Learn how to create a task for Amazon ECS Managed Instances

Learn how to use Amazon ECS with Amazon ECS Managed Instances to run a containerized application.

Prerequisites

Complete the following before you start the tutorial:

• You've completed the steps in Set up to use Amazon ECS.

• The steps in Set up to use Amazon ECS have been completed.

• You have the required IAM roles for Amazon ECS Managed Instances. This includes:

  • Infrastructure role - Allows Amazon ECS to make calls to AWS services on your behalf to manage Amazon ECS Managed Instances infrastructure.

    For more information, see Amazon ECS infrastructure IAM role.

  • Instance profile - Provides permissions for the Amazon ECS container agent and Docker daemon running on managed instances.

    The instance role name must include ecsInstanceRole as a prefix to match the iam:PassRole action in the infrastructure role.

    For more information, see Amazon ECS Managed Instances instance profile.

• You have a VPC and security group created to use. This tutorial uses a container image hosted on Amazon ECR Public so your instances must have internet access. To give your instances a route to the internet, use one of the following options:

  • Use a private subnet with a NAT gateway that has an elastic IP address.

  • Use a public subnet and assign a public IP address to the instances.

  For more information, see Create a virtual private cloud.

  For information about security groups and rules, see Default security groups for your VPCs and Example rules in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud User Guide.

• (Optional) AWS CloudShell is a tool that gives customers a command line without needing to create their own EC2 instance. For more information, see What is AWS CloudShell? in the AWS CloudShell User Guide.

Step 1: Create a cluster

1. Open the Amazon ECS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ecs/v2.

2. From the navigation bar, select the Region to use.

3. In the navigation pane, choose Clusters.

4. On the Clusters page, choose Create cluster.

5. Under Cluster configuration, for Cluster name, enter a unique name for your cluster.

6. Under Infrastructure, choose Fargate and Managed EC2.

7. Configure the Managed Instances settings:

   1. For Infrastructure role, select the IAM role you created for Managed Instances infrastructure management.

   2. For Instance profile, select the ecsInstanceRole you created.

   3. For Instance attributes, choose Use ECS defaults.

8. Under Networking, configure the VPC and subnets for your Managed Instances:

   1. For VPC, select the VPC that hosts the Managed Instances.

   2. For Subnets, select one or more subnets where your Managed Instances will be launched.

   3. For Security groups, select one or more security groups.

9. (Optional) To add tags to your cluster, expand Tags, and then configure your tags.

10. Choose Create.

Step 2: Create a task definition

A task definition is a blueprint for your application. Each time you launch a task in Amazon ECS, you specify a task definition. The service then knows which Docker image to use for containers, how many containers to use in the task, and the resource allocation for each container. Follow these steps to create a task definition:

1. In the navigation pane, choose Task Definitions.

2. Choose Create new task definition, Create new task definition with JSON.

3. Copy and paste the following JSON into the editor, replacing the pre-populated JSON:

   Replace account-id with your AWS account ID and region with the Region you're using.

   {
     "family": "managed-instance-tutorial",
     "networkMode": "awsvpc",
     "executionRoleArn": "arn:aws:iam::account-id:role/ecsTaskExecutionRole",
     "containerDefinitions": [
       {
         "name": "sample-app",
         "image": "public.ecr.aws/docker/library/httpd:latest",
         "essential": true,
         "portMappings": [
           {
             "containerPort": 80,
             "hostPort": 80,
             "protocol": "tcp"
           }
         ],
         "logConfiguration": {
           "logDriver": "awslogs",
           "options": {
             "awslogs-group": "/ecs/managed-instance-tutorial",
             "awslogs-region": "region",
             "awslogs-stream-prefix": "ecs"
           }
         }
       }
     ],
     "requiresCompatibilities": [
       "MANAGED_INSTANCES"
     ],
     "cpu": "1024",
     "memory": "2048"
   }

4. Choose Create.

Step 3: Create a service

An Amazon ECS service allows you to run and maintain a specified number of instances of a task definition simultaneously in an Amazon ECS cluster. Follow these steps to create a service:

1. In the navigation pane, choose Clusters, and then select the managed-instance-tutorial cluster.

2. From the Services tab, choose Create.

3. For Task definition family, choose managed-instance-tutorial.

4. For Service name, enter managed-instance-tutorial-service.

5. Under Environment, Choose Capacity provider strategy.

6. Under Networking, configure the following:

   1. Choose an existing VPC or create a new one.

   2. For Subnets, choose the subnets to use.

   3. For Security groups, either choose an existing security group or create a new one that allows inbound traffic on port 80.

7. Choose Create.

Step 4: View your service

After your service has launched, you can view it to learn more about it and test it.

1. Choose the managed-instance-tutorial-service service.

2. From the Tasks tab, choose the task ID of the running task.

3. Under Network, in Public IP, choose Open address.

4. You should see the Apache HTTP Server test page, which confirms that the web server is running properly.

Step 5: Clean up

When you're finished with this tutorial, you should clean up the associated resources to avoid incurring charges for resources that you're not using.

1. In the navigation pane, choose Clusters.

2. On the Clusters page, select the managed-instance-tutorial cluster.

3. Choose the Services tab.

4. Select the managed-instance-tutorial-service service, and then choose Delete.

5. At the confirmation prompt, enter delete and then choose Delete.

6. After the service is deleted, choose Clusters in the navigation pane.

7. On the Clusters page, select the managed-instance-tutorial cluster, and then choose Delete cluster.

8. At the confirmation prompt, enter delete managed-instance-tutorial and then choose Delete.