Step 2: Create a cluster

The cluster you're about to launch will be live, and not running in a sandbox. You incur the standard ElastiCache usage fees for the instance until you delete it. The total charges are minimal (typically less than a dollar) if you complete the exercise described here in one sitting and delete your cluster when you are finished. For more information about ElastiCache usage rates, see https://aws.amazon.com/elasticache/.

Important

Your cluster is launched in an Amazon VPC. Before you start creating your cluster, you need to create a subnet group. For more information, see Creating a subnet group.

To create an ElastiCache for Memcached cluster

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the ElastiCache console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/elasticache/.

2. From the list in the upper-right corner, choose the AWS Region you want to launch this cluster in.

3. Choose Get started.

4. Choose Create VPC and follow the steps outlined at Creating a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

5. On the ElastiCache dashboard page, choose Create cluster and then choose Create Memcached cluster.

6. Under Location:

   AWS Cloud

   1. Under Cluster info

      1. Enter a value for Name.

      2. (Optional) Enter a value for Description.

   2. Under Cluster settings

      1. For Engine version, choose an available version.

      2. For Port, accept the default port, 11211. If you have a reason to use a different port, type in the port number.

      3. For Parameter groups, choose the parameter group you want to use with this cluster, or choose "Create new" to create a new parameter group to use with this cluster. For this exercise, accept the default parameter group.

         For more information, see Creating a parameter group.

      4. For Node type, choose the node type that you want to use for this cluster. For this exercise, you can accept the default node type or select another node type.

         For more information, see Choosing your Memcached node size.

         To select another node type:

         1. Choose the down-arrow to the right of the default node type.

         2. Choose the Instance family you want for the nodes in this cluster. Since this is just an exercise, to save costs, choose t2.

         3. From the available node types, choose the box to the left of the node type you want for this cluster. Since this is just an exercise, to save costs, choose cache.t2.small.

         4. Choose Save.

      5. From the Number of nodes list, choose the number of nodes (partitions) you want provisioned for this cluster.

      6. Under Connectivity

         1. For Network type, choose the IP version(s) this cluster will support.

         2. For Subnet groups, choose the subnet that you want to apply to this cluster. ElastiCache uses that subnet group to choose a subnet and IP addresses within that subnet to associate with your nodes. ElastiCache clusters require a dual-stack subnet with both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses assigned to them to operate in dual-stack mode and an IPv6-only subnet to operate as IPv6-only.

            When creating a new subnet group, enter the VPC ID to which it belongs.

            For more information, see:

            • Choosing a network type.

            • Create a subnet in your VPC.

            If you are Using local zones with ElastiCache , you must create or choose a subnet that is in the local zone.

            For more information, see Subnets and subnet groups.

      7. For Availability zone placements, you have two options.

         • No preference – ElastiCache chooses each node's Availability Zone for you.

         • Specify availability zones – You specify the Availability Zone for each node.

         For this exercise, choose Specify availability zones and then choose an Availability Zone for each node.

         For more information, see Choosing regions and availability zones.

   3. Under Advanced settings

      1. For Security:

         1. To encrypt your data, you have the option to enable Encryption in-transit. This enables encryption of data on the wire. For more information, see Encryption in transit.

         2. For Selected security groups list, choose the security groups that you want to use for this cluster or create a new one. For this exercise, accept the default security group.

            For more information, see Amazon VPCs and ElastiCache security.

      2. 1. The Maintenance window is the time, generally an hour, each week where ElastiCache schedules system maintenance on your cluster. You have two options.

            • No preference—ElastiCache chooses the day of the week and time of day for the cluster's maintenance window.

            • Specify maintenance window—You choose the day of the week, start time, and duration for the cluster's maintenance window.

         2. After the cluster is created, you can modify it to specify a difference maintenance window. For more information, see Managing maintenance.

      3. For Tags to help you manage your clusters and other ElastiCache resources, you can assign your own metadata to each resource in the form of tags. For mor information, see Tagging your ElastiCache resources.

      4. Choose Next.

      5. Review your configuration and when satisfied, choose Create.

   On premises

   To finish creating the cluster, follow the steps at Using Outposts.