What does an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group manage?

An Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group is designed specifically to manage the number of EC2 instances in response to varying levels of demand. It automatically adjusts the number of running instances based on specific policies that can be set according to real-time demand or other metrics, such as CPU utilization or request counts. This ensures that there are enough instances available to handle increased traffic while also reducing the number during periods of lower demand to optimize costs.

For instance, if an application experiences a surge in user requests, the Auto Scaling group can launch additional instances to seamlessly handle the increased load. Conversely, during times of lower activity, it can terminate instances to minimize expenses. This dynamic adjustment not only enhances the availability and scalability of applications but also helps in resource management and cost-effectiveness.

In contrast, managing applications, network traffic, or billing information are responsibilities handled by other AWS services. Applications may require different configurations and setups, which are outside the scope of what Auto Scaling groups manage. Network traffic management typically falls under the realm of load balancers or VPC configurations, while billing and usage tracking are handled through the AWS billing dashboard and services like AWS Cost Explorer.