Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling adds AWS Lambda functions as notification targets for lifecycle hooks

Customers can now use AWS Lambda functions as notification targets for Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling (ASG) lifecycle hooks. This new feature empowers customers to seamlessly integrate Lambda functions, enabling custom actions when an instance enters a wait state. It streamlines the workflow by directly triggering Lambda functions, offering a simplified approach to event-driven processing.

ASG lifecycle hooks enable customers to create solutions that are aware of events in the Auto Scaling instance lifecycle and perform a custom action on instances when the corresponding lifecycle event occurs. For example, when a scale-in event occurs, a lifecycle hook pauses the instance before it is terminated and sends the customer a notification. While the instance is in the wait state, the customer can invoke an AWS Lambda function to download logs or other data before the instance is fully terminated. Previously, to invoke Lambda functions with lifecycle hooks, customers needed to use intermediary services like Amazon EventBridge, Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topics, or Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) queues. With this update, customers can directly specify a Lambda function as the notification target, simplifying their infrastructure by reducing intermediate dependencies.

To get started, customers first grant permission to EC2 Auto Scaling using a Lambda resource-based policy, similar to what they already do today for a custom termination policy. They can then specify the Lambda function Amazon Resource Name (ARN) as the notification target when creating Auto Scaling groups or add lifecycle hooks.

This feature is available in all AWS regions, including AWS GovCloud (US) Regions. To get started, please visit Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling user guide.