panel, users will get a default root user account where they can perform their actions, but it is advised to create an Identity and Access Management user account.   

2. AWS Command Line Interface

To access the Amazon ECS resources, you must learn commands such as shells, file commands, and more Supported services. 

3. Copilot

Copilot is a utility that enables you to deploy your container from a docker file in AWS using a single command. In addition, you can set an environment for your application, such as creating a database, setting up CI/CD and many more.

The other layers in AWS provisioning are AWS CDK and AWS SDK. The former provides a framework to enhance your application using the programming language, whereas the latter is a software development kit used by developers build an application using AWS resources.

Working Process of AWS ECS

After knowing the answer of what is AWS ECS and successfully creating the container, as discussed earlier, you will have to create a task definition that gives you the authority to set parameters for the OS for your container, such as data volume usage, health script and others.

Thereafter, you need to group all the tasks (cluster) and deploy them in the AWS Capacity layer. Soon after that, the container agent will come into the role whose sole aim is to fetch the current information of tasks and deliver them to the AWS ECS.

Why Should You Consider AWS ECS?

There are several reasons behind AWS ECS because it simplifies your container orchestration process and only seeks a container and the required resources. Now, let’s see some of the prime benefits that you can get from AWS ECS.

1. Serverless Feature

Deploying and managing a container requires a server, which means a proper infrastructure. However, AWS ECS provides serverless features in the form of AWS Fargate. Using this serverless compute engine, you can effectively run the containers, and the rest of the jobs, such as scaling, resource allocation, security and patches, and more, will be done by AWS Fargate.

2. AWS Security System

AWS management console enables you to create an IAM account so that you can deploy the container in an isolated environment. In an isolated atmosphere, the container will have its own resources, which will help it run smoothly in the AWS ECS. In addition, the conflict of multiple containers colliding together in the form of resource allocation will be reduced, and thus, each container will have better performance and low-security threat.

3. Retaining Healthy Containers

In the task definition section, you have defined the OS parameters. In the same section, you can also keep the health script to measure the health of a container, and this key feature is available in AWS ECS. 

Embedding the task definition with a health script will ensure that the healthy containers store the applications. Moreover, there is a guardian to check the flow of unhealthy containers, and that is AWS CloudWatch, whose sole aim is to record such results and flag the unhealthy ones. 

4. Use of Various AWS Tools

AWS CodeBuild, CodeCommit, CodeDeploy, Infrastructure Composer, Toolkit for Visual Studio Code, Identity and access management (IAM) solutions are some tools used. AWS ECS is integrated with several AWS services, including Relation Database Service, and Simple Storage Service. These integrated services will help you to streamline your containerization effectively and build a scalable application.

5. Managing Resources

Resource management is a must in the application development process, and the AWS ECS does this job. To use this service, you will have to provide inputs in the task definition, such as CPU requirements, and thereafter, ECS will do the rest of the job. In addition, it will run multiple containers at the same time, thus saving time and money.

Must-Know Factors for Choosing AWS ECS

Amazon provides outstanding ECS services that help developers manage containerization applications smoothly. After considering the advantages of AWS ECS, you should also consider its limitations.

1. Container Migration Issue

AWS ECS manages the container orchestration using built-in tools, so migrating the container from one cloud host to another is a tough task. So, opting for the service of Amazon ECS will prevent you from looking for other vendors offering the Elastic Container Service.

2. Network Configuration Is A Challenge

Network configuration in AWS ECS is a complex process, and it is difficult for a newbie to configure the network. So, some developers face challenges in the network configuration part, especially in the cross-account VPC peering section. Network communication, Enabling VPC flow logs, AWS Direct Connect using, and using private link are some of the challenges in network configuration.

3. OS-friendly Issue

Undoubtedly, AWS ECS gives outstanding results for containers programmed in a Linux OS. But such containers programmed with Windows face some glitches, which means ECS is still not Windows OS friendly. 

Ways To Minimize AWS ECS Limitations

In the core part of ECS, you can’t do anything such as container migration. But there are some ways through which you can effectively use the ECS. Foremost, you should understand your application, how it will interact with the services, and how much resources it will need. Considering this factor will simplify your process. 

The next thing you should consider is using AWS Fargate, a serverless computing machine that runs containers smoothly. AWS Fargate will help you reduce the burden of infrastructure costs.

While developing an application, it is always recommended to start with a pilot project to understand the AWS Ecosystem, container interaction, and ECS tools. Once you have understood everything, you can move on to a big project.

Also Read: Types Of AWS Certifications And Their Cost? 

Conclusion

AWS ECS integrates several built-in services and third-party tools to help you deploy and manage containers effectively.  Undoubtedly, it has pros and cons, too, but if you are a DevOps, you can easily deploy the container and effectively utilise the AWS SDK. However, suppose you are a newbie in this field, opting for the DevOps course is recommended. This course will give you insights into the software development process and the management of development & operation teams.