Resolving AWS ECS Deployment Timeout in CircleCI

Overview

When deploying projects to AWS ECS using CircleCI, you might encounter a timeout issue where the aws ecs update-service command hangs indefinitely, especially in the Production environment. This problem often arises due to the AWS CLI's default behavior of using a pager for output, which can cause the command to wait for user input, leading to a timeout.

Prerequisites

• Ensure you have access to modify your CircleCI configuration.
• Familiarity with AWS CLI and CircleCI pipeline setup.

Solution

The issue is caused by the AWS CLI's use of a pager, which waits for user input to proceed. This can be resolved by disabling the pager or setting it to a non-interactive mode. Follow these steps to fix the issue:

1. Disable AWS CLI Pager:

   • Set the AWS_PAGER environment variable to an empty string before running the aws ecs update-service command. This prevents the AWS CLI from using a pager. bash export AWS_PAGER=""

2. Alternative Solution: Set PAGER to Non-Interactive:

   • Alternatively, set the PAGER environment variable to /bin/cat globally. This ensures that any CLI command uses a non-interactive pager. bash export PAGER="/bin/cat"

3. Modify CircleCI Configuration:

   • Update your CircleCI configuration file to include the above environment variable settings in the relevant job steps.

4. Increase No Output Timeout (Optional):

   • If the command still takes a long time, consider increasing the no_output_timeout in your CircleCI configuration to a larger value, such as 20 minutes.

By implementing these changes, you should be able to resolve the timeout issue and ensure smooth deployments to AWS ECS using CircleCI.

Additional Resources

• AWS CLI Configuration
• CircleCI Environment Variables
• CircleCI Configuration Reference