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Instance Termination Policy for Your Auto Scaling Group

Topics

Auto Scaling launches and terminates Amazon EC2 instances automatically in response to a scaling activity or to replace an unhealthy instance. A scaling activity can be invoked to rebalance an Availability Zone, to maintain the desired capacity of an Auto Scaling group, or to perform any other long-running operation supported by the service.

Auto Scaling uses the launch configuration associated with your Auto Scaling group to launch instances. For information on creating launch configurations, see Basic Auto Scaling Configuration. Auto Scaling uses a termination policy, which is a set of criteria used for selecting an instance to terminate, when it must terminate one or more instances. By default, Auto Scaling uses the default termination policy, but you can opt to specify a termination policy of your own.

Before Auto Scaling selects an instance to terminate, it first identifies the Availability Zone that has more instances than the other Availability Zones used by the group. If all Availability Zones have the same number of instances, it identifies a random Availability Zone. Within the identified Availability Zone, Auto Scaling uses the termination policy to select the instance for termination.

How the Default Termination Policy Works

The default termination policy uses the following steps to identify an instance to terminate:

Within the selected Availability Zone, it identifies the instance that was launched using the oldest launch configuration.
Auto Scaling calls the DescribeLaunchConfiguration action on the instances in an Auto Scaling group. It then uses the time in the CreatedTime field to identify the instance with the oldest launch configuration.
If more than one running instance was launched using the oldest launch configuration, it identifies the instance within that subset that is closest to the next instance hour.
By selecting the instance that is closest to the next instance hour, Auto Scaling maximizes the hours your instances run while minimizing the billable instance-hours.
If more than one instance is closest to the next instance hour, it selects a random instance from that subset.

How Your Termination Policy Works

Auto Scaling provides a list of termination policies for you to choose from, in case the default termination policy does not satisfy your requirements. If you specify your termination policy, Auto Scaling will use it instead of the default termination policy. If you do not specify a termination policy, Auto Scaling will use the default termination policy.

Auto Scaling provides the following termination policy options for you to choose from. You can specify one or more of these options in your termination policy.

OldestInstance — Specify this if you want the oldest instance in your Auto Scaling group to be terminated.
Auto Scaling uses the instance launch time to identify the instance that was launched first.
NewestInstance — Specify this if you want the last launched instance to be terminated.
Auto Scaling uses the instance launch time to identify the instance that was launched last.
OldestLaunchConfiguration — Specify this if you want the instance launched using the oldest launch configuration to be terminated.
Auto Scaling calls the DescribeLaunchConfiguration action on the instances in an Auto Scaling group. It then uses the time in the CreatedTime field to identify the instance with the oldest launch configuration.
ClosestToNextInstanceHour — Specify this if you want the instance that is closest to completing the billing hour to be terminated.
By selecting the instance that is closest to the next instance hour, you maximize the hours your instances run while minimizing the billable instance-hours.
Default — Specify this if you want Auto Scaling to use the default termination policy to select instances for termination.

To configure your termination policy, you can either specify any one of the policies as a standalone policy, or you can list multiple policies in an ordered list. The policies are executed in the order they are listed.

Important

If you are listing Default as part of a policy list, be sure to order the list such that Default is listed last in the policy list.

Your Termination policy uses the following steps to identify an instance to terminate.

Within the selected Availability Zone, it identifies the instance that matches the specified termination policy.
If more than one running instance matches the specified policy, it goes to the next policy on the list. If there are no more policies specified, it uses the default termination policy to identify an instance for termination.

Configure Your Termination Policy

Topics

You can either create a new Auto Scaling group with which you can associate your termination policy or you can update an existing Auto Scaling group to use your termination policy. If you are updating your existing Auto Scaling group, the new termination policy is executed when the next scaling activity takes place for the Auto Scaling group.

In this section, we will walk you through the process of configuring your instance termination policy for your Auto Scaling group. You’ll start by creating a new launch configuration, and then you’ll create a new Auto Scaling group with your termination policy. If you would prefer to update your existing Auto Scaling group instead, skip the initial steps for creating new launch configuration and Auto Scaling group.

