Hello folks,
Quick question: I understand the Pre...
# prefect-getting-startedb
Bernard
05/10/2023, 3:34 PMHello folks,
Quick question: I understand the Prefect agent lives on my machine when developing locally (or does it?). When using ECS for instance it lives in its own container in a cluster. However when using the Docker block, where does the agent live?
Related: when does it make sense to use ECS vs simply the Docker block? What am I missing?
Thanks!
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Miguel Moncada
05/10/2023, 3:41 PMAFAIK the Prefect Agent is independent from the infrastructure block where your flows run and its main role is to listen to a queue to see if a deployment associated flow needs to be run and interact with the Prefect API to kick it off, see https://docs.prefect.io/latest/concepts/work-pools/
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Miguel Moncada
05/10/2023, 3:43 PMSee also for reference (this is the hybrid execution model, leveraging Prefect Cloud):
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Bernard
05/10/2023, 3:50 PMmakes sense, but where does it live in the Docker block deployment? On Prefect own cloud infra?
Bernard
05/10/2023, 3:57 PMI guess I'm just confused by what an agent actually is, in my mind it's akin to an SQS queue but I don't think that's true
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Miguel Moncada
05/10/2023, 3:59 PMMaybe someone from the community can provide more value, but as far as I understand it it lives wherever you host it - it's a lightweight component that is independent from the infrastructure block where your flows run (e.g: your Docker block).
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Miguel Moncada
05/10/2023, 4:01 PMFor instance, in my case I'm leveraging the hybrid execution model, so I delegate Prefect API, server and UI to Prefect Cloud.
My infrastructure blocks are generally CloudRun job blocks, and my Agent is deployed in GCP in a standard (small) VM that has a schedule attached to turn it on/off (since I know in advance that I won't be running flows 24/7)
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Bernard
05/10/2023, 4:01 PMYeah it's pretty clear to me except for the case of the Docker block which Prefect kinda manages? For ECS or locally it's pretty clear, but for some reason I can't comprehend the Docker block use case lol
Bernard
05/10/2023, 4:02 PMok got it, so Docker block is the "managed" Prefect use case right? Whereas using your own ECS or GCP setup is hybrid?
Bernard
05/10/2023, 4:02 PMSorry for the confusion
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Miguel Moncada
05/10/2023, 4:04 PMNo no, thanks for asking! Can you share the relevant documentation link you're following?
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Bernard
05/10/2023, 4:04 PM