Amazon EC2 Container Service vs AWS Cloud9

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Amazon EC2 Container Service

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AWS Cloud9

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Amazon EC2 Container Service vs Cloud9 IDE: What are the differences?

Introduction

Amazon EC2 Container Service (ECS) and Cloud9 IDE are both services provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that offer different functionalities. However, they have several key differences that set them apart.

  1. ECS Deployment and Orchestration: Amazon ECS is a highly scalable container management service that allows users to easily run and manage applications on clusters of Amazon EC2 instances. It provides a way to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications using Docker containers. On the other hand, Cloud9 IDE is a cloud-based integrated development environment that provides a complete development environment in the cloud. It offers features like code editing, debugging, and collaboration tools, but does not focus on container deployment and orchestration like ECS.

  2. Resource Management: ECS offers advanced resource management features like task placement strategies, services auto-scaling, and integration with AWS services like Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon VPC, and Amazon CloudWatch. It also supports multiple container instances, allowing users to run multiple containers on the same instance. In contrast, Cloud9 IDE focuses on providing a development environment and does not offer these advanced resource management capabilities.

  3. Collaboration and Teamwork: Cloud9 IDE is specifically designed to facilitate collaboration and teamwork among developers. It allows multiple developers to work on the same codebase simultaneously, providing features like real-time collaboration, shared coding sessions, and integrated chat. ECS, on the other hand, is primarily focused on container deployment and management and does not provide these collaboration features.

  4. Pricing Structure: The pricing structure for ECS and Cloud9 IDE differs. ECS pricing is based on the number and type of EC2 instances used, as well as other factors like data transfer and storage. Cloud9 IDE pricing is based on factors like the number of active users, the amount of code storage, and the compute resources used. It is important to consider the specific requirements and usage patterns of your application to determine the most cost-effective option.

  5. Availability and Scalability: ECS is designed to be highly available and scalable, with features like automatic container recovery, fault tolerance, and integration with AWS services for load balancing and scaling. It allows users to easily scale their applications horizontally by adding or removing EC2 instances from the cluster. Cloud9 IDE also offers scalability, but it is focused on providing a scalable development environment rather than application scalability.

  6. Ease of Use and Learning Curve: Cloud9 IDE is designed to be easy to use and has a shorter learning curve compared to ECS. It provides a familiar and accessible web-based interface that allows developers to start coding immediately without the need for complex setup or configuration. ECS, on the other hand, requires some knowledge of containerization and AWS services to effectively use and manage containerized applications.

In summary, Amazon EC2 Container Service (ECS) is primarily focused on container deployment, management, and scalability, while Cloud9 IDE offers a cloud-based integrated development environment with collaboration features. ECS provides advanced resource management capabilities, while Cloud9 IDE prioritizes ease of use and collaboration. The pricing structures for ECS and Cloud9 IDE differ, and both services offer scalability but in different contexts.

Decisions about Amazon EC2 Container Service and AWS Cloud9
Andres Paredes
Lead Senior Software Engineer at InTouch Technology · | 3 upvotes · 83.2K views

If you want to integrate your cluster and control end to end your pipeline with AWS tools like ECR and Code Pipeline your best option is ECS using a EC2 instance. There are pros and cons but it's easier to integrate using cloud formation templates and visual UI for approvals, etc. ECS is free, you need to pay only for the EC2 instance but unfortunately, it is not standard then you cannot use standard tools to see and manage your Kubernetes. EKS in the other hand uses standard Kubernates definitions but you need to pay for the service and also for the EC2 instance(s) you have in your cluster.

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Pros of Amazon EC2 Container Service
Pros of AWS Cloud9
  • 100
    Backed by amazon
  • 72
    Familiar to ec2
  • 53
    Cluster based
  • 42
    Simple API
  • 26
    Iam roles
  • 7
    Scheduler
  • 7
    Cluster management
  • 7
    Programmatic Control
  • 4
    Container-enabled applications
  • 4
    Socker support
  • 2
    No additional cost
  • 1
    Easy to use and cheap
  • 108
    Easy to use
  • 102
    Free
  • 76
    Nice UI
  • 65
    Terminal access to vm instead of simulation
  • 58
    New full ubuntu machines
  • 49
    Easy dev environment
  • 44
    Ssh access to your own machine
  • 43
    Real-time with other people
  • 43
    Free prototype hosting
  • 32
    Collaboration
  • 10
    Open Source
  • 6
    Great syntax highlighting
  • 5
    Works great
  • 4
    Nice ide
  • 4
    Better IDE than the others
  • 4
    Extremely easy setup
  • 4
    Great interface, download or upload file is nice.
  • 3
    Its easy to share code
  • 3
    You can run your project easier
  • 3
    Open-source friendly
  • 2
    Good documentation
  • 1
    Bitbucket integration
  • 1
    Versatile and robust
  • 1
    Need a credit card to get access
  • 1
    Starts a VM
  • 1
    Easy to use, seem fast, friendly ui
  • 0
    Good

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Cons of Amazon EC2 Container Service
Cons of AWS Cloud9
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    • 6
      Not free

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    What is Amazon EC2 Container Service?

    Amazon EC2 Container Service lets you launch and stop container-enabled applications with simple API calls, allows you to query the state of your cluster from a centralized service, and gives you access to many familiar Amazon EC2 features like security groups, EBS volumes and IAM roles.

    What is AWS Cloud9?

    Cloud9 provides a development environment in the cloud. Cloud9 enables developers to get started with coding immediately with pre-setup environments called workspaces, collaborate with their peers with collaborative coding features, and build web apps with features like live preview and browser compatibility testing. It supports more than 40 languages, with class A support for PHP, Ruby, Python, JavaScript/Node.js, and Go.

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    What are some alternatives to Amazon EC2 Container Service and AWS Cloud9?
    Kubernetes
    Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.
    Google Kubernetes Engine
    Container Engine takes care of provisioning and maintaining the underlying virtual machine cluster, scaling your application, and operational logistics like logging, monitoring, and health management.
    Amazon EKS
    Amazon Elastic Container Service for Kubernetes (Amazon EKS) is a managed service that makes it easy for you to run Kubernetes on AWS without needing to install and operate your own Kubernetes clusters.
    AWS Fargate
    AWS Fargate is a technology for Amazon ECS and EKS* that allows you to run containers without having to manage servers or clusters. With AWS Fargate, you no longer have to provision, configure, and scale clusters of virtual machines to run containers.
    Azure Kubernetes Service
    Deploy and manage containerized applications more easily with a fully managed Kubernetes service. It offers serverless Kubernetes, an integrated continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) experience, and enterprise-grade security and governance. Unite your development and operations teams on a single platform to rapidly build, deliver, and scale applications with confidence.
    See all alternatives