The following table outlines the steps for configuring your termination policy. This will be followed by instructions for configuring your termination policy using either the Auto Scaling command line interface (CLI) or the Auto Scaling Query API.

Steps	Description
Step 1	1.1 Create Launch Configuration. 1.2 Create Auto Scaling group, specifing the termination policy you want to use to terminate instances. 1.3 Or, Update your Auto Scaling group by specifying the termination policy you want to use to terminate instances.
Step 2	Verify that your Auto Scaling group lanches with your termination policy.
Step 3	Test to ensure that instances in your Auto Scaling group are getting terminated as specified in your termination policy.
Step 4	Clean up.

Using the Command Line Interface

If you do not have the latest version of the Auto Scaling command line interface (CLI) installed, go to the Auto Scaling Command Line Tool page to download it now. For instructions on installing and using the Auto Scaling CLI, see Install the Command Line Interface in the Auto Scaling Developer Guide.

You will use the following Auto Scaling commands to configure your termination policy for your Auto Scaling group.

Command	Description
`as-create-launch-config`	Creates a new launch configuration with specified attributes.
`as-create-auto-scaling-group`	Creates a new Auto Scaling group with a specified name and other attributes.
`as-describe-auto-scaling-groups`	Describes the Auto Scaling groups, if the groups exist.
`as-update-auto-scaling-group`	Updates the configuration for the specified AutoScalingGroup.
`as-delete-auto-scaling-group`	Deletes the specified Auto Scaling group, if the group has no instances and no scaling activities are in progress.

For common conventions the documentation uses to represent command symbols, see Document Conventions.

For detailed information about the command syntax of any of the commands listed above, use the --help option with the command or go to the Auto Scaling Quick Reference Card.

