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Getting Started with Auto Scaling

There are several ways to get started with Auto Scaling. You can set up Auto Scaling through the AWS Management Console, with the AWS Command Line Interfaces (CLI), or with AWS SDKs. To learn more, see below for tutorials, blogs and videos.

Getting Started with the AWS Management Console

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Step 1: Sign into the AWS Management Console

Create an account and sign into the console. With Amazon EC2, you pay only for what you use. If you are a new AWS customer, you can get started with Amazon EC2 for free. For more information, see AWS Free Tier.

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Step 2: Create a launch template

In the Amazon EC2 Dashboard, choose "Launch Templates" to create a launch template, specifying a name, AMI, instance type, and other details. Below are some guidelines on setting up your first launch template.
  • Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI): We recommend the Amazon Linux 2 AMI (free-tier eligible).
  • Choose an instance type: We recommend the t2.micro (free-tier eligible).
  • Security group: You have the option to configure your virtual firewall.

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    Step 3: Create an Auto Scaling group

    Using the Auto Scaling wizard, create an Auto Scaling group specifying a name, size, and network for your Auto Scaling group.

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    Step 4: Add Elastic Load Balancers (Optional)

    When you set up Auto Scaling with Elastic Load Balancing, you can automatically distribute incoming application traffic across Amazon EC2 instances within your Auto Scaling groups to build highly available, fault-tolerant applications.
    Associate your load balancer with your Auto Scaling group to distribute traffic for your application across a fleet of EC2 instances that can scale with demand.
    You must first create a load balancer.

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    Step 5: Configure Scaling Policies (Optional)

    Configure scaling policies for your Auto Scaling group.

    Getting Started with the AWS Command Line Tools (CLI)

    You can access the features of Amazon Auto Scaling using the AWS CLI, which provides commands for a broad set of AWS products, including Amazon EC2 and Amazon CloudWatch. For more information about the commands for Auto Scaling, see the Auto Scaling section of the AWS Command Line Interface Reference.

    Getting Started with the AWS SDKs

    Get started with Auto Scaling by using APIs tailored to your programming language or platform, or AWS Mobile SDK to help you build high-quality mobile apps quickly and easily. See Tools for Amazon Web Services for more information.

    Tutorials

    Getting started with EC2 Auto Scaling: A step-by-step tutorial

    Getting started with EC2 Auto Scaling: A step-by-step tutorial

    Step-by-step tutorial on setting up a scaled and load-balanced application

    Step-by-step tutorial on setting up a scaled and load-balanced application

    Learn more about EC2 Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing

    Learn more about EC2 Auto Scaling and Elastic Load Balancing

    Getting started with Elastic Load Balancing

    Getting started with Elastic Load Balancing

    Blogs

    Automating Blue/Green Deployments of Infrastructure and Application Code using AMIs, AWS Developer Tools, & Amazon EC2 Systems Manager

    Automating Blue/Green Deployments of Infrastructure and Application Code using AMIs, AWS Developer Tools, & Amazon EC2 Systems Manager (Ramesh Adabal, AWS, Aug 2017)

    New – Target Tracking Policies for EC2 Auto Scaling

    New – Target Tracking Policies for EC2 Auto Scaling  (Jeff Barr, AWS, Jul 2017)

    New – Auto Scaling for Amazon DynamoDB

    New – Auto Scaling for Amazon DynamoDB (Jeff Barr, AWS, Jun 2017)

    Performing Blue/Green Deployments with AWS CodeDeploy and Auto Scaling Groups

    Performing Blue/Green Deployments with AWS CodeDeploy and Auto Scaling Groups (Jeff Levine, Apr 2017)

    Configure Amazon EC2 Instances in an Auto Scaling Group Using State Manager

    Configure Amazon EC2 Instances in an Auto Scaling Group Using State Manager (Amjad Hussain, AWS, Mar 2017)

