An ECS-based licensing API team wants to avoid patching and managing container host instances. Which launch approach should they prefer?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Tired of patching the box under the containers? Fargate takes that host chore off the licensing API team's plate. EC2 launch type keeps them in the patching business; SSH-to-edge folklore is not a platform strategy.
Full Explanation
An ECS-based licensing API team that wants to avoid patching and managing container host instances should prefer AWS Fargate. With Fargate, ECS runs tasks on serverless compute managed by AWS, so the team ships container images and task definitions without maintaining an EC2 container-instance fleet, AMIs, or host OS patch cadences. That is the direct answer to removing container-host management duties.
EC2 launch type keeps self-managed instance fleets the team must patch. Manually SSHing onto random edge locations to run Docker is unsupported and insecure. Dedicated Hosts address physical tenancy/licensing needs and are not required for every public HTTP request; they also do not remove host management the way Fargate does.
Exam caveat: ECS + Fargate = managed hosts removed; ECS + EC2 = you manage the hosts. “Avoid patching container hosts” is a Fargate cue even when ECS remains the orchestrator.
Operational check: convert the licensing API services to Fargate task definitions, validate CPU/memory settings under load, ensure private subnet egress for image pulls via endpoints or controlled NAT, and retire the old ECS container-instance Auto Scaling group after cutover so patch tickets stop accruing against that fleet.