There are numerous advantages of containerizing applications for software development, including increased speed, agility, and flexibility. In addition, the development of the container ecosystem has progressed rapidly in recent years, providing consumers with a plethora of options for software and services.
Several services have been created by popular cloud providers like Azure, AWS, and GCP to assist users in running their containerized applications more effectively and quickly. In this blog post, we’ll look at two primary AWS container services – Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Fargate – available to customers.
What is AWS Fargate?
AWS Fargate is a serverless container compute engine used to launch and execute containers without providing or maintaining EC2 instances. As a result, users do not need to worry about instances or servers; instead, they must define their resource requirements. Amazon ECS and AWS EKS support Fargate.
Rather than performing all of the processes manually, such as booting the server and agent installation and ensuring it is up to current, you can construct a cluster and add your workload. AWS will automatically add pre-configured servers to the “pool” to meet your needs.
It is unsuitable for extensively regulated architectures where businesses need dedicated tenancy hosting. Fargate resource allocation is an automated process, but you can modify how it operates. If you fail to keep careful tabs on this, it can quickly lead to uncontrollable expense increases. Self-hosting and the creation of limited-capacity clusters are two approaches to this.
Why should you use AWS Fargate?
The following are the main reasons why you should use AWS Fargate:
- Serverless computing: AWS Fargate require servers to function, but they spare users the effort of having to deploy and manage these servers themselves.
- Data security: AWS Fargate can operate each container in an isolated runtime environment, complete with its memory and CPU resources, making it considerably more challenging for hackers to compromise the entire system.
What is ECS?
AWS Elastic Container Service or ECS is a managed container orchestration service that enables containerized workloads to be deployed and scaled quickly. Users do not need to configure or maintain their container management with ECS because ECS runs and manages containers on a cloud cluster. In addition, ECS supports both EC2 launch types and AWS Fargate.
You do not need to be worried about EC2 instances or servers when utilizing ECS with AWS Fargate. Instead, select the CPU and memory configuration required, and your containers will be deployed there. AWS manages container availability and scalability. Still, choose the correct CPU and RAM – otherwise, your application may become inaccessible.
The only drawback of using ECS with Fargate is that ECS and Fargate only offer one networking mode – awsvpc – limiting the networking layer’s control. In addition, you are charged dependent on the CPU and memory configuration you choose. The cost of running your cluster is determined by the number of CPU cores and GB.
Why should you use Amazon ECS?
The following are the essential characteristics of Amazon ECS:
- Flexibility: Amazon ECS offers the serverless ability of Fargate to users, or you can use Amazon EC2 to gain more granular, server-level control over your resources and architecture.
- Scheduling choices: Amazon ECS provides several container scheduling options, including task-based scheduling, service-based scheduling, and daemon scheduling.
AWS Fargate vs ECS: Main Difference
The main difference between AWS Fargate and ECS is that AWS Fargate requires a container orchestration service, either EKS or ECS, to function properly, and Amazon ECS can orchestrate containers via AWS Fargate, but you can also use it with Amazon EC2 or the on-premises option AWS Outposts.
While many people are confused by the question “Fargate vs. ECS,” the truth is that it is not the most appropriate comparison to make. Instead, the question is whether Fargate and ECS should be used together.
AWS Fargate vs ECS: Pricing
AWS Fargate pricing is straightforward. it’s a “pay as you go” solution that charges you just for the memory and computes resources you use, with no upfront fees. On the other hand, pricing for Amazon ECS is a little more tricky. You can use ECS in conjunction with Fargate, which will have a different price range.
The ECS can also be used with Amazon EC2, which has a variety of pricing structures, including on-demand, reserved instances, spot pricing, and more. Using on-demand EC2 is substantially less expensive than using Fargate.
Conclusion
It is not good to compare Fargate and ECS because they are not the same. AWS Fargate and Amazon ECS can also be used in combination.
Fargate is a serverless container management offering that collaborates with container orchestration providers such as Amazon EKS and ECS. On the other hand, Amazon ECS is compatible with both Fargate and Amazon EC2.
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Amit Doshi is a Cloud Engineer who has experienced more than 5 years in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. He is an IT professional responsible for designing, implementing, managing, and maintaining cloud computing infrastructure, applications, and services.