Step 1: Create and configure the Auto Scaling group

In this step, you'll create an Auto Scaling group that contains a single Amazon Linux, RHEL, or Windows Server Amazon EC2 instance. In a later step, you will instruct Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to add one more Amazon EC2 instance, and CodeDeploy will deploy your revision to it.

To create and configure the Auto Scaling group (CLI)

1. Call the create-launch-template command to create an Amazon EC2 launch template.

   Before you call this command, you need the ID of an AMI that works for this tutorial, represented by the placeholder image-id. You also need the name of an Amazon EC2 instance key pair to enable access to the Amazon EC2 instance, represented by the placeholder key-name.

   To get the ID of an AMI that works with this tutorial:

   1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

   2. In the navigation pane, under Instances, choose Instances, and then choose Launch Instance.

   3. On the Quick Start tab of the Choose an Amazon Machine Image page, note the ID of the AMI next to Amazon Linux 2 AMI, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS, or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2.

      Note

      If you have a custom version of an AMI that is compatible with CodeDeploy, choose it here instead of browsing through the Quick Start tab. For information about using a custom AMI with CodeDeploy and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling, see Using a custom AMI with CodeDeploy and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling.

   For the Amazon EC2 instance key pair, use the name of your Amazon EC2 instance key pair.

   Call the create-launch-template command.

   On local Linux, macOS, or Unix machines:

   aws ec2 create-launch-template \
     --launch-template-name CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template \
     --launch-template-data file://config.json

   The contents of the config.json file:

   { 
     "InstanceType":"t1.micro",
     "ImageId":"image-id",
     "IamInstanceProfile":{
       "Name":"CodeDeployDemo-EC2-Instance-Profile"
     },
     "KeyName":"key-name"
   }

   On local Windows machines:

   aws ec2 create-launch-template --launch-template-name CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template --launch-template-data file://config.json

   The contents of the config.json file:

   { 
     "InstanceType":"t1.micro",
     "ImageId":"image-id",
     "IamInstanceProfile":{
       "Name":"CodeDeployDemo-EC2-Instance-Profile"
     },
     "KeyName":"key-name"
   }

   These commands, along with the config.json file, create an Amazon EC2 launch template named CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template for your Auto Scaling group that will be created in a following step based on the t1.micro Amazon EC2 instance type. Based on your input for ImageId, IamInstanceProfile, and KeyName, the launch template also specifies the AMI ID, the name of the instance profile associated with the IAM role to pass to instances at launch, and the Amazon EC2 key pair to use when connecting to instances.

2. Call the create-auto-scaling-group command to create an Auto Scaling group. You will need the name of one of the Availability Zones in one of the regions listed in Region and endpoints in the AWS General Reference, represented by the placeholder availability-zone.

   Note

   To view a list of Availability Zones in a region, call:

   aws ec2 describe-availability-zones --region region-name

   For example, to view a list of Availability Zones in the US West (Oregon) Region, call:

   aws ec2 describe-availability-zones --region us-west-2

   For a list of region name identifiers, see Resource kit bucket names by Region.

   On local Linux, macOS, or Unix machines:

   aws autoscaling create-auto-scaling-group \
     --auto-scaling-group-name CodeDeployDemo-AS-Group \
     --launch-template CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template,Version='$Latest' \
     --min-size 1 \
     --max-size 1 \
     --desired-capacity 1 \
     --availability-zones availability-zone \
     --tags Key=Name,Value=CodeDeployDemo,PropagateAtLaunch=true

   On local Windows machines:

   aws autoscaling create-auto-scaling-group --auto-scaling-group-name CodeDeployDemo-AS-Group --launch-template LaunchTemplateName=CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template,Version="$Latest" --min-size 1 --max-size 1 --desired-capacity 1 --availability-zones availability-zone --tags Key=Name,Value=CodeDeployDemo,PropagateAtLaunch=true

   These commands create an Auto Scaling group named CodeDeployDemo-AS-Group based on the Amazon EC2 launch template named CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template. This Auto Scaling group has only one Amazon EC2 instance, and it is created in the specified Availability Zone. Each instance in this Auto Scaling group will have the tag Name=CodeDeployDemo. The tag will be used when installing the CodeDeploy agent later.

