Using the App Autoscaler CLI

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This topic explains how to use the App Autoscaler command-line interface (CLI).

The App Autoscaler automatically scales Cloud Foundry apps in response to demand. The App Autoscaler CLI lets you control the App Autoscaler from your local command line by extending the Cloud Foundry command-line interface (cf CLI).

Install the App Autoscaler CLI Plugin

Before you can run App Autoscaler CLI commands on your local machine, you must install the App Autoscaler CLI plugin.

To install the plugin, do the following:

  1. Download the plugin from Pivotal Network.

    Note: Ensure that you download the App Autoscaler CLI plugin v2.0 or later. In addition, the plugin requires Pivotal Application Service v2.2 or later.

  2. To install the App Autoscaler CLI plugin, run the following command:

    cf install-plugin LOCATION-OF-PLUGIN

    Where LOCATION-OF-PLUGIN is the path to the binary file you downloaded from Pivotal Network. For example: 

    $ cf install-plugin ~/Downloads/autoscaler-for-pcf-cliplugin-macosx64-binary-2.0.91
    For more information about installing cf CLI plugins, see Installing a Plugin.

Create and Bind the Autoscaling Service

Before you can use the App Autoscaler, you must create an Autoscaling service and bind that service to your app. See the Managing Service Instances with the cf CLI topic for more information.

View Apps

Run cf autoscaling-apps to view all the apps that are bound to an autoscaler service instance in a space, their instance limits, and whether or not they are enabled.

$ cf autoscaling-apps

Presenting autoscaler apps in org my-org / my-space autoscaling as user
Name                  Guid            Enabled   Min Instances   Max Instances
test-app              guid            true      1               4
test-app-2            guid-2          false     10              40
OK

Update Instance Limits

Run cf update-autoscaling-limits APP-NAME MIN-INSTANCE-LIMIT MAX-INSTANCE-LIMIT to update the upper and lower app instance limits. The App Autoscaler will not attempt to scale beyond these limits. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app. Replace MIN-INSTANCE-LIMIT with the minimum number of apps, and MAX-INSTANCE-LIMIT with the maximum number of apps.

$ cf update-autoscaling-limits test-app 10 40

Updated autoscaling instance limits for app test-app for org my-org / my-space testing as admin
OK

Enable Autoscaling

Run cf enable-autoscaling APP-NAME to enable autoscaling on your app. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app.

$ cf enable-autoscaling test-app-2

Enabled autoscaling for app test-app-2 for org my-org / my-space testing as admin
OK

Note: By default, instance limits are set to Min Instances:-1 and Max Instances:-1. To enable autoscaling, you must first Update Instance Limits.

Disable Autoscaling

Run cf disable-autoscaling APP-NAME to disable autoscaling on your app. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app.

$ cf disable-autoscaling test-app

Disabled autoscaling for app test-app for org my-org / my-space testing as admin
OK

View Rules

Run cf autoscaling-rules APP-NAME to view the rules that the App Autoscaler uses to determine when to scale your app. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app.

$ cf autoscaling-rules test-app

Presenting autoscaler rules for app test-app for org my-org / my-space autoscaling as user
Rule Guid      Rule Type         Rule Sub Type   Min Threshold   Max Threshold
guid           cpu                               10              20
guid-2         http_throughput                   20              30
OK

Create a Rule

Run cf create-autoscaling-rule APP-NAME RULE-TYPE MIN-THRESHOLD MAX-THRESHOLD [--subtype SUBTYPE] [--metric METRIC] [--comparison-metric COMPARISON-METRIC] to create a new autoscaling rule.

Replace the placeholders as follows:

  • APP-NAME is the name of your app.
  • RULE-TYPE is the type of your scaling rule.
  • MIN-THRESHOLD is the minimum threshold for the metric.
  • MAX-THRESHOLD is the maximum threshold for the metric.

You can use the following command options:

  • --metric, -m is the metric for a Custom rule.
  • --comparison-metric, -c is the comparison metric for a Compare rule.
  • --subtype, -s is the rule subtype.

For example:

$ cf create-autoscaling-rule test-app http_latency 10 20 -s avg_99th

Created autoscaler rule for app test-app for org my-org / space my-space as user
Rule Guid             Rule Type         Rule Sub Type   Min Threshold   Max Threshold
guid-3                http_latency      avg_99th        10              20

$ cf create-autoscaling-rule test-app custom 9380 9381 --metric jvm.classes.loaded
Created autoscaler rule for app test-app in org my-org / space my-space as user
OK
Guid     Type     Metric               Sub Type   Min Threshold   Max Threshold
guid-7   custom   jvm.classes.loaded              9380.00         9381.00

$ cf create-autoscaling-rule test-app compare .79 .8  --metric jvm.memory.used --comparison-metric jvm.memory.max
Created autoscaler rule for app test-app in org my-org / space my-space as user
OK
Guid     Type      Metric                             Sub Type   Min Threshold   Max Threshold
guid-8   compare   jvm.memory.used / jvm.memory.max              0.79            0.80

Valid Rule Types and Subtypes

For a list of valid types and subtypes, see the following:

  • type CPU
  • type memory
  • type http_throughput
  • type http_latency
    • sub_type avg_99th or avg_95th

      Note: http_latency requires a rule subtype.

