Amazon EKS Node Types | Overview.

Amazon EKS Node Types - Overview.

Scope:

• Intro.
• Amazon EKS Node Types (Managed Node Groups) EC2-based,
• Amazon EKS Node Types Fargate (Serverless),
• Self-Managed Nodes (EC2-based, legacy option),
• Key Features,
• Use Cases,
• Summary Table.

Intro:

Amazon EKS supports three main node types for running twtech Kubernetes workloads:

 Amazon EKS Node Types

1 Managed Node Groups (EC2-based)

What it is:

•         AWS provisions and manages a group of EC2 instances on twtech behalf.
•         These are registered as worker nodes in twtech EKS cluster.

 Key Features:

•         Automatic updates (AMI patching).
•         Integrated with Auto Scaling Groups.
•         Launch templates and custom AMIs supported.
•         twtech manages the EC2 instance size, type, and capacity.

twtech Use Cases:

•         General workloads that require customization (e.g., GPU, high memory).
•         Scenarios where full control over the instance is needed.

2 Fargate (Serverless)

 What it is:

•         Serverless compute for containers.
•         twtech doesn’t provision or manage EC2 instances.
•         twtech defines Fargate profiles to run certain pods in Fargate.

 Key Features:

•         No servers to manage.
•         Per-pod billing (CPU & memory).
•         Isolation per pod using Firecracker microVMs.
•         Native IAM, logging, and VPC integration.

twtech Use Cases:

•         Lightweight, bursty, or infrequent workloads.
•         Dev/test environments.
•         twtech wants to avoid infrastructure management.

3  Self-Managed Nodes (EC2-based, legacy option)

 What it is:

•         twtech manually provision EC2 instances and join them to the EKS cluster.

 Key Features:

•         Full control of lifecycle and configuration.
•         twtech  Must handle patching, scaling, and health checks itself.
•         Requires knowledge of Kubernetes bootstrapping.

 Use Cases:

•         Legacy clusters.
•         Highly customized infrastructure needs.
•         Use with tools like Kops or custom automation.

 twtech Summary Table

Node Type	Managed by AWS	Serverless	Custom AMI       Support	Auto Scaling	Best for
Managed Node Group.	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	General-purpose workloads
Fargate.	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes (via profile)	Serverless, simple workloads
Self-Managed.	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Yes	⚠️ Manual	Legacy or advanced customization