Create or update your Auto Scaling group.
If you are updating your existing Auto Scaling group to use your Termination Policy, go to step 1c.
1. Create launch configuration.
  If you're not familiar with how to create a launch configuration or an Auto Scaling group, we recommend that you go through the steps in the Basic Auto Scaling Configuration. Use the basic scenario to get started using the infrastructure that is typically needed in Auto Scaling.
  For this walkthrough, specify the following values for the as-create-launch-config command:
  - Launch configuration name = lc-test-termination-policy
  - Image ID = ami-0078da69
    If you don't have an AMI, and you want to find a suitable one, see Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).
  - Instance type = m1.small
  Your command should look similar to the following example:
```
as-create-launch-config lc-test-termination-policy --image-id ami-0078da69 --instance-type m1.small 
```
  You should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
OK-Created launch config
```
2. Create Auto Scaling group.
  Create your Auto Scaling group by using as-create-auto-scaling-group and then specifying the launch configuration you just created. For more detailed information on the syntax of the as-create-auto-scaling-group command, go to Create an Auto Scaling Group.
  Specify the following values for the as-create-auto-scaling-group command:
  - Auto Scaling group name = asg-test-termination-policy
  - Launch configuration name = lc-test-termination-policy
  - Availability Zone = us-east-1e
  - Max size = 3
  - Desired capacity = 2
  - Min size = 1
  - Termination policy = OldestInstance
  Your command should look like the following example:
```
as-create-auto-scaling-group asg-test-termination-policy --launch-configuration lc-test-termination-policy --availability-zones "us-east-1e" --max-size 3 --min-size 1 –desired-capacity 2 -–termination-policies “OldestInstance”
```
  You should get confirmation like the following example:
```
OK-Created AutoScalingGroup
```
  Skip the following step and go to step 2 to verify that your Auto Scaling group has launched instances with the Termination Policy.
3. Update Auto Scaling group.
  Update your existing Auto Scaling group by using the as-update-auto-scaling-group command and specifying the following values:
  - Auto Scaling group name = your Auto Scaling group name
  - Termination policy = OldestInstance
  Your command should look like the following example:
```
as-update-auto-scaling-group your Auto Scaling group name --termination-policies "OldestInstance"
```
  You should get confirmation like the following example:
```
OK-Updated AutoScalingGroup
```
Verify Auto Scaling Group has launched with your termination policy.
To confirm that Auto Scaling has launched your EC2 instances with your termination policies, use as-describe-auto-scaling-groups command. The command shows details about the group and instances launched.
Specify this value for the command:
- Auto Scaling group name = asg-test-termination-policy
  Note
  If you've updated your Auto Scaling group, replace the Auto Scaling group name, asg-test-termination-policy, with the name of your Auto Scaling group and replace the Desired capacity value with your own value in the rest of the walkthrough.
Your command should look like the following example:
```
as-describe-auto-scaling-groups asg-test-termination-policy asg-test-termination-policy  --headers
```
Note
Specify the --headers general option to show column headers that will organize the describe command's information.
The information you get should be similar to the following example.
```
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  GROUP-NAME  LAUNCH-CONFIG             AVAILABILITY-ZONES  MIN-SIZE  MAX-SIZE  DESIRED-CAPACITY  TERMINATION-POLICIES 
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  asg-test-termination-policy  lc-test-termination-policy   us-east-1e   1     3     2            OldestInstance 
INSTANCE  INSTANCE-ID  AVAILABILITY-ZONE  STATE      STATUS   LAUNCH-CONFIG 
INSTANCE  i-bd9e84c6  us-east-1e  InService    Healthy  lc-test-termination-policy
INSTANCE  i-bf9e84c4  us-east-1e  InService    Healthy  lc-test-termination-policy   
```
You can see that Auto Scaling launched 2 instances using the lc-test-termination-policy launch configuration, and they are Healthy and running (InService). Your Auto Scaling group is associated with your termination policy.
Test if instances are being terminated as specified in your termination policy.
To test if your instances are getting terminated as specified in your policy, you’ll have to first invoke your Auto Scaling group to scale out (launch a new instance) and then use the termination policy value, OldestInstance, specified in the previous step, to scale in (terminate an instance).
1. Increase the Desired capacity of your Auto Scaling group to invoke scaling out activity.
  Specify these values for your command:
  - Auto Scaling group name = asg-test-termination-policy
  - Desired capacity = 3
  Your command should look like the following example:
```
as-update-auto-scaling-group asg-test-termination-policy –-desired-capacity 3
```
  You should get confirmation like the following example:
```
OK-Updated AutoScalingGroup
```
2. Verify that your Auto Scaling group scaled out to the desired capacity.
  Your command should look like the following example.
```
as-describe-auto-scaling-groups asg-test-termination-policy --headers
```
  The information you get should be similar to the following example.
```
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  GROUP-NAME  LAUNCH-CONFIG             AVAILABILITY-ZONES  MIN-SIZE  MAX-SIZE  DESIRED-CAPACITY  TERMINATION-POLICIES 
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  asg-test-termination-policy  lc-test-termination-policy   us-east-1e   1     3     3              NewestInstance 
INSTANCE  INSTANCE-ID  AVAILABILITY-ZONE  STATE      STATUS   LAUNCH-CONFIG
INSTANCE  i-bd9e84c6   us-east-1e  InService    Healthy  lc-test-termination-policy
INSTANCE  i- bf9e84c4  us-east-1e  InService    Healthy  lc-test-termination-policy
INSTANCE  i-47b5af3c  us-east-1e  InService     Healthy  lc-test-termination-policy
     
