Amazon ECS task networking options for the EC2 launch type

The networking behavior of Amazon ECS tasks that are hosted on Amazon EC2 instances is dependent on the network mode that's defined in the task definition. We recommend that you use the awsvpc network mode unless you have a specific need to use a different network mode.

The following are the available network modes.

Network mode	Linux containers on EC2	Windows containers on EC2	Description
awsvpc	Yes	Yes	The task is allocated its own elastic network interface (ENI) and a primary private IPv4 address. This gives the task the same networking properties as Amazon EC2 instances.
bridge	Yes	No	The task uses Docker's built-in virtual network on Linux, which runs inside each Amazon EC2 instance that hosts the task. The built-in virtual network on Linux uses the bridge Docker network driver. This is the default network mode on Linux if a network mode isn't specified in the task definition.
host	Yes	No	The task uses the host's network which bypasses Docker's built-in virtual network by mapping container ports directly to the ENI of the Amazon EC2 instance that hosts the task. Dynamic port mappings can’t be used in this network mode. A container in a task definition that uses this mode must specify a specific hostPort number. A port number on a host can’t be used by multiple tasks. As a result, you can’t run multiple tasks of the same task definition on a single Amazon EC2 instance.
none	Yes	No	The task has no external network connectivity.
default	No	Yes	The task uses Docker's built-in virtual network on Windows, which runs inside each Amazon EC2 instance that hosts the task. The built-in virtual network on Windows uses the nat Docker network driver. This is the default network mode on Windows if a network mode isn't specified in the task definition.

For more information about Docker networking on Linux, see Networking overview in the Docker Documentation.

For more information about Docker networking on Windows, see Windows container networking in the Microsoft Containers on Windows Documentation.