To understand amazon EKS, firstly we need to have basic idea about Kubernetes and it's features.

Kubernetes Overview:

Kubernetes is an open-source platform designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and operation of containerized applications. Containers allow developers to package an application and its dependencies together, making it easy to deploy across various environments without worrying about inconsistencies. Kubernetes helps manage these containers by providing:

Automated Deployment and Scaling:

Ensures applications are deployed consistently and can scale up or down based on demand.

Self-Healing:

Automatically restarts containers that fail, replaces them, and kills containers that don’t respond to user-defined health checks.

Load Balancing:

Distributes network traffic across multiple containers to ensure no single container is overwhelmed.

Configuration Management:

Allows configuration details to be separated from the containerized application, making it easy to update configurations without rebuilding the container images.

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS):

Amazon EKS is a managed service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that simplifies the process of running Kubernetes on AWS without needing to manage the underlying infrastructure. Here’s how it works and its benefits:

Managed Control Plane:

Amazon EKS handles the Kubernetes control plane components (such as the API server and etcd database) for you. This eliminates the need to set up and maintain the control plane, which is responsible for managing the overall cluster state.

Integration with AWS Services:

Amazon EKS is tightly integrated with AWS services such as Elastic Load Balancing for distributing traffic, IAM for authentication and authorization, and CloudWatch for monitoring and logging. This makes it easier to leverage the full power of AWS while using Kubernetes.

Security:

EKS provides a secure and reliable environment by automatically applying the latest security patches to the control plane, offering integrated IAM roles for managing permissions, and enabling encryption at rest and in transit.

Scalability and Availability:

Amazon EKS can automatically scale the Kubernetes control plane based on demand, ensuring high availability and performance. This helps in maintaining application performance even during high traffic periods.

Standard Kubernetes Environment:

EKS runs upstream Kubernetes, so you can use all the native Kubernetes tools and plugins without modifications. This ensures compatibility with the Kubernetes ecosystem.

Ease of Use:

With EKS, you can launch a Kubernetes cluster in minutes, making it easier to get started and reducing the operational overhead of managing Kubernetes clusters manually.

Summary

In summary, Kubernetes provides a powerful platform for automating the deployment and management of containerized applications. Amazon EKS enhances this experience by managing the complex aspects of running Kubernetes on AWS, allowing developers to focus more on building and deploying their applications rather than managing infrastructure. By leveraging EKS, organizations can benefit from the scalability, security, and reliability of AWS while using Kubernetes to orchestrate their containers.