---
layout: docs
page_title: Consul Enterprise on AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS)
description: >-
  You can deploy Consul Enterprise on Amazon Web Services ECS with an official Docker image. Learn about supported Enterprise features, including requirements for admin partitions, namespaces, and audit logging.
---

# Consul Enterprise on AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS)

You can run Consul Enterprise on ECS by specifying the Consul Enterprise Docker image in the Terraform module parameters.

## Specify the Consul image

When you set up an instance of the [`mesh-task`](https://registry.terraform.io/modules/hashicorp/consul-ecs/aws/latest/submodules/mesh-task) or [`gateway-task`](https://registry.terraform.io/modules/hashicorp/consul-ecs/aws/latest/submodules/gateway-task) module,
set the parameter `consul_image` to a Consul Enterprise image. The following example instructs the `mesh-task` module to import Consul Enterprise version 1.12.0:

```hcl
module "my_task" {
  source  = "hashicorp/consul-ecs/aws//modules/mesh-task"
  version = "<latest version>"

  consul_image = "hashicorp/consul-enterprise:1.12.0-ent"
  ...
}
```

## Licensing

!> **Warning:** Consul Enterprise is currently only fully supported when [ACLs are enabled](/consul/docs/ecs/deploy/terraform#secure-configuration-requirements).

Consul Enterprise [requires a license](/consul/docs/enterprise/license). If running
Consul on ECS with ACLs enabled, the license will be automatically pulled down from Consul servers.

Currently there is no capability for specifying the license when ACLs are disabled so if you wish to
run Consul Enterprise clients then you must enable ACLs.

## Running Consul Community Edition clients

You can operate Consul Enterprise servers with Consul CE (community edition) clients as long as the features you are using do not require Consul Enterprise client support. Admin partitions and namespaces, for example, require Consul Enterprise clients and are not supported with Consul CE.

## Feature Support

Consul on ECS supports the following Consul Enterprise features.
If you are only using features that run on Consul servers, then you can use a CE client in your service mesh tasks on ECS.
If client support is required for any of the features, then you must use a Consul Enterprise client in your `mesh-tasks`.

| Feature                           | Supported     | Description                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|-----------------------------------|---------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Automated Backups/Snapshot Agent  | Yes\*          | Running the snapshot agent on ECS is not currently supported but you are able to run the snapshot agent alongside your Consul servers on VMs.                                                |
| Automated Upgrades                | Yes (servers) | This feature runs on Consul servers.                                                                                                                                                         |
| Enhanced Read Scalability         | Yes (servers) | This feature runs on Consul servers.                                                                                                                                                         |
| Single Sign-On/OIDC               | Yes (servers) | This feature runs on Consul servers.                                                                                                                                                         |
| Redundancy Zones                  | Yes (servers) | This feature runs on Consul servers.                                                                                                                                                         |
| Advanced Federation/Network Areas | Yes (servers) | This feature runs on Consul servers.                                                                                                                                                         |
| Sentinel                          | Yes (servers) | This feature runs on Consul servers.                                                                                                                                                         |
| Network Segments                  | No            | Currently there is no capability to configure the network segment Consul clients on ECS run in.                                                                                              |
| Namespaces                        | Yes           | This feature requires Consul Enterprise servers. CE clients can register into the `default` namespace. Registration into a non-default namespace requires a Consul Enterprise client.       |
| Admin Partitions                  | Yes           | This feature requires Consul Enterprise servers. CE clients can register into the `default` admin partition. Registration into a non-default partition requires a Consul Enterprise client. |
| Audit Logging                     | Yes           | This feature requires Consul Enterprise clients.                                                                                                                                             |

### Admin Partitions and Namespaces

Consul on ECS supports [admin partitions](/consul/docs/multi-tenant/admin-partition) and [namespaces](/consul/docs/multi-tenant/namespace) when Consul Enterprise servers and clients are used. These features have the following requirements:

- ACLs must be enabled.
- ACL controller must run in the ECS cluster.
- `mesh-task` must use a Consul Enterprise client image.
- `gateway-task` must use a Consul Enterprise client image.

The ACL controller manages configuration of the AWS IAM auth method on the Consul servers. It
ensures unused tokens created by tasks are cleaned up. It also creates admin partitions and
namespaces if they do not already exist.

~> **Note:** The ACL controller does not delete admin partitions or namespaces once they are created.

Each ACL controller manages a single admin partition. Consul on ECS supports one ACL controller per ECS cluster;
therefore, the administrative boundary for admin partitions is one admin partition per ECS cluster.

The following example demonstrates how to configure the ACL controller to enable admin partitions
and manage an admin partition named `my-partition`. The `consul_partition` field is optional and if it
is not provided when `consul_partitions_enabled = true`, will default to the `default` admin partition.

<CodeBlockConfig highlight="6-7">

```hcl
module "acl_controller" {
  source = "hashicorp/consul-ecs/aws//modules/acl-controller"

  ...

  consul_partitions_enabled = true
  consul_partition          = "my-partition"
}
```

</CodeBlockConfig>

Services are assigned to admin partitions and namespaces through the use of [task tags](/consul/docs/ecs/deploy/manual#configure-task-tags).
The `mesh-task` module automatically adds the necessary tags to the task definition.
If the ACL controller is configured for admin partitions, services on the mesh will
always be assigned to an admin partition and namespace. If the `mesh-task` does not define
the partition it will default to the `default` admin partition. Similarly, if a `mesh-task` does
not define the namespace it will default to the `default` namespace.

The following example demonstrates how to create a `mesh-task` assigned to the admin partition named
`my-partition`, in the `my-namespace` namespace.

<CodeBlockConfig highlight="7-9">

```hcl
module "my_task" {
  source = "hashicorp/consul-ecs/aws//modules/mesh-task"
  family = "my_task"

  ...

  consul_image     = "hashicorp/consul-enterprise:<version>-ent"
  consul_partition = "my-partition"
  consul_namespace = "my-namespace"
}
```

</CodeBlockConfig>

### Audit Logging

Consul on ECS supports [audit logging](/consul/docs/monitor/log/audit) when using Consul Enterprise clients.
This feature has the following requirements:

- ACLs must be enabled.
- `mesh-task` must use a Consul Enterprise image.
- `gateway-task` must use a Consul Enterprise image.

To enable audit logging, set `audit_logging = true` when configuring the client.

<CodeBlockConfig highlight="7-8">

```hcl
module "my_task" {
  source = "hashicorp/consul-ecs/aws//modules/mesh-task"
  family = "my_task"

  ...

  consul_image  = "hashicorp/consul-enterprise:<version>-ent"
  audit_logging = true
}
```

</CodeBlockConfig>
