Fargate vs EC2 launch type in AWS - Hands-On Comparison

Understanding AWS Fargate vs EC2 Launch Types

📖 Scenario: You are managing containerized applications on AWS. You want to learn the difference between running containers using AWS Fargate and EC2 launch types.This will help you decide which option to choose for your projects.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple AWS ECS task definition and service configuration using both Fargate and EC2 launch types to understand their setup differences.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a basic ECS task definition dictionary with container details

Add a configuration variable to select the launch type

Write logic to set the launch type in the ECS service configuration

Complete the ECS service configuration with the chosen launch type

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Choosing between AWS Fargate and EC2 launch types is a common decision when deploying containerized applications. Fargate lets you run containers without managing servers, while EC2 requires managing the underlying instances.

💼 Career

Understanding these launch types is essential for cloud engineers and developers working with AWS ECS to deploy scalable and cost-effective container applications.

1

Create ECS task definition dictionary

Create a dictionary called task_definition with these exact entries: family set to "sample-task", and containerDefinitions as a list containing one dictionary with name set to "sample-container" and image set to "amazonlinux".

AWS

# Create the ECS task_definition dictionary with family and containerDefinitions
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Think of task_definition as a recipe for your container. It needs a family name and container details.

2

Add launch type configuration variable

Add a variable called launch_type and set it to the string "FARGATE".

AWS

task_definition = {
    "family": "sample-task",
    "containerDefinitions": [
        {
            "name": "sample-container",
            "image": "amazonlinux"
        }
    ]
}
# Define the launch_type variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The launch_type variable will help decide how the containers run.

3

Set launch type in ECS service configuration

Create a dictionary called service_config with a key launchType set to the value of the variable launch_type.

AWS

task_definition = {
    "family": "sample-task",
    "containerDefinitions": [
        {
            "name": "sample-container",
            "image": "amazonlinux"
        }
    ]
}
launch_type = "FARGATE"
# Create service_config dictionary with launchType set to launch_type
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the launch_type variable to set the launchType key in the service configuration.

4

Complete ECS service configuration with network settings for Fargate

Add a key networkConfiguration to service_config with the value being a dictionary containing awsvpcConfiguration set to a dictionary with subnets as a list containing "subnet-12345" and assignPublicIp set to "ENABLED". This completes the ECS service configuration for Fargate launch type.

AWS

task_definition = {
    "family": "sample-task",
    "containerDefinitions": [
        {
            "name": "sample-container",
            "image": "amazonlinux"
        }
    ]
}
launch_type = "FARGATE"
service_config = {
    "launchType": launch_type
}
# Add networkConfiguration for Fargate launch type
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Fargate requires network settings with subnets and public IP assignment.