TL;DR 

• You can manage on-prem GPU workloads using ECS Anywhere. 
• No Kubernetes, no virtualization layer, no custom control planes. 
• It takes 5 minutes to set up on Ubuntu.
• You get CloudWatch, SSM, and ECS API access just like in AWS.

The Quiet Reality of On-Prem GPU Workloads 

Let’s be honest.  
A lot of AWS customers are still running on-prem GPU servers. Sometimes it’s for internal model training jobs, sometimes it’s cost-sensitive work that doesn’t need cloud-scale reliability.  

The pattern is common, especially in R&D-heavy environments. 

The usual go-to is virtualization platforms. But those add complexity and licensing overhead most teams would love to ditch.  

So, I went looking for something cleaner. If the workloads are already Dockerized, why not manage them with the same tools you use in the cloud? 

Spoiler: ECS Anywhere made that possible. Here’s what I did.  

Why ECS Anywhere Worked?  

ECS Anywhere lets you run containers on your own hardware, on-prem, edge, even another cloud, using the same ECS cluster and task definitions you already use in AWS. 

Here’s why that’s useful: 

• Unified control: One ECS cluster for both AWS and on-prem nodes. 

• Infra-as-Code support: Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation, all work out of the box. 

• Native integrations: CloudWatch for logs/metrics, SSM for patching and automation. 

• Lightweight: If you don’t need full-blown Kubernetes, this just works. 

This setup is especially attractive if you want to keep internal workloads in-house but still benefit from AWS-native tooling. 

How It Went Down (Ubuntu)  

Getting ECS Anywhere up and running took me about 5 minutes.  

If you’re used to setting up agents or bootstrapping CI nodes, this will feel familiar. 

1. Install AWS CLI 

2. Install ECS & SSM Agent 

You’ll get the Activation ID and Code from the ECS Console under “Register external instances.” Plug in your region and cluster name, and that’s it. 

Within minutes, your server will show up in ECS as a managed instance, complete with real-time metrics, logs, and task status, just like any other ECS task in the cloud.

What’s It Worth to You? 

With ECS Anywhere, I now have a lightweight, cost-efficient way to orchestrate on-prem GPU workloads with no extra virtualization software and no separate monitoring stack. 

This has been especially helpful in hybrid environments where some workloads live in AWS and others need to stay on-prem. Everything’s managed from one place: the ECS console and API. 

If you’re in a similar boat – managing GPU nodes on-prem, running containerized workloads, and tired of maintaining separate tooling – this might be the simplest setup you haven’t tried yet. 

Try It Yourself  

Here’s what you need to know: 

• Your workloads need to be containerized (Docker is enough). 

• Your on-prem machines can be registered in ECS in minutes. 

• You’ll get access to ECS APIs, SSM, and CloudWatch without standing up more infrastructure.

I’ve put together a short tutorial to walk you through the full setup process step by step. You can follow it and have your environment up and running in no time

 

And if you want to talk it through: 

• How to integrate this into your environment 

• How to handle activation codes 

• How to scale it across a hybrid setup  

 I’m happy to share what worked for me: 

Evgeny, Solution Architect  

[email protected] 

____________________________________

— Need More Help?  

Talk to us.