AWS Application Auto Scaling
Auto scaling beyond EC2
Automatically adjusts capacity for non-EC2 resources such as ECS services, DynamoDB, Aurora replicas, Lambda provisioned concurrency, and SageMaker endpoints using target tracking, step, or scheduled scaling.
- Cost$ Low
- Difficulty●●●●●
- Costs money when idle?No
- Serverless
- In examsSAA · SOA · DVA
Think of it asLike a restaurant manager who calls in more servers when it's busy and sends them home when it's quiet.
When to use it
✓ Use it when
You need auto scaling for ECS, DynamoDB, Aurora, and similar services.
✗ Avoid it when
Scaling groups of EC2 instances → EC2 Auto Scaling.
Common uses
- Scale ECS task count by CPU
- Increase DynamoDB RCU/WCU with load
- Add Aurora replicas at peak hours
What does it cost?
- Pricing model: Free; you pay only for the scaled resources and CloudWatch alarms.
