OFICIAL AWS What's New

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling now supports Instance Refresh in CloudFormation

What happened
Based on AWS What's New · Jul 29, 2026

AWS CloudFormation now integrates EC2 Auto Scaling Instance Refresh, enabling automated instance replacement during updates without service disruption or additional cost.

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Key points
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Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling now supports Instance Refresh as a new AWS CloudFormation update policy.
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When you configure the new AutoScalingInstanceRefresh update policy and update properties that require instance replacement, CloudFormation automatically triggers an Instance Refresh.
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With this integration, you can now access Instance Refresh capabilities including replace root volume for in-place updates, launch-before-terminate, alarm-based monitoring, and checkpoints with bake time for controlled rollouts.
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Auto Scaling features such as scaling policies and health checks remain active throughout the update, so your service health is not at risk during deployments.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced support for Instance Refresh within AWS CloudFormation as a new update policy for Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling. This feature automates the replacement of instances when CloudFormation detects changes requiring updates, such as configuration modifications or new launch templates. The integration ensures that updates proceed without manual intervention, reducing operational overhead for managing fleet replacements.

The new AutoScalingInstanceRefresh update policy includes capabilities such as replacing the root volume during in-place updates, using a launch-before-terminate strategy, and implementing alarm-based monitoring to track deployment health. Checkpoints with bake time allow controlled rollouts, ensuring instances are stable before proceeding to the next phase of the update process.

Auto Scaling policies and health checks remain active throughout the Instance Refresh process, maintaining service availability and performance. This prevents disruptions to running workloads while updates are applied, addressing a common challenge in managing scalable infrastructure.

The feature is available across all AWS Regions at no additional cost. Users can implement the AutoScalingInstanceRefresh update policy by referencing the AWS CloudFormation Template Reference documentation for guidance on configuration and deployment.

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