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»Manual Installation

The following instructions describe how to use the consul-ecs Docker image to manually create the ECS task definition without Terraform. If you prefer to use Terraform, refer to Consul ECS Terraform module.

If you intend to peer the service mesh to multiple Consul datacenters or partitions, you must use the Consul ECS Terraform module to install your service mesh on ECS. Manually configuring mesh gateways without using the gateway-task Terraform module is not supported.

This topic does not include instructions for creating all AWS resources necessary to install Consul, such as a VPC or the ECS cluster. Refer to the linked guides in the Getting Started section for complete, runnable examples.

»Prerequisites

You should have some familiarity with AWS ECS. See What is Amazon Elastic Container Service for details.

»Task Definition

Configure a task definition that creates the containers:

  • Your application container
  • An Envoy sidecar-proxy container
  • A Consul client container
  • A consul-ecs-mesh-init container for service mesh setup
  • (Optional) A consul-ecs-health-sync container to sync ECS health checks into Consul

»Top-level fields

Your task definition must include the following top-level fields.

The volumes list contains two bind mounts, named consul_data and consul_binary. Bind mounts are directories on the host which can be mounted into one or more containers in order to share files among containers. For Consul on ECS, certain binaries and configuration are shared among containers during task startup.

{
  "family": "my-example-client-app",
  "networkMode": "awsvpc",
  "volumes": [
    {
      "name": "consul_data"
    },
    {
      "name": "consul_binary"
    }
  ],
  "containerDefinitions": [...]
  "tags": [
    {
      "key": "consul.hashicorp.com/mesh",
      "value": "true"
    },
    {
      "key": "consul.hashicorp.com/service-name",
      "value":  "example-client-app"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "family": "my-example-client-app",
  "networkMode": "awsvpc",
  "volumes": [
    {
      "name": "consul_data"
    },
    {
      "name": "consul_binary"
    }
  ],
  "containerDefinitions": [...]
  "tags": [
    {
      "key": "consul.hashicorp.com/mesh",
      "value": "true"
    },
    {
      "key": "consul.hashicorp.com/service-name",
      "value":  "example-client-app"
    }
  ]
}
Field nameTypeDescription
familystringThe task family name. This is used as the Consul service name by default.
networkModestringMust be awsvpc, which is the only network mode supported by Consul on ECS.
volumeslistMust be defined as shown above. Volumes are used to share configuration between containers for initial task setup.
containerDefinitionslistThe list of containers to run in this task (see Application container).

»Task Tags

The tags list must include the following if you are using the ACL controller in a secure configuration. Without these tags, the ACL controller will be unable to provision a service token for the task.

Tag KeyTag ValueDescription
consul.hashicorp.com/meshtrue (string)The ACL controller ignores tasks without this tag set to true.
consul.hashicorp.com/service-nameConsul service nameSpecifies the Consul service associated with this task. Required if the service name is different than the task family.
consul.hashicorp.com/partitionConsul admin partition
Enterprise
Specifies the Consul admin partition associated with this task. Defaults to the default admin partition if omitted.
consul.hashicorp.com/namespaceConsul namespace
Enterprise
Specifies the Consul namespace associated with this task. Defaults to the default namespace if omitted.

»Application container

First, include your application container in the containerDefinitions list in the task definition.

Ensure that the containerName and condition fields in the dependsOn list are specified as described in the following example. These are container dependencies, which must be used to enforce a specific startup order. By using the following settings, your application container will start after consul-ecs-mesh-init has completed task setup and after sidecar-proxy is ready to proxy traffic between this task and the service mesh.

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      "essential": true,
      "dependsOn": [
        {
          "containerName": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
          "condition": "SUCCESS"
        },
        {
          "containerName": "sidecar-proxy",
          "condition": "HEALTHY"
        }
      ],
      ...
    }
  ]
}

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      "essential": true,
      "dependsOn": [
        {
          "containerName": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
          "condition": "SUCCESS"
        },
        {
          "containerName": "sidecar-proxy",
          "condition": "HEALTHY"
        }
      ],
      ...
    }
  ]
}
Field nameTypeDescription
namestringThe name of your application container.
imagestringThe container image used to run your application.
essentialbooleanMust be true to ensure the health of your application container affects the health status of the task.
dependsOnlistMust be set as shown above. Container dependencies ensure your application container starts after service mesh setup is complete.

See the ECS Task Definition documentation for a complete reference.

»sidecar-proxy container

The sidecar-proxy container runs Envoy proxy for Consul Connect. In most cases, the container should contain the following parameters and values.