      Note: http_latency threshold units are in ms.

  • type rabbitmq
    • sub_type YOUR-QUEUE-NAME
  • type custom
    • metric METRIC-NAME
  • type compare
    • metric METRIC-NAME
    • comparison_metric METRIC-NAME

Delete a Rule

Run cf delete-autoscaling-rule APP-NAME RULE-GUID [--force] to delete a single autoscaling rule. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app, and replace RULE-GUID with the GUID.

$ cf delete-autoscaling-rule test-app guid-2

Really delete rule guid-2 for app test-app?> [yN]:y
Deleted rule guid-2 for autoscaler app test-app for org my-org / space my-space as admin
OK

Delete All Rules

Run cf delete-autoscaling-rules APP-NAME [--force] to delete all autoscaling rules. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app.

$ cf delete-autoscaling-rules test-app

Really delete ALL rules for app test-app?> [yN]:y
Deleted rules for autoscaler app test-app for org my-org / space my-space as admin
OK

View Autoscaling Events

Run cf autoscaling-events APP-NAME to view recent events related to autoscaling for your app. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app.

$ cf autoscaling-events test-app

Time                  Description
2032-01-01T00:00:00Z  Scaled up from 3 to 4 instances. Current cpu of 20 is above upper threshold of 10.

View Autoscaler Scheduled Instance Limit Changes

Run cf autoscaling-slcs APP-NAME to view all scheduled instance limit changes. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app.

For example:

$ cf autoscaling-slcs test-app

Guid     First Execution        Min Instances   Max Instances   Recurrence
guid-5   2018-06-12T22:00:00Z   0               1               Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr

Create Autoscaler Scheduled Instance Limit Change

Run cf create-autoscaling-slc APP-NAME DATE-TIME MIN-INSTANCES MAX-INSTANCES [--recurrence RECURRENCE] to create a new scheduled instance limit change.

Replace the placeholders as follows:

  • APP-NAME is the name of your app.
  • DATE-TIME is the date and time of the change.
  • MIN-INSTANCES and MAX-INSTANCES are the minimum and maximum values of the range within which App Autoscaler can change the instance count for an app.
  • RECURRENCE (optional) is the day of the week for which you want to repeat the change.

For example:

$ cf create-autoscaling-slc test-app 2018-06-14T15:00:00Z 1 2 --recurrence Sa

Created scheduled autoscaler instance limit change for app test-app in org my-org / space my-space as user
OK
Guid     First Execution        Min Instances   Max Instances   Recurrence
guid-6   2018-06-14T15:00:00Z   1               2               Sa

Delete Autoscaler Scheduled Instance Limit Change

Run cf delete-autoscaling-slc APP-NAME SLC-GUID [--force] to delete a scheduled instance limit change. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app and SLC-GUID with the GUID of your scheduled instance limit change.

For example:

$ cf delete-autoscaling-slc test-app slc-guid

Really delete scheduled limit change slc-guid for app test-app?> [yN]:y
Deleted scheduled limit change slc-guid for app test-app in org my-org / space my-space as user
OK

Configure with a Manifest

Run cf configure-autoscaling APP-NAME MANIFEST-FILE-PATH to use a service manifest to configure your rules, add instance limits, and set scheduled limit changes at the same time. Replace APP-NAME with the name of your app, and replace MANIFEST-FILE-PATH with the path and name of your Autoscaler manifest.

An example manifest:

---
instance_limits:
  min: 1
  max: 2
rules:
- rule_type: "http_latency"
  rule_sub_type: "avg_99th"
  threshold:
    min: 10
    max: 20
scheduled_limit_changes:
- recurrence: 10
  executes_at: "2032-01-01T00:00:00Z"
  instance_limits:
    min: 10
    max: 20

$ cf configure-autoscaling test-app autoscaler-manifest.yml

Setting autoscaler settings for app test-app for org my-org / space my-space as user
OK

A rules block must be present in your Autoscaler manifest. If your app does not require any rules changes, include an empty block:

---
instance_limits:
  min: 1
  max: 1
rules: []
scheduled_limit_changes:
- recurrence: 365
  executes_at: "2032-01-01T00:00:00Z"
  instance_limits:
    min: 0
    max: 0

A scheduled_limit_changes block must be present in your Autoscaler manifest. If your app does not require any scheduled instance limit changes, include an empty block:

---
instance_limits:
  min: 1
  max: 2
rules:
- rule_type: "http_latency"
  rule_sub_type: "avg_99th"
  threshold:
     min: 10
     max: 20
scheduled_limit_changes: []

App Autoscaler CLI Known Issues

The App Autoscaler CLI has the following known issues:

  • The CLI returns an error message if you have more than one instance of the App Autoscaler service running in the same space.

    • To prevent this error, delete all but one App Autoscaler service instance from any space that the App Autoscaler service runs in.

  • The CLI may output odd characters in Windows shells that do not support text color.

    • To prevent this error, run SET CF_COLOR=false in your Windows shell pane before you run App Autoscaler CLI commands.
    • Note that some Windows shells do not support the CF_COLOR setting.