Launch Configurations & Launch Templates

Launch Configurations

  • Instance configuration template that an Auto Scaling group uses to launch EC2 instances.

  • Includes:

    • Amazon Machine Image (AMI) ID.

    • Instance type.

    • Key pair.

    • Security groups.

    • And all the other parameters that you use to launch EC2 instances.

  • Can specify your launch configuration with multiple Auto Scaling groups.

  • Can only specify one launch configuration for an Auto Scaling group at a time.

  • Can't change a launch configuration after you've created it.

    • To change the launch configuration for an Auto Scaling group, you must create a launch configuration and then update your Auto Scaling group with it.

Launch Templates

  • Similar to a launch configuration but better.

  • Includes:

    • Amazon Machine Image (AMI) ID.

    • Instance type.

    • Key pair.

    • Security groups.

    • And all the other parameters that you use to launch EC2 instances.

  • However, defining a launch template instead of a launch configuration allows you to have multiple versions of a template.

    • With versioning, you can create a subset of the full set of parameters and then reuse it to create other templates or template versions.

    • For example, you can create a default template that defines common configuration parameters and allow the other parameters to be specified as part of another version of the same template.

  • Launch templates ensure you have access to the latest features and improvements.

  • Can also use Launch Templates to launch EC2 Instances, whereas with Launch Configurations, you can't.

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