ECS vs. EKS: The Battle of the Containers and How to Survive the Great Migration!

Image Source: https://www.cloudzero.com/

As businesses grow and expand, they need more computing resources to manage their applications and infrastructure. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a variety of services to meet these demands, including Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS). Both services allow you to run containers on the AWS cloud, but EKS provides additional benefits that make it a more attractive option for certain use cases. In this blog, we will explore why you should consider migrating from ECS to EKS and how to do it.

From ‘Eh, CS’ to ‘EKS-citing’: Why You Should Switch Container Services!

1. Kubernetes is more widely adopted: Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for container orchestration, and its adoption is growing rapidly. This means that there are more Kubernetes experts in the market and a larger community of developers creating tools and solutions for Kubernetes. By migrating to EKS, you can tap into this ecosystem and benefit from the latest innovations and best practices in container orchestration.
2. Better workload portability: One of the biggest advantages of Kubernetes is that it provides a standard way to deploy and manage containerized applications. This means that you can deploy your application on EKS and run it on any Kubernetes cluster, whether it’s in the cloud or on-premises. This gives you more flexibility and makes it easier to move your workloads between different environments.
3. Improved scalability: EKS provides better scalability than ECS because it uses Kubernetes to manage your containers. Kubernetes can automatically scale your containers up or down based on demand, and it can also manage the deployment of multiple containers across multiple nodes. This makes it easier to handle large workloads and ensures that your application can scale to meet the needs of your users.
4. Better integration with AWS services: EKS integrates seamlessly with other AWS services, such as Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) and Amazon Elastic File System (EFS), making it easier to use these services with your containerized applications. Additionally, EKS provides better integration with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), which makes it easier to manage access to your resources.
5. Lower Cost: While both ECS and EKS are cost-effective options for running containers on AWS, EKS can be more cost-effective in certain scenarios. For example, EKS supports spot instances, which can significantly reduce your compute costs for non-critical workloads. Additionally, EKS provides more granular control over resources, which can help you optimize costs further.
6. Improved Security: EKS provides additional security benefits over ECS, including a more secure network architecture and better integration with AWS security features such as AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) and AWS Key Management Service (KMS). This makes it easier to manage access control and encryption of your containers and data.
7. Multi-Cloud Support: Kubernetes has been designed to be cloud-agnostic, making it possible to run Kubernetes clusters on multiple cloud providers. This feature allows organizations to avoid vendor lock-in and provides the flexibility to move workloads between different cloud providers. EKS is built on top of Kubernetes, making it possible to deploy Kubernetes clusters on AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or any other cloud provider that supports Kubernetes.

ECS to EKS: A Step-by-Step Guide for Dummies (and Geniuses Who Pretend to Be Dumb)!

Migrating from ECS to EKS can be a daunting task, but with proper planning and execution, it can be a smooth process. The following are the steps involved in migrating from ECS to EKS:

Step 1 — Plan your migration: The first step in migrating from ECS to EKS is to plan your migration strategy. This strategy should include the resources required for migration, the timeline for migration, and the expected downtime. It is also essential to identify the dependencies of your ECS applications to ensure that they are compatible with Kubernetes.

Step 2 — Create an EKS cluster: The next step is to create an EKS cluster in the desired region. You can use the AWS Management Console or AWS CLI to create the cluster. Once the cluster is created, you need to configure the worker nodes to join the EKS cluster.

To create an EKS cluster on AWS using eksctl, you can follow the steps below:

Step 2.1 — Install Eksctl and Kubectl utility: Install eksctl on your local machine.

Step 2.2 — Configure the AWS CLI on your local machine by running the aws configure command and providing your AWS access key ID, secret access key, and preferred region.

Step 2.3 — Create a cluster configuration file in YAML format that specifies the desired settings for your EKS cluster.

Step 2.4 — Run the eksctl create cluster command, specifying the name of your cluster and the path to your cluster configuration file. For example:

eksctl create cluster --name my-cluster --config-file=my-cluster.yaml

Step 2.5 — Wait for the command to complete. This will create the necessary resources in your AWS account, including the EKS control plane and worker nodes.

Step 2.6 — Once the command is finished, you can test your cluster by running kubectl get nodes command to see if worker nodes have been successfully created and are ready to use.

Step 3 — Export your ECS cluster’s Kubernetes configuration: Use the kubectl command-line tool to export the Kubernetes configuration for your ECS cluster. This will generate a file with the cluster’s resources, services, and deployments.

Step 4 — Import the configuration into your EKS cluster: Use the kubectl command-line tool to import the exported configuration into your EKS cluster. This will create the resources, services, and deployments in your EKS cluster.

Step 5 — Update your applications to use the new EKS cluster: Update your applications to use the new EKS cluster by updating their service endpoints and load balancers.

Step 6 — Test your applications: Test your applications to ensure that they are working properly on the new EKS cluster.

Step 7 — Decommission the ECS cluster: Once you’ve confirmed that your applications are working properly on the new EKS cluster, you can decommission the ECS cluster. This will release the ECS instances and other resources associated with the ECS cluster.

Note: Before migrating, make sure that you have the necessary permissions to create and manage EKS clusters and resources. Also, validate that your applications are compatible with EKS and that you have the necessary resources to run the applications on EKS.