Auto Scaling

AWS Auto Scaling monitors your applications and automatically adjusts capacity to maintain steady, predictable performance at the lowest possible cost. It helps ensure you have the correct number of Amazon EC2 instances available to handle the load for your application. Auto Scaling uses several key components: 1. Launch Templates/Configurations: Define the EC2 instance configuration including AMI, instance type, key pair, security groups, and storage. 2. Auto Scaling Groups (ASGs): Specify where and how to launch instances, including VPC subnets, minimum/maximum sizes, and desired capacity. 3. Scaling Policies: Determine when and how to scale instances based on metrics like CPU utilization or custom CloudWatch metrics. Scaling types include: - Dynamic scaling: Responds to changing demand using target tracking, step scaling, or simple scaling policies - Predictive scaling: Uses machine learning to forecast load and schedule scaling actions in advance - Scheduled scaling: Sets specific times for scaling actions based on known traffic patterns Auto Scaling integrates with Elastic Load Balancing to distribute traffic across healthy instances and can work across multiple Availability Zones for high availability. Benefits include: - Cost optimization by running only the instances you need - Improved application availability and fault tolerance - Better user experience through consistent performance Best practices include choosing appropriate scaling metrics, setting appropriate cooldown periods, using instance weighting for mixed instance types, and leveraging lifecycle hooks for custom actions during scaling events. For the exam, understand how Auto Scaling connects with other AWS services like CloudWatch, ELB, and EC2, as well as scaling strategies for different workload types.

AWS Auto Scaling monitors your applications and automatically adjusts capacity to maintain steady, predictable performance at the lowest possible cost. It helps ensure you have the correct number of …

Concepts covered: Lifecycle Hooks, Scheduled Scaling, Capacity Rebalancing, Dynamic Scaling, Custom Metrics, Launch Configurations, Auto Scaling Groups, Scaling Policies, Scaling Cooldowns, Instance Refresh, Target Tracking Scaling, Step Scaling, AWS Auto Scaling Health Checks, Warm Pools