Allow firelens container "logging" to have `essential` set to "false"

[bpottier]

We recently had a job fail where the firelens container exited with a non-zero status and it took our main container with it. Is there a way to mark the firelens logging container as not essential? It obviously wouldn't be ideal but we want to avoid the job failing from any issues with firelens.

[efekarakus]

Hi @bpottier !

I think it might be possible to use the task definition overrides feature to "break the glass" and set the container as non-essential:

taskdef_overrides:
- path: ContainerDefinitions[1].Essential
  value: false

Let me know if this works!

[bpottier]

That worked. Thank you. Do you think it would be worth having the “logging” sidecar respect the “essential” setting?

[efekarakus]

Do you think it would be worth having the “logging” sidecar respect the “essential” setting?

Do you mean we should default to essential: false?
I think that's a tough call 💭 The ECS recommendation for firelens is to have essential: true (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/firelens-taskdef.html) as restarting the task might be considered worthwhile for most stateless workloads if logs can't be delivered.

My personal opinion I think is that it makes sense to have the default true and have users explicitly mark it as false like in your scenario if it's more important to keep doing work rather than lose some logs.

Hope that makes sense!
I'll mark the issue as resolved ✅, but I'm happy to re-open it for followup questions

[bpottier]

Do you think it would be worth having the “logging” sidecar respect the “essential” setting?

Do you mean we should default to essential: false? I think that's a tough call 💭 The ECS recommendation for firelens is to have essential: true (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/firelens-taskdef.html) as restarting the task might be considered worthwhile for most stateless workloads if logs can't be delivered.

My personal opinion I think is that it makes sense to have the default true and have users explicitly mark it as false like in your scenario if it's more important to keep doing work rather than lose some logs.

Hope that makes sense! I'll mark the issue as resolved ✅, but I'm happy to re-open it for followup questions

Having the default be false makes sense. I just mean allow us to override the default the way you would do it with the sidecar: by setting essential to false, rather than having to use a task definition override.

[efekarakus]

got it!
OK I'll create a separate issue to capture the request 👍

[efekarakus]

I've reopened it, the feature request would be to have a new property:

logging:
  essential: false # defaults to true if not specified.

that allow users to toggle the "Essential" field for the firelens log router