Auto Scaling in AWS: Ensuring Performance and Cost Efficiency
AWS Auto Scaling is a powerful feature that ensures application availability and performance. This feature dynamically adjusts resources based on workload demands, helping to maintain efficiency while avoiding unnecessary costs.
Types of Auto Scaling in AWS
AWS offers flexible auto scaling that can be implemented at different levels:
EC2 Auto Scaling: Manages the scaling of EC2 instances to match workload demands.
ECS Auto Scaling: Dynamically scales Elastic Container Service (ECS) tasks.
DynamoDB Auto Scaling: Adjusts the read/write capacity of DynamoDB tables.
Application Auto Scaling: Scales multiple AWS services such as Amazon Aurora and AppStream 2.0.
Dynamic Auto Scaling
Dynamic auto scaling is an intelligent mechanism that performs scaling actions based on real-time metrics. It utilizes AWS CloudWatch alarms and predefined scaling policies.
Scaling Policies
AWS provides two types of scaling policies for dynamic scaling:
Scaling Out Policy (Increase EC2 Instances)
When the workload increases, auto scaling automatically adds new EC2 instances.
This policy works based on threshold values, such as launching new instances if CPU utilization exceeds 70%.
Scaling In Policy (Decrease EC2 Instances)
When the workload decreases, unnecessary EC2 instances are terminated.
This policy ensures that only the required resources are consumed, optimizing costs.
AWS CloudWatch Alarms in Auto Scaling
AWS CloudWatch alarms play a crucial role in auto scaling. These alarms continuously monitor system metrics and trigger auto scaling actions when a defined threshold is breached.
Example: If CloudWatch detects that average CPU utilization exceeds 80%, auto scaling will launch new EC2 instances.
Similarly: If CPU utilization drops below 30%, extra EC2 instances will be terminated.
Conclusion
AWS Auto Scaling is a must-have feature that makes applications reliable, scalable, and cost-effective. By utilizing scaling policies and CloudWatch alarms, AWS infrastructure can be managed intelligently. This feature benefits all workloads, from web applications to large-scale distributed systems.