Auto Scaling
A service that automatically adjusts the number of Amazon EC2 instances in response to changing demand.
Description
Auto Scaling is a feature offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables users to automatically increase or decrease the number of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances based on the current demand for applications. This service is vital for maintaining application performance and ensuring cost-effectiveness. Auto Scaling helps maintain optimal performance by automatically adding instances when traffic spikes and reducing instances during off-peak times. It uses scaling policies that can be defined based on various metrics, such as CPU utilization, network traffic, or custom CloudWatch metrics. With Auto Scaling, businesses can ensure they have the right amount of resources at all times, which is particularly beneficial for applications with varying usage patterns, such as e-commerce sites during holiday sales or media streaming services during major events. The ability to scale resources dynamically allows users to manage costs effectively while delivering a seamless experience to end-users.
Examples
- A retail website that experiences increased traffic during Black Friday sales uses Auto Scaling to handle the surge in visitors by automatically adding EC2 instances.
- A video streaming service utilizes Auto Scaling to manage varying viewer counts, scaling up during popular live events and scaling down afterward to save costs.
Additional Information
- Auto Scaling integrates with AWS CloudWatch, allowing users to set alarms and trigger scaling actions based on specific metrics.
- It supports both vertical scaling (increasing instance size) and horizontal scaling (adding more instances), providing flexibility to meet application requirements.