ECS networking mode: host vs awsvpc performance

Question

I have a latency-sensitive service to deploy on ECS. 
I need to know which of this two networking modes offer the best performance: `host` or `awsvpc`. I understand that with `host` we bypass Docker networking entirely and the container attach directly to the network interface of the EC2 while with `awsvpc` a new network interface is created specifically for the container. Are there differences in performance?

Answer

HI,

Both host and awsvpc networking modes provide better performance when compared to bridge networking mode in a ECS environment as both of them utilize the EC2 network stack. Using the awsvpc network mode simplifies container networking, you have more control over how containerized applications communicate with each other and other services within your VPCs. The awsvpc network mode also provides greater security for your containers by enabling you to use security groups and network monitoring tools at a more granular level within your tasks. Because each task gets its own elastic network interface (ENI), you can also use other Amazon EC2 networking features such as VPC Flow Logs to monitor traffic to and from your tasks. Additionally, containers that belong to the same task can communicate over the localhost interface. It supports both Linux and windows bases containers and is also supported in case you use Fargate.

Regards

ECS networking mode: host vs awsvpc performance

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