Other Compute Services

AWS CLF-C02 — Docker, ECS, Lambda, Batch, Lightsail, and Serverless Overview

Docker & Container Services

Docker is a software development platform to deploy apps in containers. Containers are standardized units that package code and dependencies together, ensuring apps run the same way regardless of where they are deployed.

Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service)

Launch Docker containers on AWS
You must provision and maintain the infrastructure (EC2 instances)
AWS handles starting/stopping containers on EC2 instances
Integrates with Application Load Balancer

AWS Fargate

Launch Docker containers on AWS without provisioning infrastructure
Serverless container platform — no EC2 instances to manage
AWS runs containers based on CPU/RAM you specify
Works with both ECS and EKS

Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)

Managed Kubernetes service on AWS
Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration system
Can run on EC2 or Fargate
Use EKS if your company already uses Kubernetes

Amazon ECR (Elastic Container Registry)

Private Docker image registry on AWS
Store, manage, and deploy Docker container images
Used by ECS and Fargate to pull images

Exam Tip:

ECS + EC2 = you manage EC2 instances. ECS/EKS + Fargate = serverless (no servers to manage). ECR = where you store your Docker images.

AWS Lambda

Serverless compute service that runs your code in response to events without provisioning or managing servers.

Key Characteristics

Event-driven — functions are invoked in response to events
Short executions — timeout up to 15 minutes max
Scales automatically — from 0 to thousands of concurrent executions
No servers to manage (fully serverless)
Up to 10 GB of RAM per function

Supported Languages

Node.js (JavaScript), Python, Java, C# (.NET Core), Go, Ruby
Custom Runtime API — community-supported (e.g., Rust)
Lambda Container Image — run container images that implement the Lambda Runtime API (must use ECS/Fargate for arbitrary Docker images)

Common Use Cases

Serverless thumbnail creation (triggered by S3 upload)
Serverless CRON jobs (triggered by CloudWatch Events / EventBridge)
Real-time file processing
Real-time stream processing (Kinesis)
API backend (via API Gateway)

Lambda Pricing

Pricing Component	Details
Per Request	First 1 million requests free, then $0.20 per million requests
Per Duration	400,000 GB-seconds free per month. After that, $1.00 per 600,000 GB-seconds

It is usually very cheap to run Lambda, making it very popular for serverless architectures.

Key Point:

Lambda = serverless, event-driven, auto-scaling, pay per invocation + compute time. Max 15 min runtime. If the question says "run code without servers" or "event-driven compute," think Lambda.

Amazon API Gateway

Fully managed service to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure REST, HTTP, and WebSocket APIs at any scale.

Serverless and scalable
Supports RESTful APIs and WebSocket APIs
Handles authentication, throttling, API versioning, monitoring
Commonly paired with Lambda to create fully serverless APIs
Proxy requests to Lambda, HTTP backends, or other AWS services

Exam Tip:

API Gateway + Lambda = fully serverless API. This is a very common architecture pattern on the exam!

AWS Batch

Fully managed batch processing service at any scale. Dynamically provisions the optimal quantity and type of compute resources.

You submit batch jobs and AWS Batch handles the rest
Runs batch jobs on EC2 instances or Spot Instances (for cost savings)
AWS Batch provisions the right amount of compute and memory
Batch jobs are defined as Docker images that run on ECS
No time limit — unlike Lambda's 15-minute limit
Any runtime, as long as it's packaged as a Docker image

Feature	Lambda	AWS Batch
Time Limit	15 minutes max	No time limit
Languages	Limited runtimes	Any (Docker image)
Storage	Limited temporary disk space	EBS / instance store
Serverless	Yes	Managed (runs on EC2/Spot)
Best For	Short, event-driven tasks	Long-running batch processing

Exam Tip:

Lambda = short, event-driven (max 15 min). Batch = long-running jobs, no time limit, Docker-based. If the question mentions "batch processing" or jobs that need hours to complete, think AWS Batch.

Amazon Lightsail

Simpler alternative to using EC2, RDS, ELB, EBS, Route 53, etc. For people with little cloud experience.

Virtual servers, storage, databases, and networking in one place
Low, predictable pricing — simple monthly plans
Simpler UI than the full AWS Console
Preconfigured development stacks: LAMP, Nginx, MEAN, Node.js
Use cases: simple web applications, websites, WordPress, dev/test environments
Has high availability but no auto-scaling
Limited AWS integrations compared to full EC2

Key Point:

Lightsail = simple cloud for beginners, low predictable pricing, VPS. Think of it as AWS for people who don't want to deal with the complexity of full AWS services.

AWS App Runner

Fully managed service to deploy web applications and APIs at scale. No infrastructure experience required.

Start with source code or a container image
Automatically builds and deploys the application
Auto-scales, load balances, and encrypts
VPC access support
Use cases: web apps, APIs, microservices, rapid production deployments

Serverless Services Summary

Serverless means you don't manage or see servers. AWS handles provisioning, scaling, and maintenance.

Category	Serverless Service
Compute	AWS Lambda (functions), AWS Fargate (containers)
Storage	Amazon S3
Database	DynamoDB, Aurora Serverless
API	Amazon API Gateway
Messaging	Amazon SNS, Amazon SQS
Orchestration	AWS Step Functions
Event Bus	Amazon EventBridge
Analytics	Amazon Athena, Amazon QuickSight
ETL	AWS Glue
Data Streaming	Kinesis Data Firehose

Exam Tip:

Memorize which services are serverless. The exam frequently asks "which is a serverless service?" EC2 is NOT serverless. ECS (with EC2 launch type) is NOT serverless. Fargate IS serverless. Lambda IS serverless.

Compute Services Comparison

Service	Type	Best For
EC2	Virtual Machine	Full control, long-running workloads
Lambda	Serverless Functions	Short event-driven tasks (max 15 min)
ECS	Containers (EC2)	Docker on self-managed EC2
Fargate	Containers (Serverless)	Docker without managing servers
Batch	Batch Processing	Long-running batch jobs, Docker-based
Lightsail	Simple VPS	Beginners, simple apps, predictable pricing
App Runner	Managed Containers	Quick web app/API deployment