Elastic Container Service (ECS)

• ClI Tools

UI Walkthrough

We will walkthrough the steps of creating and ECS cluster, task, and service. After that, we will deploy a simple web application using the Elastic Container Registry.

Create an ECS Cluster

1. Navigate to the ECS console and create an ECS cluster, name it my-app.

2. For the infastructure provider, select Amazon Fargate (serverless).

3. Click Create.

There will be a message that the cluster has been created.

Create an ECS Task Definition

1. Go to Elastic Container Service product page

2. Select Task Definition from the left hand menu, and click Create Task Definition

3. Configure Task and Container Definitions

   • Give the task a name
   • For infrastructure provider, select Amazon Fargate (serverless)
   • Configure the task size, 1vCPU and 3GB memory is standard

4. Setup the container for this Task

   • Enter a name for your container.
   • Image URL: Enter your ECR image URL (e.g., <aws_account_id>.dkr.ecr.<region>.amazonaws.com/my-app:latest).
   • Memory Limits: Set the memory limits.
   • Port Mappings: Map the container port (e.g., 80) to a host port.

5. Add Storage and Network Configuration (if needed):

With JSON

1. Open the Task Definitions Page:
   • Click on "Task Definitions" in the left-hand menu.
   • Click the "Create new Task Definition" button.
   • Select "JSON" as the format.

Example:

{
  "family": "my-task",
  "networkMode": "awsvpc",
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "my-container",
      "image": "<aws_account_id>.dkr.ecr.<region>.amazonaws.com/my-app:latest",
      "essential": true,
      "memory": 512,
      "cpu": 256,
      "portMappings": [
        {
          "containerPort": 80,
          "hostPort": 80,
          "protocol": "tcp"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "requiresCompatibilities": ["FARGATE"],
  "cpu": "256",
  "memory": "512",
  "executionRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::<aws_account_id>:role/ecsTaskExecutionRole"
}

Create a Service

1. Select the cluster you created earlier.

2. Click the "Create" button in the "Services" tab.

3. Configure Service Settings:

   • Task Definition: Select the task definition you created earlier.
   • Service name: Enter a name for your service.
   • Number of tasks: Specify the number of tasks to run.
   • Select Launch: Fargate Spot is the cheapest.
   • Network Configuration: For Fargate, choose the VPC and subnets, and select a security group.

4. If you want to use a load balancer, configure it under the "Load balancing" section.

Verify and Access Your Service

1. Check the Service Status:

   • In the ECS Console, go to your cluster and check the "Services" tab.
   • Ensure the desired number of tasks are running.

2. Access Your Application:

   • If you configured a load balancer, use the load balancer's DNS name to access your application.
   • If not, use the public IP addresses of the running tasks (available in the "Tasks" tab under your service).

By following these steps, you can deploy a Docker image from Amazon ECR to Amazon ECS using the AWS Management Console.

CLI Tools

Create an ECS cluster

aws ecs create-cluster --cluster-name my-cluster

Create an ECS Task Definition

aws ecs create-task-definition --cli-input-json file://task-definition.json

Create an ECS Service

aws ecs create-service --cluster my-cluster --service-name my-service --task-definition my-task-definition --desired-count 1

Create an ECS Task

aws ecs run-task --cluster my-cluster --task-definition my-task-definition

Delete an ECS Task

aws ecs delete-task --cluster my-cluster --task my-task

Get an ECS Task

aws ecs describe-tasks --cluster my-cluster --tasks my-task

Get an ECS Service

aws ecs describe-services --cluster my-cluster --services my-service

Get an ECS Task Definition

aws ecs describe-task-definition --task-definition my-task-definition

Get an ECS Cluster

aws ecs describe-clusters --cluster my-cluster