```
  Your Auto Scaling group has launched one new instance, i-47b5af3c. Make a note of the instance-id of the newly launched instance. You’ll use it to verify the scaling activity in the next step.
3. Update your Auto Scaling group to invoke scaling in activity as specified in your termination policy.
  You can invoke scaling in of your Auto Scaling group by reducing the value of desired capacity.
  Specify these values for your command:
  - Auto Scaling group name = asg-test-termination-policy
  - Desired capacity = 2
  Your command should like the following example:
```
as-update-auto-scaling-group asg-test-termination-policy –-desired-capacity 2
```
  You should get confirmation like the following example:
```
OK-Updated AutoScalingGroup
```
4. Verify that your Auto Scaling group scaled in to the desired capacity.
  In this step you’ll verify that a scaling in activity was executed on your Auto Scaling group using the termination policy you specified.
  Your command should look like the following example:
```
as-describe-auto-scaling-groups asg-test-termination-policy --headers
```
  The information you get should be similar to the following example:
```
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  GROUP-NAME  LAUNCH-CONFIG             AVAILABILITY-ZONES  MIN-SIZE  MAX-SIZE  DESIRED-CAPACITY  TERMINATION-POLICIES 
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  asg-test-termination-policy  lc-test-termination-policy   us-east-1e   1     3     2  
OldestInstance 
INSTANCE  INSTANCE-ID  AVAILABILITY-ZONE  STATE      STATUS   LAUNCH-CONFIG
INSTANCE  i- bf9e84c4  us-east-1e  Terminating  Healthy lc-test-termination-policy
INSTANCE  i-bd9e84c6   us-east-1e  InService    Healthy lc-test-termination-policy
INSTANCE  i-47b5af3c  us-east-1e  InService    Healthy  lc-test-termination-policy
     
```
  Your Auto Scaling group description shows that instance i- bf9e84c4 is terminating. This instance was launched along with i- bd9e84c6 when Auto Scaling group was created in Step 1. When Auto Scaling executed the termination policy value, OldestInstance, for this Auto Scaling group to identify an instance to terminate, it found more than one instance meeting the criteria. Since there were no other policies mentioned, the Default policy was executed.
  As per the Default Termination Policy, both the instances were launched using the same launch configuration and were closest to the next instance hour. Auto Scaling then selected a random instance, i- bf9e84c4, for termination.
5. Update your Auto Scaling group with a new termination policy and invoke termination of an instance as specified in your new termination policy.
  You can invoke termination of an instance in your Auto Scaling group by reducing the value of desired capacity.
  To decrease the desired capacity and change the termination policy for your Auto Scaling group, use the as-update-auto-scaling-policy command by specifying the following values:
  - Auto Scaling group name = asg-test-termination-policy
  - Desired capacity = 1
  - Termination Policy = NewestInstance
  Your command should like the following example:
```
as-update-auto-scaling-group asg-test-termination-policy –-desired-capacity 1  --termination-policies "NewestInstance"
```
  You should get confirmation like the following example:
```
OK-Updated AutoScalingGroup
```
6. Verify that your Auto Scaling group scaled in to the desired capacity using the new termination policy.
  In this step you’ll verify that a scaling in activity was implemented on your Auto Scaling group using the new termination policy.
  Your command should look like the following example:
```
as-describe-auto-scaling-groups asg-test-termination-policy --headers
```
  The information you get should be similar to the following example:
```
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  GROUP-NAME  LAUNCH-CONFIG             AVAILABILITY-ZONES  MIN-SIZE  MAX-SIZE  DESIRED-CAPACITY  TERMINATION-POLICIES 
AUTO-SCALING-GROUP  asg-test-termination-policy  lc-test-termination-policy   us-east-1e   1     3     1  
NewestInstance 
INSTANCE  INSTANCE-ID  AVAILABILITY-ZONE  STATE      STATUS   LAUNCH-CONFIG
INSTANCE  i-bd9e84c6   us-east-1e  InService    Healthy  
lc-test-termination-policy
INSTANCE  i-47b5af3c  us-east-1e  Terminating   Healthy  lc-test-termination-policy
     