The mountPoints list must be set as shown in the following example. This will mount the shared consul_data volume into the sidecar-proxy container at the path /consul. This volume is where the consul-ecs-mesh-init container copies the envoy-bootstrap.json file and the consul-ecs binary, which are required to start Envoy. The dependsOn list must also be defined as follows to ensure the sidecar-proxy container starts after consul-ecs-mesh-init has successfully written these files to the shared volume.

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<VERSION>",
      "essential": false,
      "dependsOn": [
        {
          "containerName": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
          "condition": "SUCCESS"
        }
      ],
      "healthCheck": {
        "retries": 3,
        "command": ["nc", "-z", "127.0.0.1", "20000"],
        "timeout": 5,
        "interval": 30
      },
      "mountPoints": [
        {
          "readOnly": true,
          "containerPath": "/consul",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_data"
        }
      ],
      "ulimits": [
        {
          "name": "nofile",
          "softLimit": 1048576,
          "hardLimit": 1048576
        }
      ],
      "command": ["envoy", "--config-path", "/consul/envoy-bootstrap.json"],
      "entryPoint": ["/consul/consul-ecs", "envoy-entrypoint"],
    }
  ]
}

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<VERSION>",
      "essential": false,
      "dependsOn": [
        {
          "containerName": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
          "condition": "SUCCESS"
        }
      ],
      "healthCheck": {
        "retries": 3,
        "command": ["nc", "-z", "127.0.0.1", "20000"],
        "timeout": 5,
        "interval": 30
      },
      "mountPoints": [
        {
          "readOnly": true,
          "containerPath": "/consul",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_data"
        }
      ],
      "ulimits": [
        {
          "name": "nofile",
          "softLimit": 1048576,
          "hardLimit": 1048576
        }
      ],
      "command": ["envoy", "--config-path", "/consul/envoy-bootstrap.json"],
      "entryPoint": ["/consul/consul-ecs", "envoy-entrypoint"],
    }
  ]
}

The following table describes the necessary configuration settings.

Field nameTypeDescription
namestringThe container name, which must be sidecar-proxy.
imagestringThe Envoy image. This must be a supported version of Envoy.
dependsOnlistMust be set as shown above to ensure Envoy starts after the consul-ecs-mesh-init container has written the envoy-bootstrap.json config file for Envoy.
healthChecklistMust be set as shown above to monitor the health of Envoy's primary listener port, which ties into container dependencies and startup ordering.
mountPointslistMust be set as shown above to access the files shared in the /consul directory, like the Envoy bootstrap configuration file and the consul-ecs binary.
ulimitslistThe nofile ulimit must be raised to a sufficiently high value so that Envoy does not fail to open sockets.
entrypointlistMust be set to the custom Envoy entrypoint, consul-ecs envoy-entrypoint, to facilitate graceful shutdown.
commandlistThe startup command. This passes the bootstrap configuration to Envoy.

NOTE: Envoy and Consul must be compatible versions. See the supported versions of Envoy in the Consul documentation.

»consul-client container

Each task must include a Consul client container in order for the task to join your Consul cluster.

