Amazon EKS | Node Types.

 

Amazon EKS supports two main node types for running your 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