```
  Your Auto Scaling group description shows that instance i-47b5af3c is terminating. Note that the terminating instance was launched when you updated your Auto Scaling group in Step 3e. This is your newest instance.
Clean up.
If you were working on your existing Auto Scaling group and want to keep it, you can skip this step. Instead, use as-update-auto-scaling groups to set the parameters to the values you want to keep for this Auto Scaling group.
After you're finished using your instances and your Auto Scaling group for testing your termination policy, it is a good practice to clean up. Run the as-delete-auto-scaling-group command with the optional --force-delete parameter. Force delete specifies that EC2 instances that are part of the Auto Scaling group will be terminated with the Auto Scaling group, even if the instances are still running. If you don't specify the --force-delete parameter, then you cannot delete your Auto Scaling group until you have terminated all instances running in that Auto Scaling group.
Run the command using the following values:
- Auto Scaling group name = asg-test-termination-policy
- Force delete (optional parameter) = --force-delete
Your command should look like the following example:
```
as-delete-auto-scaling-group as-test-termination-policy --force-delete
```
Confirm that you want to delete the Auto Scaling group. After you confirm that you want to delete the Auto Scaling group, Auto Scaling deletes the group, as the following example shows:
```
Are you sure you want to delete this AutoScalingGroup? [Ny]
OK-Deleted AutoScalingGroup    
```

Congratulations! You've successfully created two new termination policies and then you invoked scaling in and scaling out activities to test your new termination policies.

Using the Query API

If you are not familiar with using the Auto Scaling Query API to make Query requests, see Use Query Requests to Call Auto Scaling APIs section in the Auto Scaling Developer Guide.

You will use the following Auto Scaling Query API actions to configure your termination policy for your Auto Scaling group.

Actions	Description
CreateLaunchConfiguration	Creates a new launch configuration with specified attributes.
CreateAutoScalingGroup	Creates a new Auto Scaling group with a specified name and other attributes.
DescribeAutoScalingGroups	Describes the Auto Scaling groups, if the groups exist.
UpdateAutoScalingGroup	Updates the configuration for the specified AutoScalingGroup.
DeleteAutoScalingGroup	Deletes the specified Auto Scaling group, if the group has no instances and no scaling activities are in progress.

For common conventions the documentation uses to represent command symbols, see Document Conventions.

For detailed descriptions of the Auto Scaling API actions, go to Auto Scaling API Reference.

Create or update your Auto Scaling Group.
If you are updating your existing Auto Scaling group to use your Termination Policy, go to step 1c.
1. Create launch configuration.
  If you're not familiar with how to create a launch configuration or an Auto Scaling group, we recommend that you go through the steps in the Basic Auto Scaling Configuration. Use the basic scenario to get started using the infrastructure that is typically needed in Auto Scaling.
  To create a new launch configuration to use with your termination policy, call the CreateLaunchConfiguration action with the following parameters:
  - LaunchConfigurationName = lc-test-termination-policy
  - ImageId = ami-0078da69
    If you don't have an AMI, and you want to find a suitable one, see Amazon Machine Images (AMIs).
  - InstanceType = m1.small
  If your request is successful, you should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
<CreateLaunchConfigurationResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>7c6e177f-f082-11e1-ac58-3714bEXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</CreateLaunchConfigurationResponse> 
```
2. Create Auto Scaling group.
  Create your Auto Scaling group by using CreateAutoScalingGroup action with the following parameters:
  - AutoScalingGroup name = asg-test-termination-policy
  - LaunchConfigurationName = lc-test-termination-policy
  - AvailabilityZones = us-east-1e
  - MaxSize = 3
  - DesiredCapacity = 2
  - MinSize = 1
  - TerminationPolicy = OldestInstance
  If your request is successful, you should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
<CreateAutoScalingGroupResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>8d798a29-f083-11e1-bdfb-cb223EXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</CreateAutoScalingGroupResponse>
```
  Skip the following step and go to step 2 to verify that your Auto Scaling group has launched instances with the termination policy.
3. Update Auto Scaling group.
  Update your existing Auto Scaling group by using the UpdateAutoScalingGroups action with the following parameters:
  - AutoScalingGroupName = your Auto Scaling group name
  - TerminationPolicy = OldestInstance
  If your request is successful, you should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
<UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>126a833c-f06c-11e1-baa6-f5fc8EXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse>
```

Verify that the Auto Scaling group has launched with your termination policy.