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<ENVOY_VERSION>",
      ...
    }
    {
      "name": "consul-client",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul:<CONSUL_VERSION>",
      "mountPoints": [
        {
          "readOnly": false,
          "containerPath": "/consul",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_data"
        },
        {
          "containerPath": "/bin/consul-inject",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_binary"
        }
      ],
      "entryPoint": ["/bin/sh", "-ec"],
      "command": [
        "cp /bin/consul /bin/consul-inject/consul\n\nECS_IPV4=$(curl -s $ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4 | jq -r '.Networks[0].IPv4Addresses[0]')\n\n\ncat << EOF > /consul/agent-defaults.hcl\naddresses = {\n  dns = \"127.0.0.1\"\n  grpc = \"127.0.0.1\"\n  http = \"127.0.0.1\"\n}\nadvertise_addr = \"$ECS_IPV4\"\nadvertise_reconnect_timeout = \"15m\"\nclient_addr = \"0.0.0.0\"\ndatacenter = \"dc1\"\nenable_central_service_config = true\nleave_on_terminate = true\nports {\n  grpc = 8502\n}\nretry_join = [\n  \"<Consul server location>\",\n]\ntelemetry {\n  disable_compat_1.9 = true\n}\n\nEOF\n\ncat << EOF > /consul/agent-extra.hcl\naddresses = {\n  dns = \"0.0.0.0\"\n}\nlog_level = \"debug\"\n\nEOF\n\nexec consul agent \\\n    -data-dir /consul/data \\\n    -config-file /consul/agent-defaults.hcl \\\n    -config-file /consul/agent-extra.hcl\n"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<ENVOY_VERSION>",
      ...
    }
    {
      "name": "consul-client",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul:<CONSUL_VERSION>",
      "mountPoints": [
        {
          "readOnly": false,
          "containerPath": "/consul",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_data"
        },
        {
          "containerPath": "/bin/consul-inject",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_binary"
        }
      ],
      "entryPoint": ["/bin/sh", "-ec"],
      "command": [
        "cp /bin/consul /bin/consul-inject/consul\n\nECS_IPV4=$(curl -s $ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4 | jq -r '.Networks[0].IPv4Addresses[0]')\n\n\ncat << EOF > /consul/agent-defaults.hcl\naddresses = {\n  dns = \"127.0.0.1\"\n  grpc = \"127.0.0.1\"\n  http = \"127.0.0.1\"\n}\nadvertise_addr = \"$ECS_IPV4\"\nadvertise_reconnect_timeout = \"15m\"\nclient_addr = \"0.0.0.0\"\ndatacenter = \"dc1\"\nenable_central_service_config = true\nleave_on_terminate = true\nports {\n  grpc = 8502\n}\nretry_join = [\n  \"<Consul server location>\",\n]\ntelemetry {\n  disable_compat_1.9 = true\n}\n\nEOF\n\ncat << EOF > /consul/agent-extra.hcl\naddresses = {\n  dns = \"0.0.0.0\"\n}\nlog_level = \"debug\"\n\nEOF\n\nexec consul agent \\\n    -data-dir /consul/data \\\n    -config-file /consul/agent-defaults.hcl \\\n    -config-file /consul/agent-extra.hcl\n"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
Field nameTypeDescription
namestringThe container name, which should always be consul-client.
imagestringThe Consul image. Use our public AWS registry, public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul, to avoid rate limits.
mountPointslistMust be set as shown above. Volumes are mounted to share information with other containers for task setup.
entrypointlistMust be set to a plain shell so that the startup command works properly.
commandlistSpecifies the contents of the startup script. Copy the script and format it into a JSON string.

»Consul client startup script

The following script is used to start the Consul client for Consul on ECS.

# Copy the consul binary to a shared volume for `consul-ecs-mesh-init` to use to generate Envoy configuration.
cp /bin/consul /bin/consul-inject/consul

# At runtime, determine the IP address assigned to this ECS Task.
ECS_IPV4=$(curl -s $ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4 | jq -r '.Networks[0].IPv4Addresses[0]')

# Write the Consul agent configuration file.
cat << EOF > /consul/agent-defaults.hcl
addresses = {
  dns = "127.0.0.1"
  grpc = "127.0.0.1"
  http = "127.0.0.1"
}
advertise_addr = "$ECS_IPV4"
advertise_reconnect_timeout = "15m"
client_addr = "0.0.0.0"
datacenter = "dc1"
enable_central_service_config = true
leave_on_terminate = true
ports {
  grpc = 8502
}
retry_join = ["<consul server location>"]
telemetry {
  disable_compat_1.9 = true
}

EOF

# Start the consul agent.
exec consul agent \
    -data-dir /consul/data \
    -config-file /consul/agent-defaults.hcl

# Copy the consul binary to a shared volume for `consul-ecs-mesh-init` to use to generate Envoy configuration.
cp /bin/consul /bin/consul-inject/consul

# At runtime, determine the IP address assigned to this ECS Task.
ECS_IPV4=$(curl -s $ECS_CONTAINER_METADATA_URI_V4 | jq -r '.Networks[0].IPv4Addresses[0]')

# Write the Consul agent configuration file.
cat << EOF > /consul/agent-defaults.hcl
addresses = {
  dns = "127.0.0.1"
  grpc = "127.0.0.1"
  http = "127.0.0.1"
}
advertise_addr = "$ECS_IPV4"
advertise_reconnect_timeout = "15m"
client_addr = "0.0.0.0"
datacenter = "dc1"
enable_central_service_config = true
leave_on_terminate = true
ports {
  grpc = 8502
}
retry_join = ["<consul server location>"]
telemetry {
  disable_compat_1.9 = true
}

EOF

# Start the consul agent.
exec consul agent \
    -data-dir /consul/data \
    -config-file /consul/agent-defaults.hcl

The following table describes the values that you should use to configure the command script:

Field nameTypeDescription
addresses.*stringsSet the DNS, GRPC, and HTTP addresses to 127.0.0.1 to ensure these are not accessible outside of the task.
advertise_addrstringMust be set to the task IP address so that other Consul agents know how to reach this agent.
client_addrstringMust be set to an interface reachable by other Consul agents.
datacenterstringMust be set to the Consul datacenter this task will join.
leave_on_terminatebooleanMust be set to true so that the Consul agent leaves the cluster gracefully before exiting.
retry_joinstringMust be set to your Consul server location(s) so this agent can join the Consul cluster.

