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Configuring AWS Auto Scaling Rolling Updates

Welcome to this hands-on lab, where you will learn how to perform Auto Scaling rolling updates. A common scenario is the need to perform updates on the instances in an Auto Scaling group. It is not possible to update launch configurations directly, which complicates updating Auto Scaling groups without incurring downtime. Using Auto Scaling rolling updates is the answer. Rolling updates allow you to update instances (where the instances are actually replaced), while allowing you to specify that at least one instance is always active. In this way, downtime can be avoided while the update is taking place.

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Lab platform
Lab Info
Level
Intermediate
Last updated
Sep 23, 2025
Duration
30m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Create a CloudFormation Stack
    1. Download the rolling.json template file from the GitHub lab repository.
    2. Create a CloudFormation stack using the Upload a template file method and select the rolling.json file.
  2. Challenge

    Update Auto Scaling Group
    1. Update the stack and click Edit template in Designer.
    2. Insert the following UpdatePolicy in the template on line 111:
      "UpdatePolicy": {
          "AutoScalingRollingUpdate": {
              "MaxBatchSize": "4",
              "MinInstancesInService": "1",
              "PauseTime": "PT2M"
          }
      },
      
    3. After you validate and create the updated stack, on the Specify stack details page, under Ec2InstanceType, enter t2.medium then Submit.
    4. In the CloudFormation console, verify the stack update is now complete.
    5. In the EC2 console, verify there are now four running t2.medium instances.
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