To confirm that Auto Scaling has launched your EC2 instances with your termination policies, call DescribeAutoScalingGroups action with the following parameter:

AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy
Note
If you've updated your Auto Scaling group, replace the Auto Scaling group name, asg-test-termination-policy, with the name of your Auto Scaling group and replace the DesiredCapacity value with your own value, in the rest of the walkthrough.

The response shows details about the group and instances launched. The information you get should be similar to the following example:

<DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
    <AutoScalingGroups>
      <member>
        <Tags/>
        <SuspendedProcesses/>
        <AutoScalingGroupName>asg-test-termination-policy</AutoScalingGroupName>

        <HealthCheckType>EC2</HealthCheckType>
        <CreatedTime>2012-08-27T20:12:40.335Z</CreatedTime>
        <EnabledMetrics/>
        <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-test-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
        <Instances>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-bd9e84c6</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-test-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService</LifecycleState>
          </member>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId> i-bf9e84c4</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-test-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService</LifecycleState>
          </member>
        </Instances>
        <DesiredCapacity>2</DesiredCapacity>
        <AvailabilityZones>
          <member>us-east-1e</member>
        </AvailabilityZones>
        <LoadBalancerNames/>
        <MinSize>1</MinSize>
        <VPCZoneIdentifier/>
        <HealthCheckGracePeriod>0</HealthCheckGracePeriod>
        <DefaultCooldown>300</DefaultCooldown>
        <AutoScalingGroupARN>arn:aws:autoscaling:us-east-1:803981987763:autoScalingGroup:70eb78a1-687e-4a2b-836c-ef53806746a5:autoScalingGroupName/asg-test-term
ination-policy</AutoScalingGroupARN>
        <TerminationPolicies>
          <member>OldestInstance</member>
        </TerminationPolicies>
        <MaxSize>3</MaxSize>
      </member>
    </AutoScalingGroups>
  </DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
  <ResponseMetadata>

You can see that Auto Scaling launched 2 instances using the lc-test-termination-policy launch configuration, and they are Healthy and running (InService). Your Auto Scaling group is associated with your termination policy.

Test if instances are being terminated as specified in your termination policy.

To test if your instances are getting terminated as specified in your policy, you’ll have to first invoke your Auto Scaling group to scale out (launch a new instance) and then use the termination policy value, OldestInstance, specified in the previous step to scale in (terminate an instance).

Increase the Desired capacity of your Auto Scaling group to invoke scaling out activity.
Call UpdateAutoScalingGroup action with the following parameters:
- AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy
- DesiredCapacity = 3
If your request is successful, you should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
<UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>126a833c-f06c-11e1-baa6-f5fc8fEXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse>
```

Verify that your Auto Scaling group scaled out to the desired capacity.

To verify that your Auto Scaling group has scaled out as per the updated desired capacity, call DescribeAutoScalingGroups by specifying the following parameters:

AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy

If your request is successful, you should get confirmation similar to the following example.

<DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
    <AutoScalingGroups>
      <member>
        <Tags/>
        <SuspendedProcesses/>
        <AutoScalingGroupName>asg-test-termination-policy</AutoScalingGroupName>

        <HealthCheckType>EC2</HealthCheckType>
        <CreatedTime>2012-08-27T17:01:09.850Z</CreatedTime>
        <EnabledMetrics/>
        <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>

        <Instances>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-bf9e84c4</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService</LifecycleState>
          </member>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-bd9e84c6</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService</LifecycleState>
          </member>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-47b5af3c</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService </LifecycleState>
          </member>
        </Instances>
        <DesiredCapacity>3</DesiredCapacity>
        <AvailabilityZones>
          <member>us-east-1e</member>
        </AvailabilityZones>
        <LoadBalancerNames/>
        <MinSize>1</MinSize>
        <VPCZoneIdentifier/>
        <HealthCheckGracePeriod>0</HealthCheckGracePeriod>
        <DefaultCooldown>300</DefaultCooldown>
        <AutoScalingGroupARN>arn:aws:autoscaling:us-east-1:803981987763:autoScalingGroup:9cad1ceb-09ba-468f-aefa-399aa74a3864:autoScalingGroupName/asg-test-term
ination-policy</AutoScalingGroupARN>
        <TerminationPolicies>
          <member>OldestInstance</member>
        </TerminationPolicies>
        <MaxSize>3</MaxSize>
      </member>
    </AutoScalingGroups>
  </DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>2d4116b4-f06c-11e1-82d0-431d8EXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResponse>

Your Auto Scaling group has launched one new instance, i-47b5af3c. Make a note of the instance-id of the newly launched instance. You’ll use it to verify the scaling activity in the next step.

Update your Auto Scaling group to invoke scaling in activity as specified in your termination policy.
You can invoke scaling in of your Auto Scaling group by reducing the value of desired capacity.
Call the UpdateAutoScalingGroups action by specifying the following parameters:
- AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy
- DesiredCapacity = 2
If your request is successful, you should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
<UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>126a833c-f06c-11e1-baa6-f5fc8fEXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse>
```