    Auto Scaling for EMR Clusters

    Auto Scaling for EMR Clusters (Jeff Barr, AWS, Nov 2016)

    Dynamically Scale Applications on Amazon EMR with Auto Scaling

    Dynamically Scale Applications on Amazon EMR with Auto Scaling (Jonathan Fritz, Nov 2016)

    Building a Backup System for Scaled Instances using AWS Lambda and Amazon EC2 Run Command

    Building a Backup System for Scaled Instances using AWS Lambda and Amazon EC2 Run Command (Diego Natali and Vyom Nagrani, AWS, Nov 2016)

    Fleet Management Made Easy with Auto Scaling

    Fleet Management Made Easy with Auto Scaling (Chris Barclay, AWS, Oct 2016)

    Auto Scaling for EC2 Spot Fleets

    Auto Scaling for EC2 Spot Fleets (Jeff Barr, AWS, Sep 2016)

    Auto Scaling AWS OpsWorks Instances

    Auto Scaling AWS OpsWorks Instances (Daniel Huesch, AWS, Jul 2016)

    Automatic Scaling with Amazon ECS

    Automatic Scaling with Amazon ECS (Chris Barclay, AWS, May 2016)

    Using AWS Lambda with Auto Scaling Lifecycle Hooks

    Using AWS Lambda with Auto Scaling Lifecycle Hooks (Vyom Nagrani, AWS, Dec 2015)

    Instance Protection for Auto Scaling

    Instance Protection for Auto Scaling (Jeff Barr, AWS, Dec 2015)

    Under the Hood: AWS CodeDeploy and Auto Scaling Integration

    Under the Hood: AWS CodeDeploy and Auto Scaling Integration (Jonathan Turpie, AWS, Nov 2015)

    Videos

    Title slide for 'Automating Management of Amazon EC2 Instances with Auto Scaling,' a webinar presented by Michael Hanisch (AWS Solutions Architecture) on March 23, 2017. The slide features the AWS logo and indicates this is part of a webinar series.

    Automating Management of Amazon EC2 Instances

    Learn about how to automate launches with Launch Configurations, configure the software environment before your instance accepts traffic using Lifecycle hooks, and how to create a resilient multi-AZ fleet to run your application with minimal effort.
    Screenshot from a video of the AWS re:Invent 2016 presentation on Auto Scaling titled 'The Fleet Management Solution for Planet Earth,' featuring a presenter and a slide with session details.

    Auto Scaling - the Fleet Management Solution for Planet Earth

    AWS and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) discuss how Auto Scaling offers an advantage to everyone – whether it’s basic fleet management to keep instances healthy as an EC2 best practice, or dynamic scaling to manage “extremes”.

    Videos

    A screenshot from a video presentation featuring Matt Wood from Amazon Web Services discussing AWS Lifecycle Hooks. Matt is seated at a desk with an AWS-branded coffee cup and laptop, speaking to the camera in a modern office setting.

    Lifecycle Hooks Made Easier

    Dr. Matt Wood, Director Product Marketing, AWS discusses how Auto Scaling emits an event using Amazon CloudWatch Events when an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance is ready to execute a launch or termination lifecycle hook.  
    Screenshot from AWS re:Invent 2015 showing the presentation 'All You Need to Know About Auto Scaling' by Michael Hanisch, AWS Solutions Architect, October 2015.

    All You Need to Know About Auto Scaling

    This video introduces the basics of how to use Auto Scaling before moving on to more advanced topics such as mixing Spot and On-Demand instances to optimize cost or strategies for blue/green deployments.
    Screenshot of the AWS EC2 Auto Scaling dashboard highlighting the benefits of auto scaling, including reusable instance templates, automated provisioning, and adjustable capacity, as displayed in the AWS Management Console.

    Auto Scaling EC2 with Custom Scaling Policy

    This video shows how to set-up up Auto Scaling EC2 instances and put them into an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB). You will also learn how to set-up a custom scaling policy that is triggered from a CloudWatch alert.

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