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Amazon EC2 Container Service vs Docker: What are the differences?
What is Amazon EC2 Container Service? Container management service that supports Docker containers. 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 Docker? Enterprise Container Platform for High-Velocity Innovation. The Docker Platform is the industry-leading container platform for continuous, high-velocity innovation, enabling organizations to seamlessly build and share any application — from legacy to what comes next — and securely run them anywhere.
Amazon EC2 Container Service belongs to "Containers as a Service" category of the tech stack, while Docker can be primarily classified under "Virtual Machine Platforms & Containers".
Some of the features offered by Amazon EC2 Container Service are:
- Docker Compatibility
- Managed Clusters
- Programmatic Control
On the other hand, Docker provides the following key features:
- Integrated developer tools
- open, portable images
- shareable, reusable apps
"Backed by amazon", "Familiar to ec2" and "Cluster based" are the key factors why developers consider Amazon EC2 Container Service; whereas "Rapid integration and build up", "Isolation" and "Open source" are the primary reasons why Docker is favored.
Docker is an open source tool with 53.8K GitHub stars and 15.5K GitHub forks. Here's a link to Docker's open source repository on GitHub.
According to the StackShare community, Docker has a broader approval, being mentioned in 3471 company stacks & 3324 developers stacks; compared to Amazon EC2 Container Service, which is listed in 784 company stacks and 374 developer stacks.
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.
lxd/lxc and Docker aren't congruent so this comparison needs a more detailed look; but in short I can say: the lxd-integrated administration of storage including zfs with its snapshot capabilities as well as the system container (multi-process) approach of lxc vs. the limited single-process container approach of Docker is the main reason I chose lxd over Docker.
Pros of Amazon EC2 Container Service
- Backed by amazon100
- Familiar to ec272
- Cluster based53
- Simple API42
- Iam roles26
- Scheduler7
- Cluster management7
- Programmatic Control7
- Container-enabled applications4
- Socker support4
- No additional cost2
- Easy to use and cheap1
Pros of Docker
- Rapid integration and build up823
- Isolation692
- Open source521
- Testability and reproducibility505
- Lightweight460
- Standardization218
- Scalable185
- Upgrading / downgrading / application versions106
- Security88
- Private paas environments85
- Portability34
- Limit resource usage26
- Game changer17
- I love the way docker has changed virtualization16
- Fast14
- Concurrency12
- Docker's Compose tools8
- Easy setup6
- Fast and Portable6
- Because its fun5
- Makes shipping to production very simple4
- Highly useful3
- It's dope3
- Package the environment with the application2
- Super2
- Open source and highly configurable2
- Simplicity, isolation, resource effective2
- MacOS support FAKE2
- Its cool2
- Does a nice job hogging memory2
- Docker hub for the FTW2
- HIgh Throughput2
- Very easy to setup integrate and build2
- Asdfd0
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Cons of Amazon EC2 Container Service
Cons of Docker
- New versions == broken features8
- Unreliable networking6
- Documentation not always in sync6
- Moves quickly4
- Not Secure3
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What is Amazon EC2 Container Service?
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