Amazon ECS introduces non-critical daemons, allowing failure without instance replacement.

Amazon ECS introduced a 'non-critical' setting for its Managed Daemons feature on September 3, 2026. This new parameter allows operators to designate agents, like metrics exporters, as non-critical. If a non-critical daemon fails, the host EC2 instance will not be automatically drained and replaced, unlike with critical daemons like security agents. The change addresses prior rigid coupling, offering more flexibility in cluster management. However, the core startup guarantee, ensuring daemons run before application tasks, remains intact for both types.