Fargate serverless containers in AWS - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Fargate Serverless Containers

📖 Scenario: You are working for a small company that wants to run a simple web application without managing servers. AWS Fargate lets you run containers without worrying about the underlying servers.In this project, you will create a basic AWS ECS Fargate task definition and service configuration to run a containerized web app.

🎯 Goal: Build a minimal AWS ECS Fargate task definition and service configuration using JSON format. This will define a container running a simple web server image and configure it to run serverless on Fargate.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an ECS task definition JSON with one container named webapp

Set the container image to nginx:latest

Specify CPU and memory requirements for the task

Configure the network mode to awsvpc

Add a service configuration referencing the task definition

Set the desired count of tasks to 1

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Many companies use AWS Fargate to run containerized applications without managing servers, making deployment easier and scalable.

💼 Career

Understanding how to define ECS Fargate tasks and services is essential for cloud engineers and DevOps professionals working with containerized applications on AWS.

1

Create ECS Task Definition Basic Structure

Create a JSON object called task_definition with keys family set to fargate-webapp and networkMode set to awsvpc. Also add requiresCompatibilities as a list containing FARGATE.

AWS

{
  "family": "fargate-webapp",
  "networkMode": "awsvpc",
  "requiresCompatibilities": [
    "FARGATE"
  ]
  # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use the keys exactly as family, networkMode, and requiresCompatibilities.

2

Add Container Definitions with Image and Resources

Add a key containerDefinitions with a list containing one container object. The container object must have name set to webapp, image set to nginx:latest, cpu set to 256, and memory set to 512.

AWS

{
  "family": "fargate-webapp",
  "networkMode": "awsvpc",
  "requiresCompatibilities": [
    "FARGATE"
  ],
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "webapp",
      "image": "nginx:latest",
      "cpu": 256,
      "memory": 512
      # Your code here
    }
  ]
}

Need a hint?

Remember to put the container details inside a list under containerDefinitions.

3

Add Task CPU and Memory Requirements

Add keys cpu set to 256 and memory set to 512 at the root level of the task_definition JSON.

AWS

{
  "family": "fargate-webapp",
  "networkMode": "awsvpc",
  "requiresCompatibilities": [
    "FARGATE"
  ],
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "webapp",
      "image": "nginx:latest",
      "cpu": 256,
      "memory": 512
    }
  ],
  "cpu": "256",
  "memory": "512"
  # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Task-level CPU and memory must be strings, not numbers.

4

Create ECS Service Configuration

Create a JSON object called service_definition with keys name set to webapp-service, taskDefinition set to fargate-webapp, desiredCount set to 1, and launchType set to FARGATE.

AWS

{
  "name": "webapp-service",
  "taskDefinition": "fargate-webapp",
  "desiredCount": 1,
  "launchType": "FARGATE"
  # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use exact key names and values as specified.