Verify that your Auto Scaling group scaled in to the desired capacity.

In this step you’ll verify that a scaling in activity was executed on your Auto Scaling group using the termination policy you specified.

Call the DescribeAutoScalingGroup action by specifying the following parameters:

AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy

If your request is successful, you should get confirmation like the following example:

<DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
    <AutoScalingGroups>
      <member>
        <Tags/>
        <SuspendedProcesses/>
        <AutoScalingGroupName>asg-test-termination-policy</AutoScalingGroupName>

        <HealthCheckType>EC2</HealthCheckType>
        <CreatedTime>2012-08-27T17:01:09.850Z</CreatedTime>
        <EnabledMetrics/>
        <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>

        <Instances>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-bf9e84c4</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>Terminating</LifecycleState>
          </member>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-bd9e84c6</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService</LifecycleState>
          </member>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-47b5af3c</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService</LifecycleState>
          </member>
        </Instances>
        <DesiredCapacity>2</DesiredCapacity>
        <AvailabilityZones>
          <member>us-east-1e</member>
        </AvailabilityZones>
        <LoadBalancerNames/>
        <MinSize>1</MinSize>
        <VPCZoneIdentifier/>
        <HealthCheckGracePeriod>0</HealthCheckGracePeriod>
        <DefaultCooldown>300</DefaultCooldown>
        <AutoScalingGroupARN>arn:aws:autoscaling:us-east-1:803981987763:autoScalingGroup:9cad1ceb-09ba-468f-aefa-399aa74a3864:autoScalingGroupName/asg-test-termination-policy</AutoScalingGroupARN>
        <TerminationPolicies>
          <member>OldestInstance</member>
        </TerminationPolicies>
        <MaxSize>3</MaxSize>
      </member>
    </AutoScalingGroups>
  </DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>c4ea02b1-f06c-11e1-a139-71b5eEXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResponse>

Your Auto Scaling group description shows that instance i-bf9e84c4 is terminating. This instance was launched along with i-bd9e84c6 when Auto Scaling group was created in Step 1. When Auto Scaling executed the termination policy value, OldestInstance, for this Auto Scaling group to identify an instance to terminate, it found more than one instance meeting the criteria. Since there were no other policies mentioned, the Default policy was executed.

As per the Default Termination Policy, both the instances were launched using the same launch configuration and were closest to the next instance hour. Auto Scaling then selected a random instance, i-bf9e84c4, for termination.

