The Amazon EKS AutoScaler automatically adjusts the number of worker nodes in an Amazon EKS cluster based on resource utilization and scaling demands.
Before we started using EKS Cluster Autoscaler, managing node scaling in our Kubernetes cluster was a constant struggle. Here’s what we were dealing with:
High Costs: We had to keep extra EC2 nodes running all the time to avoid pod scheduling issues — even when they weren’t being used.
Pod Failures: If we tried to reduce node count to save money, pods would often stay Pending due to lack of resources.
Manual Work: Scaling nodes up or down was a manual task—time–consuming and error–prone.
Slow Deployments: During deployments or traffic spikes, our workloads would get stuck because there weren’t enough resources.
Unpredictable Demand: Our workloads change frequently, but our cluster capacity doesn’t— leading to overuse or underuse of nodes.
These challenges pushed us to explore Cluster Autoscaler, and it turned out to be a game–changer