AWS re:Invent re:Cap - Amazon ECS Express Mode

In this presentation I share my view on the newly released ECS Express Mode. We take a look at the service from an IaC point of view and consider the added benefit and limits the service gives you.

Transcript

1. Amazon ECS Express Mode Production-grade deployments in minutes Jeroen Reijn
2. Evolution of ECS Launched 2014 Autoscaling 2015 ALB support 2016 Fargate 2017 ECS Exec 2021 Farget EBS integration 2024 Managed Instances ECS Express Mode 2025 https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/celebrating-10-years-of-amazon-ecs-powering-a-decade-of-containerized-innovation/
4. Simplification
5. Components required / Complexity • ALB • ALB Listener rule • ALB Target Groups • ALB Security Group • ACM Certificates • ECS Cluster • ECS Task Definition • ECS Service • ECS Service Security Group • ECS Service Deployment • CloudWatch Rollback Alarm • CloudWatch Log Groups • Route53 Hosted Zone • Application AutoScaling Policy • VPC • VPC Security Groups • Subnets • ..
6. Out of the box experience
7. Intended Audience • Web applications and APIs - Stateless containerized applications that serve HTTP requests • Rapid prototyping - Quickly deploy and test applications without infrastructure setup overhead • Developer productivity - Enable application teams to deploy independently without deep AWS knowledge • Platform team efficiency - Reduce maintenance overhead by providing self-service deployment capabilities
8. Amazon ECS Express Mode - promises • Simplified deployment - Deploy with production-ready defaults in a single command. • No compromise on capabilities - Full access to underlying AWS resources when needed. • Cost optimization - Shares Application Load Balancers across services to reduce costs. • Transparent infrastructure - All resources visible and accessible in your AWS account.
9. Getting started • Container image • Task role • Infrastructure role
12. Infrastructure As Code
13. Task IAM Role
14. Infrastructure IAM Role
15. Creating the Express Mode Service
17. Sensible defaults
18. What can you customize? On creation
19. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/TemplateReference/aws-resource-ecs-expressgatewayservice.html
20. How to reach individual components?
21. Return values • ECSManagedResourceArns.AutoScaling.ApplicationAutoScalingPolicies • ECSManagedResourceArns.AutoScaling.ScalableTarget • ECSManagedResourceArns.IngressPath.CertificateArn • ECSManagedResourceArns.IngressPath.ListenerArn • ECSManagedResourceArns.IngressPath.ListenerRuleArn • ECSManagedResourceArns.IngressPath.LoadBalancerArn • ECSManagedResourceArns.IngressPath.LoadBalancerSecurityGroups • ECSManagedResourceArns.IngressPath.TargetGroupArns • ECSManagedResourceArns.LogGroups • ECSManagedResourceArns.MetricAlarms • ECSManagedResourceArns.ServiceSecurityGroups • Endpoint
22. Getting the your application URL
23. Attaching a WAF to your ALB
24. Resource state management
25. L3 Constructs vs Express Mode
27. ECS Express Mode vs AppRunner?
28. How do they compare? (1/2) Express Mode • Quick implementation with full access to resources • Uses Fargate * • ALB in own control • Container image • PaaS with full control App Runner • Quick, but fully managed by AWS with no access • Uses Fargate • ALB is built-in • Container image or source • Ease of use with zero-ops
29. How do they compare? (2/2) Express Mode • Tasks run in your VPC • Use AWSVPC network mode • Easier to migrate to full ECS version App Runner • Task run in AWS Managed VPC • Requires connector for communication to VPC resources
30. Summary • Greatly Simplified deployment – For specific workloads and teams. • Full Access to underlying AWS resources – Full control from the AWS Console, Limited via IaC • State management – Moves from IaC to AWS • Cost optimization – Sharing the ALB is great even from IaC perspective. • Transparent infrastructure - All resources are visible and accessible in your AWS account.
31. Thank you! Jeroen Reijn Cloud Solutions Architect jeroen.reijn@luminis.eu www.luminis.eu Please complete the session survey in the mobile app Please complete the session survey by scanning the QR code