Hybrid ECS with Fargate and Anywhere

SAA-C03 By islever Editorial Last updated

Design scalable and loosely coupled architectures.

Short answer

AB Use AWS Fargate for cloud containers and Amazon ECS Anywhere for on-premises containers, combined with an Application Load Balancer for HTTP traffic.

Question

A company wants to use Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) to run its on-premises application in a hybrid environment. The application currently runs on containers on premises. The company needs a single container solution that can scale in an on-premises, hybrid, or cloud environment. The company must run new application containers in the AWS Cloud and must use a load balancer for HTTP traffic. Which combination of actions will meet these requirements? (Choose two.)
  1. Set up an ECS cluster that uses the AWS Fargate launch type for the cloud application containers. Use an Amazon ECS Anywhere external launch type for the on-premises application containers. Correct Answer
  2. Set up an Application Load Balancer for cloud ECS services. Correct Answer
  3. Set up a Network Load Balancer for cloud ECS services.
  4. Set up an ECS cluster that uses the AWS Fargate launch type. Use Fargate for the cloud application containers and the on-premises application containers.
  5. Set up an ECS cluster that uses the Amazon EC2 launch type for the cloud application containers. Use Amazon ECS Anywhere with an AWS Fargate launch type for the on-premises application containers.

Key Takeaways

The question tests the integration of ECS Anywhere for on-premises nodes with Fargate for serverless cloud containers, while identifying that HTTP traffic mandates an Application Load Balancer over Network Load Balancers.

This scenario requires a unified container orchestration strategy across on-premises and AWS environments using Amazon ECS. The correct configuration leverages AWS Fargate for cloud workloads and ECS Anywhere for hybrid connectivity, paired with an Application Load Balancer.

Common mistake: Candidates often choose EC2 launch types (Option E) or confuse NLB with ALB (Option C), failing to recognize that 'serverless' implies Fargate and 'HTTP' implies Layer 7 load balancing.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

To meet the requirement of running new containers in the AWS Cloud with minimal operational overhead, the AWS Fargate launch type is ideal as it is serverless. For the on-premises application containers, Amazon ECS Anywhere allows you to register on-premises servers as part of an ECS cluster, effectively creating a hybrid environment. Therefore, Option A correctly pairs Fargate for the cloud and ECS Anywhere for on-premises. Regarding traffic, since the company must use a load balancer specifically for HTTP traffic, an Application Load Balancer (ALB) is required because it operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS). Option B correctly specifies setting up an ALB.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option C suggests a Network Load Balancer (NLB), which operates at Layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and does not support native HTTP routing features like host-based routing, making it incorrect for HTTP traffic. Option D claims Fargate can be used for on-premises containers; however, Fargate is exclusively an AWS managed service for cloud instances and cannot run on physical on-premises hardware. Option E mixes EC2 and Fargate launch types incorrectly, suggesting Fargate for on-premises (which is impossible) and EC2 for cloud (which is valid but less optimal than Fargate if serverless is preferred, though the fatal flaw is the on-prem Fargate claim).

Community Comment Notes

Community consensus strongly supports AB. As user Scheldon noted, "We need to load-balance HTTP traffic hence Application Load Balancer is needed," highlighting the Layer 7 requirement. User KennethNg923 emphasized the necessity of using "Amazon ECS Anywhere" for the on-premises component. Another user pointed out that mixing EC2 and Fargate unnecessarily complicates the solution, reinforcing the preference for the unified Fargate/Anywhere approach.

Official Reference

These links open the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

Always match the protocol to the load balancer: HTTP/HTTPS requires an Application Load Balancer (Layer 7), while TCP/UDP requires a Network Load Balancer (Layer 4). For hybrid ECS scenarios, remember that ECS Anywhere is the specific feature for connecting non-AWS infrastructure to ECS clusters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't I use Fargate for on-premises containers?

Fargate is a serverless compute engine provided by AWS that runs exclusively within the AWS Cloud. It cannot execute on physical on-premises hardware.

Is Network Load Balancer suitable for HTTP traffic?

No, NLB operates at Layer 4 (Transport Layer) and forwards raw TCP/UDP traffic. HTTP traffic requires Layer 7 processing, which is handled by an Application Load Balancer.

More SAA-C03 FAQ →

Community Votes

AB
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer AB. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 7 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 7

  1. Scheldon 👍 5
    Answer: AB We need to load-balance HTTP traffic hence Application Load Balancer is needed. Because Customer want to use container solution we need to use ECS with Fargate which will lunch cloud applications. To run on-premises applications in containers we need to use ECS Anyware. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/AWS_Fargate.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/Welcome.html
  2. emakid 👍 3
    the combination of setting up an ECS cluster with Fargate for the cloud and ECS Anywhere for on-premises, along with using an Application Load Balancer, provides a scalable, hybrid, and cloud-native solution with minimal operational overhead.
  3. KennethNg923 👍 3
    Have to use fargate, and since it has on-premises application so it need to use Amazon ECS Anywhere
  4. muhammadahmer36 👍 2
    AB.the combination of setting up an ECS cluster with Fargate for the cloud and ECS Anywhere for on-premises, along with using an Application Load Balancer, provides a scalable, hybrid, and cloud-native solution with minimal operational overhead.
  5. Hkayne 👍 2
    AB is the correct answer,must lunch the cluster as external lunch
Show 2 more comments
  1. LeonSauveterre 👍 1
    E is incorrect because the combination of EC2 for cloud containers and Fargate for on-premises containers is unnecessary and would complicate the solution unnecessarily. Using ECS Anywhere with Fargate for both environments is a simpler and more efficient approach (option A). Also, HTTP => ALB; TCP/UDP => NLB.
  2. 0bdf3af 👍 1
    BD. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/getting-started-with-amazon-ecs-anywhere-now-generally-available/

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