3. Call the describe-auto-scaling-groups command against CodeDeployDemo-AS-Group:

   aws autoscaling describe-auto-scaling-groups --auto-scaling-group-names CodeDeployDemo-AS-Group --query "AutoScalingGroups[0].Instances[*].[HealthStatus, LifecycleState]" --output text

   Do not proceed until the returned values show Healthy and InService.

4. The instances in your Auto Scaling group must have the CodeDeploy agent installed to be used in CodeDeploy deployments. Install the CodeDeploy agent by calling the create-association command from AWS Systems Manager with the tags that were added when the Auto Scaling group was created.

   aws ssm create-association \
     --name AWS-ConfigureAWSPackage \
     --targets Key=tag:Name,Values=CodeDeployDemo \
    
 --parameters action=Install, name=AWSCodeDeployAgent \
     --schedule-expression "cron(0 2 ? * SUN *)" 

   This command creates an association in Systems Manager State Manager that will install the CodeDeploy agent on all instances in the Auto Scaling group and then attempt to update it at 2:00 every Sunday morning. For more information about the CodeDeploy agent, see Working with the CodeDeploy agent. For more information about Systems Manager, see What is AWS Systems Manager.

To create and configure the Auto Scaling group (console)

1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

2. In the global navigation bar, make sure one of the regions listed in Region and endpoints in the AWS General Reference is selected. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling resources are tied to the region you specify, and CodeDeploy is supported in select regions only.

3. In the navigation bar, under Instances, choose Launch Templates.

4. Choose Create launch template.

5. In the Launch template name and description dialog, for Launch template name, enter CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template. Leave the defaults for the other fields.

6. In the Amazon machine image (AMI) dialog, click the dropdown under AMI, choose an AMI that works with this tutorial:

   1. On the Quick Start tab of the AMI dropdown, choose one of the following: Amazon Linux 2 AMI, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS, or Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2.

      Note

      If you have a custom version of an AMI that is compatible with CodeDeploy, choose it here instead of browsing through the Quick Start tab. For information about using a custom AMI with CodeDeploy and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling, see Using a custom AMI with CodeDeploy and Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling.

7. In Instance type, select the dropdown and choose t1.micro. You can use the search bar to find it more quickly.

8. In the Key pair (login) dialog box, select Choose an existing key pair. In the Select a key pair drop-down list, choose the Amazon EC2 instance key pair you created or used in previous steps.

9. In the Network settings dialog box, choose Virtual Public Cloud (VPC).

   In the Security groups dropdown, choose the security group you created in the tutorial's prerequisites section (CodeDeployDemo-AS-SG).

10. Expand the Advanced details dialog box. In the IAM instance profile dropdown, select the IAM role you created earlier (CodeDeployDemo-EC2-Instance-Profile) under IAM instance profile.

    Leave the rest of the defaults.

11. Choose Create launch template.

12. In the Next steps dialog box, choose Create Auto Scaling group.

13. On the Choose launch template or configuration page, for Auto Scaling group name, type CodeDeployDemo-AS-Group.

14. In the Launch template dialog box, your launch template (CodeDeployDemo-AS-Launch-Template) should be filled in, if not, select it from the dropdown menu. Leave the defaults and choose Next.

15. On the Choose instance launch options page page, in the Network section, for VPC, choose the default VPC. Then for Availability Zones and subnets, choose a default subnet. You must create a VPC if you cannot choose the default. For more information, see Getting started with Amazon VPC.

16. In the Instance type requirements section, use the default setting to simplify this step. (Do not override the launch template.) For this tutorial, you will launch only On-Demand Instances using the instance type specified in your launch template.

17. Choose Next to go to the Configure advanced options page.

18. Keep the default values and choose Next.

19. On the Configure group size and scaling policies page, keep the default Group size values of 1. Choose Next.

20. Skip the step for configuring notifications, and choose Next.

21. On the Add tags page, add a tag to be used when installing the CodeDeploy agent later. Choose Add tag.

    1. In Key, enter Name.

    2. In Value, enter CodeDeployDemo.

    Choose Next.

22. Review your Auto Scaling group information on the Review page, then choose Create Auto Scaling group.

23. In the navigation bar, with Auto Scaling Groups selected, choose CodeDeployDemo-AS-Group, and then choose the Instance Management tab. Do not proceed until the value of InService appears in the Lifecycle column and the value of Healthy appears in the Health Status column.

24. Install the CodeDeploy agent by following the steps in Install the CodeDeploy agent and using the Name=CodeDeployDemo instance tags.