How do you run containers on AWS (ECS, EKS, Fargate)?

Question

Accepted Answer

AWS offers several ways to run **containers** — **ECS** (Elastic Container Service, AWS's own orchestrator), **EKS** (managed Kubernetes), and **Fargate** (serverless containers, no servers to manage). Understanding the options helps choose the right container platform.

## ECS — AWS's container orchestrator

```text
ECS runs and orchestrates Docker containers on AWS:
  → simpler than Kubernetes; deeply integrated with AWS (IAM, ALB, CloudWatch, VPC)
  → TASK (a running container set), TASK DEFINITION (the spec), SERVICE (keeps N tasks
    running, integrates with load balancers, auto-scales)
  → good for teams wanting container orchestration without Kubernetes complexity
```

## EKS — managed Kubernetes

```text
EKS runs managed KUBERNETES on AWS:
  → standard Kubernetes (portable skills/tooling, huge ecosystem) — AWS manages the
    control plane
  → choose this for Kubernetes (industry-standard) or if you need its power/ecosystem
  → more complex than ECS, but standard and powerful
```

## Fargate — serverless containers

```text
FARGATE is a SERVERLESS compute engine for containers (works with ECS or EKS):
  → NO servers/EC2 to manage — you just run containers; AWS provisions the compute
  → pay per container resources used; auto-scales
  → vs running containers on EC2 instances YOU manage (patching, scaling the hosts)
→ Fargate = run containers without managing the underlying servers.
```

## Choosing

```text
ECS + EC2     → full control over the instances; manage the hosts
ECS + Fargate → AWS orchestration, NO server management (simple, common)
EKS           → standard Kubernetes (portability, ecosystem) — more complex
EKS + Fargate → Kubernetes without managing nodes
→ Fargate for less ops; ECS for AWS-native simplicity; EKS for Kubernetes.
```

## Why it matters

Understanding how to run containers on AWS is valuable because containers are central to modern application deployment and AWS offers multiple options with different trade-offs, so understanding them helps choose the right platform.

The options serve different needs: **ECS** (AWS's own orchestrator) is **simpler than Kubernetes and deeply integrated with AWS** (IAM, load balancers, CloudWatch), making it a good choice for teams wanting container orchestration without Kubernetes complexity; **EKS** (managed Kubernetes) provides **standard, portable Kubernetes** with its huge ecosystem and industry-standard skills/tooling (AWS managing the control plane), suited for teams wanting Kubernetes specifically; and **Fargate** (serverless containers, working with ECS or EKS) eliminates server management entirely — running containers without provisioning or managing EC2 instances.

Understanding **Fargate's serverless model** is particularly valuable: it removes the operational burden of managing container hosts (patching, scaling the underlying servers), letting you just run containers and pay for the resources used — a significant simplification.

Understanding the **choices** (ECS+EC2 for full control, ECS+Fargate for AWS-native simplicity without server management, EKS for standard Kubernetes, EKS+Fargate for Kubernetes without node management) reflects the trade-offs between control, simplicity, standardization, and operational burden — helping match the platform to the team's needs and expertise.

Since containers are central to modern deployment and AWS offers multiple container platforms with meaningful trade-offs (AWS-native vs Kubernetes, server-managed vs serverless), and since choosing appropriately depends on understanding these options, understanding how to run containers on AWS (ECS, EKS, Fargate) is valuable, practically-relevant AWS knowledge for deploying containerized applications — helping select the right container platform based on simplicity, standardization, and how much operational management the team wants, an important decision for containerized AWS workloads.