Update your Auto Scaling group with a new termination policy and invoke termination of an instance as specified in your new termination policy.
You can invoke termination of an instance in your Auto Scaling group by reducing the value of desired capacity.
To decrease the desired capacity and change the termination policy for your Auto scaling group, call the UpdateAutoScalingGroups command by specifying the following values:
- AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy
- DesiredCapacity = 1
- TerminationPolicy = NewestInstance
If your request is successful, you should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
<UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>126a833c-f06c-11e1-baa6-f5fc8fEXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</UpdateAutoScalingGroupResponse>
```

Verify that your Auto Scaling group scaled in to the desired capacity using the new termination policy.

In this step, you’ll verify that a scaling in activity was executed on your Auto Scaling group using the new termination policies by calling the DescribeAutoScalingGroups action and specifying the following parameter:

AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy

If your request is successful, you should get a confirmation like the following example:

<DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
    <AutoScalingGroups>
      <member>
        <Tags/>
        <SuspendedProcesses/>
        <AutoScalingGroupName>asg-test-termination-policy</AutoScalingGroupName>

        <HealthCheckType>EC2</HealthCheckType>
        <CreatedTime>2012-08-27T17:01:09.850Z</CreatedTime>
        <EnabledMetrics/>
        <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>

        <Instances>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-bd9e84c6</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>InService</LifecycleState>
          </member>
          <member>
            <HealthStatus>Healthy</HealthStatus>
            <AvailabilityZone>us-east-1e</AvailabilityZone>
            <InstanceId>i-47b5af3c</InstanceId>
            <LaunchConfigurationName>lc-termination-policy</LaunchConfigurationName>
            <LifecycleState>Terminating</LifecycleState>
          </member>
        </Instances>
        <DesiredCapacity>1</DesiredCapacity>
        <AvailabilityZones>
          <member>us-east-1e</member>
        </AvailabilityZones>
        <LoadBalancerNames/>
        <MinSize>1</MinSize>
        <VPCZoneIdentifier/>
        <HealthCheckGracePeriod>0</HealthCheckGracePeriod>
        <DefaultCooldown>300</DefaultCooldown>
        <AutoScalingGroupARN>arn:aws:autoscaling:us-east-1:803981987763:autoScal
ingGroup:9cad1ceb-09ba-468f-aefa-399aa74a3864:autoScalingGroupName/asg-test-termination-policy</AutoScalingGroupARN>
        <TerminationPolicies>
          <member>NewestInstance</member>
        </TerminationPolicies>
        <MaxSize>3</MaxSize>
      </member>
    </AutoScalingGroups>
  </DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResult>
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>fd525c2b-f06d-11e1-b584-cddb6EXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</DescribeAutoScalingGroupsResponse>

Your Auto Scaling group description shows that instance i-47b5af3c is terminating. Note that the terminating instance was launched when you updated your Auto Scaling group in Step 3e. This is your newest instance.

Clean up.
If you were working on your existing Auto Scaling group and want to keep it, you can skip this step. Instead, call the UpdateAutoScalingGroups to set the parameters to the values you want to keep for this Auto Scaling group.
After you're finished using your instances and your Auto Scaling group for testing your termination policy, it is a good practice to clean up. Call the DeleteAutoScalingGroup action by setting the optional ForceDelete parameter to true. ForceDelete specifies that EC2 instances that are part of the Auto Scaling group will be terminated with the Auto Scaling group, even if the instances are still running. If you don't set the ForceDelete parameter to true, then you cannot delete your Auto Scaling group until you have terminated all instances running in that Auto Scaling group.
Call the DeleteAutoScalingGroup action by specifying the following parameters:
- AutoScalingGroupName = asg-test-termination-policy
- ForceDelete (optional parameter) = true
If your request is successful, you should see a prompt like in the following example:
```
Are you sure you want to delete this AutoScalingGroup? [Ny]
```
Type y to confirm that you want to delete the Auto Scaling group. After you confirm, Auto Scaling deletes the group. You should get a confirmation like the following example:
```
<DeleteAutoScalingGroupResponse xmlns="http://autoscaling.amazonaws.com/doc/2011-01-01/">
  <ResponseMetadata>
    <RequestId>c7f33164-f071-11e1-a5a8-e129b4EXAMPLE</RequestId>
  </ResponseMetadata>
</DeleteAutoScalingGroupResponse> 
```

Congratulations! You've successfully created two new termination policies and then you invoked scaling in and scaling out activities to test your new termination policies.

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