Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling now supports Instance Refresh in CloudFormation

This article announces that Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling now supports Instance Refresh as a new AWS CloudFormation update policy for automated instance replacement.

• CloudFormation automatically triggers Instance Refresh when updating properties requiring instance replacement
• Supports replace root volume for in-place updates and launch-before-terminate capabilities
• Includes alarm-based monitoring and checkpoints with bake time for controlled rollouts
• Auto Scaling features like scaling policies and health checks remain active during updates
• Rollback handled through CloudFormation stack rollback
• Available in all AWS Regions at no additional cost

This integration enables safer, more controlled deployments by automating instance refresh while maintaining service health and enabling easy rollback.