Book Image

Docker on Amazon Web Services

By : Justin Menga
Book Image

Docker on Amazon Web Services

By: Justin Menga

Overview of this book

Over the last few years, Docker has been the gold standard for building and distributing container applications. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a leader in public cloud computing, and was the first to offer a managed container platform in the form of the Elastic Container Service (ECS). Docker on Amazon Web Services starts with the basics of containers, Docker, and AWS, before teaching you how to install Docker on your local machine and establish access to your AWS account. You'll then dig deeper into the ECS, a native container management platform provided by AWS that simplifies management and operation of your Docker clusters and applications for no additional cost. Once you have got to grips with the basics, you'll solve key operational challenges, including secrets management and auto-scaling your infrastructure and applications. You'll explore alternative strategies for deploying and running your Docker applications on AWS, including Fargate and ECS Service Discovery, Elastic Beanstalk, Docker Swarm and Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS). In addition to this, there will be a strong focus on adopting an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approach using AWS CloudFormation. By the end of this book, you'll not only understand how to run Docker on AWS, but also be able to build real-world, secure, and scalable container platforms in the cloud.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Chapter 12. ECS Auto Scaling

Elasticity is one of the fundamental tenets of cloud computing, and describes the ability to auto scale your applications on demand to ensure the best possible experience and responsiveness for your customers, while optimizing cost by only providing additional capacity for your application when it is actually required.

AWS supports scaling your Docker applications that are deployed using ECS via two key features:

  • Application Auto Scaling: This uses the AWS application auto scaling service and supports Auto Scaling at an ECS service level, where the number of ECS tasks or containers running your ECS services can be scaled up or down.
  • EC2 Auto Scaling: This uses the EC2 Auto Scaling service and supports Auto Scaling at an EC2 Auto Scaling group level, where the number of EC2 instances in your Auto Scaling group can be scaled up or down. In the context of ECS, your EC2 Auto Scaling groups typically correspond to ECS clusters, and the individual EC2 instances correspond...