AWS Auto Scaling Test

Amazon Auto Scaling helps you ensure that you have the correct number of Amazon instances available to handle the load for your application. You create collections of instances, called Auto Scaling groups. You can specify the minimum number of instances in each Auto Scaling group, and Auto Scaling ensures that your group never goes below this size. You can specify the maximum number of instances in each Auto Scaling group, and Auto Scaling ensures that your group never goes above this size. If you specify the desired capacity, either when you create the group or at any time thereafter, Auto Scaling ensures that your group has this many instances. If you specify scaling policies, then Auto Scaling can launch or terminate instances as demand on your application increases or decreases.

To measure the effectiveness of Auto Scaling, administrators should continuously track the size and state of instances in each Auto Scaling group and determine whether/not the groups automatically expand and shrink in size when the configured thresholds are breached. The AWS Auto Scaling test makes this evaluation possible!

For each Auto Scaling group, this test reports the minimum and maximum size threshold configured for that group and also the desired capacity specified for the group. Additionally, the test reveals the current number of instances in that group. By comparing the capacity thresholds with the current number of instances, administrators can tell whether/not Auto Scaling is successful in automatically resizing the group based on the demand/configuration. As an Auto Scaling group shrinks and expands automatically, the instances in the group pass through various states - pending state, standby state, terminating state, etc. With the help of this test, administrators can track the state of instances in each group.

Target of the test: Amazon Cloud

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each Auto Scaling group

First-level descriptor: AWS Region

Second-level descriptor: Auto Scaling group name

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured.
Access Type	eG Enterprise monitors the AWS cloud using AWS API. By default, the eG agent accesses the AWS API using a valid AWS account ID, which is assigned a special role that is specifically created for monitoring purposes. Accordingly, the Access Type parameter is set to Role by default. Furthermore, to enable the eG agent to use this default access approach, you will have to configure the eG tests with a valid AWS Account ID to Monitor and the special AWS Role Name you created for monitoring purposes. Some AWS cloud environments however, may not support the role-based approach. Instead, they may allow cloud API requests only if such requests are signed by a valid Access Key and Secret Key. When monitoring such a cloud environment therefore, you should change the Access Type to Secret. Then, you should configure the eG tests with a valid AWS Access Key and AWS Secret Key. Note that the Secret option may not be ideal when monitoring high-security cloud environments. This is because, such environments may issue a security mandate, which would require administrators to change the Access Key and Secret Key, often. Because of the dynamicity of the key-based approach, Amazon recommends the Role-based approach for accessing the AWS API.
AWS Account ID to Monitor	This parameter appears only when the Access Type parameter is set to Role. Specify the AWS Account ID that the eG agent should use for connecting and making requests to the AWS API. To determine your AWS Account ID, follow the steps below: Login to the AWS management console. with your credentials. Click on your IAM user/role on the top right corner of the AWS Console. You will see a drop-down menu containing the Account ID (see Figure 1). Figure 1 : Identifying the AWS Account ID
AWS Role Name	This parameter appears when the Access Type parameter is set to Role. Specify the name of the role that you have specifically created on the AWS cloud for monitoring purposes. The eG agent uses this role and the configured Account ID to connect to the AWS Cloud and pull the required metrics. To know how to create such a role, refer to Creating a New Role.
AWS Access Key, AWS Secret Key, Confirm AWS Access Key, Confirm AWS Secret Key	These parameters appear only when the Access Type parameter is set to Secret.To monitor an Amazon cloud instance using the Secret approach, the eG agent has to be configured with the access key and secret key of a user with a valid AWS account. For this purpose, we recommend that you create a special user on the AWS cloud, obtain the access and secret keys of this user, and configure this test with these keys. The procedure for this has been detailed in the Obtaining an Access key and Secret key topic. Make sure you reconfirm the access and secret keys you provide here by retyping it in the corresponding Confirm text boxes.
Proxy Host and Proxy Port	In some environments, all communication with the AWS cloud and its regions could be routed through a proxy server. In such environments, you should make sure that the eG agent connects to the cloud via the proxy server and collects metrics. To enable metrics collection via a proxy, specify the IP address of the proxy server and the port at which the server listens against the Proxy Host and Proxy Port parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none , indicating that the eG agent is not configured to communicate via a proxy, by default.
Proxy User Name, Proxy Password, and Confirm Password	If the proxy server requires authentication, then, specify a valid proxy user name and password in the Proxy User Name and Proxy Password parameters, respectively. Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the proxy sever does not require authentication by default.
Proxy Domain and Proxy Workstation	If a Windows NTLM proxy is to be configured for use, then additionally, you will have to configure the Windows domain name and the Windows workstation name required for the same against the Proxy Domain and Proxy Workstation parameters. If the environment does not support a Windows NTLM proxy, set these parameters to none.
Exclude Region	Here, you can provide a comma-separated list of region names or patterns of region names that you do not want to monitor. For instance, to exclude regions with names that contain 'east' and 'west' from monitoring, your specification should be: east,west
DD For Total Instance	By default, this flag is set to No. This implies that by default, detailed metrics will not be available for Total instances in group measure of this test. To enable detailed diagnosis for this measure, you can set this flag to Yes. In this case, you will be able to view the complete details of the instances in the group that are not entitled.
DD Frequency	Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Minimum instances in group	Indicates the minimum size of this group.	Number
Maximum instances in group	Indicates the maximum size of this group.	Number
Desired capacity of group	Indicates the number of instances that this group attempts to maintain.	Number
Running instances in group	Indicates the number of instances in currently running in this group.	Number	This measure represents the number of instances that are currently in the 'InService' state. When Auto Scaling responds to a scale out event, it launches one or more instances. When the instances are fully configured, they are attached to the Auto Scaling group and they enter the InService state Instances remain in the InService state until one of the following occurs: A scale in event occurs, and Auto Scaling chooses to terminate this instance in order to reduce the size of the Auto Scaling group. You put the instance into a Standby state. You detach the instance from the Auto Scaling group. The instance fails a required number of health checks, so it is removed from the Auto Scaling group, terminated, and replaced. This metric does not include instances that are pending or terminating.
Pending state instances in group	Indicates the number of instances in this group that are in the Pending state.	Number	When a scale out event occurs, the Auto Scaling group launches the required number of instances, using its assigned launch configuration. These instances start in the Pending state. pending instance is not yet in service. This metric does not include instances that are in service or terminating.
Standby state instances in group	Indicates the number of instances in this group that are in the Standby state.	Number	Instances in the Standby state are still running but are not actively in service.
Terminating state instances	Indicates the number of instances in this group that are in the Terminating state.	Number	When Auto Scaling responds to a scale in event, it terminates one or more instances. These instances are detached from the Auto Scaling group and enter the Terminating state. This metric does not include instances that are in service or pending.
Total instances in group	Indicates the total number of instances in this group.	Number	This metric identifies the number of instances that are in running, pending, and terminating states.