AWS ECS run latest task definition

Question

I am trying to have run the lastest task definition image built from GitHub deployment (CD). Seems like on AWS it creates a task definition for example " task-api:1 ", " task-api:2 ", on was my cluster is still running task-api: 1 even though there is the latest task as a new image has been built. So far I have to manually stop the old one and start a new one. How can I have it automated?

Answer 1

Judging from what you have said in the comments:

I created my task via the AWS console, I am running just the task definition on its own without service plus service with task definition launched via the EC2 not target both of them, so in the task definition JSON file on my Github both repositories they are tied to a revision of a task (could that be a problem?).

It's difficult to understand exactly how you have this set up and it'd probably be a good idea for you to go back and understand the services you are using a little better using the guide you are following or AWS documentation. Pushing a new task definition does not automatically update services to use the new definition.

That said, my guess is that you need to update the service in ECS to use the latest task definition. You can do that in many ways:

• Through the console ( https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/update-service-console-v2.html ).
• Through the CLI ( https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/ecs/update-service.html ).
• Through the IaC like the CDK ( https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/aws-ecs-readme.html ).

This can be automated but you would need to set up a process to automate it.

I would recommend reading some guides on how you could automate deployment and updates using the CDK. Amazon provide a good guide to get you started https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/latest/guide/ecs_example.html .

Answer 2

You must wrap your tasks in a service and use rolling updates for automated deployments.

When the rolling update (ECS) deployment type is used for your service, when a new service deployment is started the Amazon ECS service scheduler replaces the currently running tasks with new tasks.

Read: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/deployment-type-ecs.html

This is DevOps, so you need a CI/CD pipeline that will do the rolling updates for you. Look at CodeBuild, CodeDeploy and CodePipeline (and CodeCommit if you integrate your code repository in AWS with your CI/CD)

Read: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/codepipeline/latest/userguide/tutorials-ecs-ecr-codedeploy.html

This is a complex topic, but it pays off in the end.