NOTE: Use exec to start the Consul agent so that the Consul agent runs as PID 1. This ensures the Consul agent directly receives signals from ECS, which is important for graceful shutdown of the Consul agent.

Refer to the Consul Agent documentation for a complete reference of Consul agent configuration options.

»consul-ecs-mesh-init container

The consul-ecs-mesh-init container runs at task startup to setup this instance for Consul service mesh. It registers the service and proxy for this task with Consul and writes Envoy bootstrap configuration to a shared volume.

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<ENVOY_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-client"
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul:<CONSUL_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<CONSUL_ECS_VERSION>",
      "command": ["mesh-init"],
      "essential": false,
      "environment": [
        {
          "name": "CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON",
          "value": "{\"bootstrapDir\":\"/consul\",\"healthSyncContainers\":[],\"proxy\":{\"upstreams\":[{\"destinationName\":\"example-server-app\",\"localBindPort\":1234}]},\"service\":{\"checks\":[],\"meta\":{},\"name\":\"example-client-app\",\"port\":9090,\"tags\":[]}}"
        }
      ],
      "mountPoints": [
        {
          "readOnly": false,
          "containerPath": "/consul",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_data"
        },
        {
          "readOnly": true,
          "containerPath": "/bin/consul-inject",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_binary"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<ENVOY_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-client"
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul:<CONSUL_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<CONSUL_ECS_VERSION>",
      "command": ["mesh-init"],
      "essential": false,
      "environment": [
        {
          "name": "CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON",
          "value": "{\"bootstrapDir\":\"/consul\",\"healthSyncContainers\":[],\"proxy\":{\"upstreams\":[{\"destinationName\":\"example-server-app\",\"localBindPort\":1234}]},\"service\":{\"checks\":[],\"meta\":{},\"name\":\"example-client-app\",\"port\":9090,\"tags\":[]}}"
        }
      ],
      "mountPoints": [
        {
          "readOnly": false,
          "containerPath": "/consul",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_data"
        },
        {
          "readOnly": true,
          "containerPath": "/bin/consul-inject",
          "sourceVolume": "consul_binary"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
Field nameTypeDescription
namestringThe container name should be consul-ecs-mesh-init.
imagestringThe consul-ecs image. Use our public AWS registry, public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs, to avoid rate limits.
mountPointslistMust be set as show above, so the consul and consul-ecs binaries can be shared among containers for task setup.
commandlistSet to ["mesh-init"] so that the container runs the consul-ecs mesh-init command.
environmentlistThis must include the CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON variable. See below for details.

»CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON

Configuration is passed to the consul-ecs binary in JSON format using the CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON environment variable.

The following is an example of the configuration that might be used for a service named example-client-app with one upstream service name example-server-app. The proxy and service blocks include information used by consul-ecs-mesh-init to perform service registration with Consul during task startup. The same configuration format is used for the consul-ecs-health-sync container.

{
  "bootstrapDir": "/consul",
  "healthSyncContainers": [],
  "proxy": {
    "upstreams": [
      {
        "destinationName": "example-server-app",
        "localBindPort": 1234
      }
    ]
  },
  "service": {
    "checks": [],
    "meta": {},
    "name": "example-client-app",
    "port": 9090,
    "tags": []
  }
}

{
  "bootstrapDir": "/consul",
  "healthSyncContainers": [],
  "proxy": {
    "upstreams": [
      {
        "destinationName": "example-server-app",
        "localBindPort": 1234
      }
    ]
  },
  "service": {
    "checks": [],
    "meta": {},
    "name": "example-client-app",
    "port": 9090,
    "tags": []
  }
}
Field nameTypeDescription
bootstrapDirstringThis is the path of a shared volume that is mounted to other containers, where consul-ecs-mesh-init will write out Envoy configuration.
healthSyncContainerslistUsed for health status syncing from ECS to Consul. See below for details.
proxy.upstreamslistThe upstream services that your application calls over the service mesh, if any. The destinationName and localBindPort fields are required.
service.namestringThe name used to register this service into the Consul service catalog.
service.portintegerThe port your application listens on. Set to 0 if your application does not listen on any port.
service.checkslistConsul checks to include so that Consul can run health checks against your application.

See the Configuration Reference for a complete reference of fields.

»consul-ecs-health-sync container

Optionally, Consul ECS can sync health checks for this task into Consul checks. This allows you to configure a health check for your application in one place and see a consistent health status in both ECS and Consul.

