# Compute resource AMI specification


The basic AWS Batch compute resource AMI specification consists of the following:

Required

 
+ A modern Linux distribution that's running at least version 3.10 of the Linux kernel on an HVM virtualization type AMI. Windows containers aren't supported.
**Important**  
Multi-node parallel jobs can only run on compute resources that were launched on an Amazon Linux instance with the `ecs-init` package installed. We recommend that you use the default Amazon ECS optimized AMI when you create your compute environment. You can do this by not specifying a custom AMI. For more information, see [Multi-node parallel jobs](multi-node-parallel-jobs.md).
+ The Amazon ECS container agent. We recommend that you use the latest version. For more information, see [Installing the Amazon ECS Container Agent](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/ecs-agent-install.html) in the *Amazon Elastic Container Service Developer Guide*.
+ The `awslogs` log driver must be specified as an available log driver with the `ECS_AVAILABLE_LOGGING_DRIVERS` environment variable when the Amazon ECS container agent is started. For more information, see [Amazon ECS Container Agent Configuration](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/ecs-agent-config.html) in the *Amazon Elastic Container Service Developer Guide*. 
+ A Docker daemon that's running at least version 1.9, and any Docker runtime dependencies. For more information, see [Check runtime dependencies](https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/binaries/#check-runtime-dependencies) in the Docker documentation.
**Note**  
We recommend the Docker version that ships with and is tested with the corresponding Amazon ECS agent version that you're using. Amazon ECS provides a changelog for the Linux variant of the Amazon ECS-optimized AMI on GitHub. For more information, see [Changelog](https://github.com/aws/amazon-ecs-ami/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md).

Recommended
+ An initialization and nanny process to run and monitor the Amazon ECS agent. The Amazon ECS optimized AMI uses the `ecs-init` upstart process, and other operating systems might use `systemd`. For more information and examples, see [Example container instance User Data Configuration Scripts](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/example_user_data_scripts.html) in the *Amazon Elastic Container Service Developer Guide*. For more information about `ecs-init`, see the [`ecs-init` project](https://github.com/aws/amazon-ecs-init) on GitHub. At a minimum, managed compute environments require the Amazon ECS agent to start at boot. If the Amazon ECS agent isn't running on your compute resource, then it can't accept jobs from AWS Batch. 

The Amazon ECS optimized AMI is preconfigured with these requirements and recommendations. We recommend that you use the Amazon ECS optimized AMI or an Amazon Linux AMI with the `ecs-init` package that's installed for your compute resources. Choose another AMI if your application requires a specific operating system or a Docker version that's not yet available in those AMIs. For more information, see [Amazon ECS-Optimized AMI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/ecs-optimized_AMI.html) in the *Amazon Elastic Container Service Developer Guide*.