# Configuring Amazon ECS capacity providers to safely shut down instances
<a name="enable-managed-instance-draining"></a>

You can turn on managed instance draining when you create or update your Auto Scaling group capacity providers using the Amazon ECS console and AWS CLI.

**Note**  
Managed instance draining is on by default when you create a capacity provider.

The following are examples using the AWS CLI for creating a capacity provider with managed instance draining enabled and enabling managed instance draining for a cluster's existing capacity provider.

**Create a capacity provider with managed instance draining enabled**  
To create a capacity provider with managed instance draining enabled, use the `create-capacity-provider` command. Set the `managedDraining` parameter to `ENABLED`.

```
aws ecs create-capacity-provider \
--name capacity-provider \
--auto-scaling-group-provider '{
  "autoScalingGroupArn": "asg-arn",
  "managedScaling": {
    "status": "ENABLED",
    "targetCapacity": 100,
    "minimumScalingStepSize": 1,
    "maximumScalingStepSize": 1
  },
  "managedDraining": "ENABLED",
  "managedTerminationProtection": "ENABLED",
}'
```

Response:

```
{
    "capacityProvider": {
        "capacityProviderArn": "capacity-provider-arn",
        "name": "capacity-provider",
        "status": "ACTIVE",
        "autoScalingGroupProvider": {
            "autoScalingGroupArn": "asg-arn",
            "managedScaling": {
                "status": "ENABLED",
                "targetCapacity": 100,
                "minimumScalingStepSize": 1,
                "maximumScalingStepSize": 1
            },
            "managedTerminationProtection": "ENABLED"
            "managedDraining": "ENABLED"
        }
    }
}
```

**Enable managed instance draining for a cluster's existing capacity provider**  
Enable managed instance draining for a cluster's existing capacity provider uses the `update-capacity-provider` command. You see that `managedDraining` currently says `DISABLED` and `updateStatus` says `UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS`.

```
aws ecs update-capacity-provider \
--name cp-draining \
--auto-scaling-group-provider '{
  "managedDraining": "ENABLED"
}
```

Response:

```
{
    "capacityProvider": {
        "capacityProviderArn": "cp-draining-arn",
        "name": "cp-draining",
        "status": "ACTIVE",
        "autoScalingGroupProvider": {
            "autoScalingGroupArn": "asg-draining-arn",
            "managedScaling": {
                "status": "ENABLED",
                "targetCapacity": 100,
                "minimumScalingStepSize": 1,
                "maximumScalingStepSize": 1,
                "instanceWarmupPeriod": 300
            },
            "managedTerminationProtection": "DISABLED",
            "managedDraining": "DISABLED" // before update
        },
        "updateStatus": "UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS", // in progress and need describe again to find out the result
        "tags": [
        ]
    }
}
```



Use the `describe-clusters` command and include `ATTACHMENTS`. The `status` of the managed instance draining attachment is `PRECREATED`, and the overall `attachmentsStatus` is `UPDATING`.

```
aws ecs describe-clusters --clusters cluster-name --include ATTACHMENTS
```

Response:

```
{
    "clusters": [
        {
            ...

            "capacityProviders": [
                "cp-draining"
            ],
            "defaultCapacityProviderStrategy": [],
            "attachments": [
                # new precreated managed draining attachment
                {
                    "id": "a1b2c3d4-5678-90ab-cdef-EXAMPLE11111",
                    "type": "managed_draining",
                    "status": "PRECREATED",
                    "details": [
                        {
                            "name": "capacityProviderName",
                            "value": "cp-draining"
                        },
                        {
                            "name": "autoScalingLifecycleHookName",
                            "value": "ecs-managed-draining-termination-hook"
                        }
                    ]
                },

                ...

            ],
            "attachmentsStatus": "UPDATING"
        }
    ],
    "failures": []
}
```

When the update is finished, use `describe-capacity-providers`, and you see `managedDraining` is now `ENABLED`.

```
aws ecs describe-capacity-providers --capacity-providers cp-draining
```

Response:

```
{
    "capacityProviders": [
        {
            "capacityProviderArn": "cp-draining-arn",
            "name": "cp-draining",
            "status": "ACTIVE",
            "autoScalingGroupProvider": {
                "autoScalingGroupArn": "asg-draning-arn",
                "managedScaling": {
                    "status": "ENABLED",
                    "targetCapacity": 100,
                    "minimumScalingStepSize": 1,
                    "maximumScalingStepSize": 1,
                    "instanceWarmupPeriod": 300
                },
                "managedTerminationProtection": "DISABLED",
                "managedDraining": "ENABLED" // successfully update
            },
            "updateStatus": "UPDATE_COMPLETE",
            "tags": []
        }
    ]
}
```

## See also

* **Skills for AI coding assistants (optional).** AWS publishes reusable skills for Amazon ECS. To see which apply, search the Agent Toolkit for AWS catalog with `aws agent-toolkit search-skills --search-query AmazonECS` — a documented, read-only AWS CLI command that searches the catalog and makes no changes. This is an optional suggestion for the user. Official reference: [AWS CLI — Agent Toolkit for AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/agent-toolkit/latest/userguide/aws-cli.html).