Auto Scaling Group (ASG)

  • Updated on Mar 30, 2026
  • Published on Feb 9, 2026
  • 5 minute(s) read
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This guide provides instructions on how to onboard your AWS Auto Scaling Groups (ASGs) to the Lucidity platform. This allows you to manage and optimize ASG-based workloads directly from the dashboard.

Scaling Group Onboarding Process

The onboarding process is designed to be a guided, step-by-step workflow within the Lucidity dashboard.

Navigate to Scaling Groups Section

First, open the Scaler page from the dashboard's left navigation panel. You will see a new dropdown menu at the top of the page. Select Scaling Groups from this dropdown.

By default, you will land on the Managed section. Please toggle to the Unmanaged section to see a list of all your available ASGs that have not yet been onboarded.

Initiate Onboarding

From the Unmanaged list, click on the row of the Scaling Group you wish to onboard. A side panel will open, presenting you with the onboarding workflow.

Choose Onboarding Method

You have two options for onboarding:

  • Create New AMI (Recommended): This is the standard method for first-time onboarding. Lucidity will guide you through creating a new, optimized Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with the Lucidity agent already installed. This AMI will then be used by your Scaling Group.

  • Use Existing AMI: This option is for users who have already prepared an AMI with the Lucidity agent installed and partitions onboarded. You will be asked to provide the existing AMI ID to proceed.

    Select your preferred option and click Proceed.

    Note

    Selecting Use Existing AMI will skip the initial setup and take you directly to Swap AMI.

Follow Onboarding Steps

The workflow is divided into three main steps, which are tracked by a progress indicator at the top of the panel.

Note

User can track onboarding progress using the progress bar next to each Scaling Group in the Unmanaged section. The bar is divided into three segments, with each segment representing one of the three key steps of the onboarding process.

Step 1: Create and Onboard Template Instance

A Template Instance is a temporary EC2 instance used as a source to create your new, Lucidity-configured AMI.

  1. On the Create and Onboard Template Instance card, select the volume types you wish to onboard (e.g., Only Root, Only Data).

  2. Optionally, before launching, you can review the specific configuration that will be used for the template instance.

    • Click the View Config button.

    • A panel will display key details for the instance, such as its Instance Type, VPC, Subnet, and Security Groups.

    • After reviewing, click the Back icon to return to the main onboarding steps.

  3. When ready, click the Launch button. You will be redirected to the AWS Console to create a CloudFormation stack, which will launch the template instance.

  4. When creating a stack in AWS CloudFormation:

    • Scroll to Capabilities.

    • Check “I acknowledge that AWS CloudFormation might create IAM resources with custom names.”

    • Click Create stack.

  5. After completing the steps in AWS, return to the Lucidity dashboard.

    Note

    Once you launch the stack in AWS, this page will wait for 5 minutes, checking every 30 seconds for the new instance automatically. If it times out, you must delete the old stack in your AWS account before clicking "Launch" here again.

  6. Lucidity will automatically detect the new template instance and begin onboarding its volumes. You can monitor the real-time progress of each volume directly from the panel.

  7. Once all eligible volumes are successfully onboarded, the Proceed button will become active.

Step 2: Create AMI

This is a manual step performed in the AWS Console, but our platform will guide you.

  1. Follow the step-by-step instructions and the accompanying video guide in the panel to create a new AMI from the template instance you just configured.

    1. Go to the EC2 service in your AWS Console and select your template instance.

    2. Click Actions > Image and templates > Create image.

    3. On the "Create image" page, fill in the required details, such as Image name and description.

    4. Add any tags your organization requires.

    5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Create image.

  2. Once you have created the AMI in your AWS account, click Proceed in the Lucidity panel. Our system will then fetch the new AMI.

    Note

    Once the newly created AMI is successfully fetched, the system automatically triggers the deletion of the template instance. You can track its progress in the Swap AMI step.

Step 3: Swap AMI

This is the final step to complete the onboarding.

  1. Follow the final set of on-screen instructions to update your Scaling Group's launch template to use the new Lucidity-configured AMI.

    1. Launch template section

      1. Navigate to the launch template associated with your Scaling Group.

      2. Click Actions > Modify template (Create new version).

      3. In Modify template page, fill the template version description, scroll down and go to Application & OS Images section > My AMIs > select the Lucidity-configured AMI

      4. Add any tags your organization requires.

      5. Review other details, then click Create template version.

      6. Return to the Launch Templates page.

      7. With your template still selected, click Actions > Set default version.

      8. From the dropdown menu, choose the new version you just created and confirm your selection.

    2. Auto-scaling group section

      1. Navigate to your Auto Scaling Groups

      2. Ensure the "Launch Template" section indicates it is using the Default version. If it is set to a specific version number or latest, you may need to edit the ASG to use the default.

      3. Then, navigate to the Instance refresh tab.

      4. Click Start instance refresh.

      5. Select the Instance replacement option > Launch before terminating (recommended)

      6. Set the minimum and maximum healthy percentage along with the instance warmup period, then uncheck Enable Skip Matching. If scale-in protection is enabled, make sure to select “Replace” in the Scale-in protected instances section.

      7. Review the rollout details to match your operational requirements once again, and click Start instance refresh to begin the rollout.

  2. After updating the template in AWS, click Proceed in the Lucidity panel.

  3. Our system will perform final checks to confirm that the AMI has been swapped and that new, healthy instances are launching.

  4. Once the checks pass, the Finish button will appear for your acknowledgment. Click it, or the system will automatically proceed after 10 seconds. And your Scaling Group will then move to the Managed section, where you can monitor its performance and all ongoing Auto-Scaler operations.

Managing Onboarded Scaling Groups

Once the onboarding is complete, your Scaling Group will appear in the Managed section of the Scaler > Scaling Groups page.

Here you can monitor key metrics for your group, such as utilization, savings, and number of running instances. If new instances are still rolling out with the updated AMI, a progress bar will be displayed.

Clicking on any managed Scaling Group will open a detailed view where you can find:

  • An Overview tab with performance graphs and high-level metrics.

  • An Instances tab that lists all individual instances running within the group, along with their specific utilization and savings data.

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