For example, the following defines an ECS health check command that runs curl localhost:9090/health:

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      "healthCheck": {
        "retries": 3,
        "command": ["CMD-SHELL", "curl localhost:9090/health"],
        "timeout": 5,
        "interval": 30
      },
      ...
    },
    ...
  ]
}

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      "healthCheck": {
        "retries": 3,
        "command": ["CMD-SHELL", "curl localhost:9090/health"],
        "timeout": 5,
        "interval": 30
      },
      ...
    },
    ...
  ]
}

First, define which containers need their health status synced into Consul. To do this, add the container name(s) to the healthSyncContainers list of the CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON variable, as shown in the following example. This configuration must be passed to both the consul-ecs-mesh-init and consul-ecs-health-sync containers.

{
  "bootstrapDir": "/consul",
  "healthSyncContainers": ["example-client-app"],
  ...
}

{
  "bootstrapDir": "/consul",
  "healthSyncContainers": ["example-client-app"],
  ...
}

Next, set the CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON variable for the consul-ecs-mesh-init container. The following example shows how the CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON variable should be formatted. The JSON configuration is compacted down to a single line and escaped.

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<VERSION>",
      "environment": [
        {
          "name": "CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON",
          "value": "{\"bootstrapDir\":\"/consul\",\"healthSyncContainers\":[\"example-client-app\"],\"proxy\":{\"upstreams\":[{\"destinationName\":\"example-server-app\",\"localBindPort\":1234}]},\"service\":{\"checks\":[],\"meta\":{},\"name\":\"example-client-app\",\"port\":9090,\"tags\":[]}}"
        }
      ],
      ...
    },
    ...
  ]
}

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<VERSION>",
      "environment": [
        {
          "name": "CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON",
          "value": "{\"bootstrapDir\":\"/consul\",\"healthSyncContainers\":[\"example-client-app\"],\"proxy\":{\"upstreams\":[{\"destinationName\":\"example-server-app\",\"localBindPort\":1234}]},\"service\":{\"checks\":[],\"meta\":{},\"name\":\"example-client-app\",\"port\":9090,\"tags\":[]}}"
        }
      ],
      ...
    },
    ...
  ]
}

Finally, include the consul-ecs-health-sync container in the containerDefinitions list. Pass the same value for CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON for both the consul-ecs-health-sync and consul-ecs-mesh-init containers.

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<ENVOY_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-client"
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul:<CONSUL_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<CONSUL_ECS_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-health-sync",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<CONSUL_ECS_VERSION>",
      "command": ["health-sync"],
      "essential": false,
      "dependsOn": [
        {
          "containerName": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
          "condition": "SUCCESS"
        }
      ],
      "environment": [
        {
          "name": "CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON",
          "value": "{\"bootstrapDir\":\"/consul\",\"healthSyncContainers\":[\"example-client-app\"],\"proxy\":{\"upstreams\":[{\"destinationName\":\"example-server-app\",\"localBindPort\":1234}]},\"service\":{\"checks\":[],\"meta\":{},\"name\":\"example-client-app\",\"port\":9090,\"tags\":[]}}"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

{
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "example-client-app",
      "image": "docker.io/org/my_task:v0.0.1",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "sidecar-proxy",
      "image": "envoyproxy/envoy-alpine:<ENVOY_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-client"
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul:<CONSUL_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<CONSUL_ECS_VERSION>",
      ...
    },
    {
      "name": "consul-ecs-health-sync",
      "image": "public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs:<CONSUL_ECS_VERSION>",
      "command": ["health-sync"],
      "essential": false,
      "dependsOn": [
        {
          "containerName": "consul-ecs-mesh-init",
          "condition": "SUCCESS"
        }
      ],
      "environment": [
        {
          "name": "CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON",
          "value": "{\"bootstrapDir\":\"/consul\",\"healthSyncContainers\":[\"example-client-app\"],\"proxy\":{\"upstreams\":[{\"destinationName\":\"example-server-app\",\"localBindPort\":1234}]},\"service\":{\"checks\":[],\"meta\":{},\"name\":\"example-client-app\",\"port\":9090,\"tags\":[]}}"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
Field nameTypeDescription
namestringThe container name, which must be consul-ecs-health-sync.
imagestringThe consul-ecs image. Use our public AWS registry, public.ecr.aws/hashicorp/consul-ecs, to avoid rate limits.
commandlistMust be set to ["health-sync"] to run the consul-ecs health-sync command.
dependsOnlistMust be set as shown above to ensure the health-sync container starts after service registration has completed.
environmentlistMust include the CONSUL_ECS_CONFIG_JSON variable to pass configuration to the consul-ecs health-sync command.

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