Auto Scaling: Capabilities and Benefits

Capabilities of Auto Scaling

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Question

Which of the following can be done by Auto Scaling?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

Answer - A and B.

Options A and B are CORRECT because Auto Scaling can launch or terminate instances based on CPU utilization.

Options C and D are incorrect because Auto Scaling cannot increase or decrease the instance size based on CPU utilization.

It will launch the instances based on the launch configuration.

As per the AWS documentation, below is what can be done with Auto Scaling.

You can only scale horizontally and not vertically.

Scale-out Amazon EC2 instances seamlessly and automatically when demand increases.

Shed unneeded Amazon EC2 instances automatically and save money when demand subsides.

Scale dynamically based on your Amazon CloudWatch metrics or predictably according to a schedule that you define.

Replace unhealthy or unreachable instances to maintain the higher availability of your applications.

Receive notifications via Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) to be alerted when you use Amazon CloudWatch alarms to initiate Auto Scaling actions or when Auto Scaling completes an action.

Run On-Demand or Spot Instances, including those inside your virtual private cloud (VPC) or high-performance computing (HPC) clusters.

If you're signed up for the Amazon EC2 service, you're already registered to use Auto Scaling and can begin using the feature via the API or command-line interface.

For more information on Auto Scaling, please visit the link.

https://aws.amazon.com/autoscaling/

Auto Scaling is a service offered by AWS that helps in automatically scaling resources in response to the changing demand of the application. The service allows you to ensure that the desired number of EC2 instances are available to handle the incoming traffic, while also maintaining the cost efficiency of the infrastructure. It does so by automatically launching or terminating EC2 instances based on predefined scaling policies.

In response to the given question, the following are the options that can be performed by Auto Scaling:

A. Launch EC2 instances when CPU utilization is above the threshold: This option allows Auto Scaling to launch new EC2 instances when the CPU utilization of existing instances exceeds a predefined threshold. This is useful when the application's traffic increases and requires more resources to handle the increased load.

B. Terminate EC2 instances when CPU utilization is below the threshold: This option allows Auto Scaling to terminate EC2 instances when the CPU utilization falls below a predefined threshold. This is useful when the application's traffic decreases, and there are unused resources that can be terminated to save costs.

C. Increase the instance size when utilization is above the threshold: This option allows Auto Scaling to increase the instance size of the EC2 instances when the CPU utilization exceeds a predefined threshold. This is useful when the application's traffic requires more processing power to handle the increased load.

D. Decrease the instance size when utilization is below the threshold: This option allows Auto Scaling to decrease the instance size of the EC2 instances when the CPU utilization falls below a predefined threshold. This is useful when the application's traffic decreases, and there are unused resources that can be terminated to save costs.

In conclusion, Auto Scaling can launch or terminate EC2 instances, and increase or decrease the instance size based on predefined scaling policies. These policies can be set based on the application's traffic and demand, ensuring optimal resource allocation and cost efficiency.