Rule: Auto Scaling Groups with a Load Balancer and Health Checks
This rule specifies that Auto Scaling groups with load balancers should utilize health checks for optimal performance.
| Rule | Auto Scaling groups with a load balancer should use health checks |
| Framework | FedRAMP Low Revision 4 |
| Severity | ✔ Critical |
Rule Description:
Auto Scaling groups with a load balancer should use health checks for FedRAMP Low Revision 4. This rule is part of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) security requirements for cloud service providers.
To ensure your Auto Scaling groups and load balancers meet the necessary security standards, it is essential to enable health checks for your load balancers. Health checks ensure that only healthy instances are registered with the load balancer, providing an efficient and reliable service to your applications.
Troubleshooting Steps:
If you encounter any issues related to health checks for your Auto Scaling groups with a load balancer, you can follow these troubleshooting steps:
- 1.
Verify Load Balancer Configuration: Ensure that your load balancer is configured correctly to perform health checks. Double-check the health check settings, including the protocol, port, and target URI.
- 2.
Check Auto Scaling Group Configuration: Verify that your Auto Scaling group is associated with the correct load balancer. Ensure that the load balancer names are correctly specified in your Auto Scaling group settings.
- 3.
Review Security Groups: Verify that the security groups associated with your Auto Scaling group and load balancer allow the necessary traffic for health checks. Ensure that the inbound and outbound rules are correctly configured to permit the required protocols and ports.
- 4.
Validate Instance Health: Check the health of instances in your Auto Scaling group. Ensure that all instances pass the health checks and are in the "InService" state. If any instances are failing health checks or marked as "OutOfService," troubleshoot the underlying issues with those instances.
- 5.
Monitor Logs and Metrics: Inspect the logs and metrics related to your load balancer and Auto Scaling group. Look for any error messages or abnormal behavior that could indicate health check issues. Utilize monitoring tools provided by your cloud provider to gain insights into the health and performance of your resources.
- 6.
Review Load Balancer Target Groups: If you are using target groups with your load balancer, ensure that the target group configuration aligns with the desired health check settings. Make sure that the target group criteria accurately identify healthy instances.
- 7.
Test Health Checks: Perform manual health check tests to validate if instances are correctly passing the checks. Use tools or scripts to simulate requests to your load balancer and confirm that the health checks function as expected.
- 8.
Contact Cloud Support: If you have followed the above steps and are still experiencing issues with health checks for your Auto Scaling groups with a load balancer, consider reaching out to your cloud provider's support team for further assistance. Provide them with detailed information about the problem, any error messages, and steps you have already taken for troubleshooting.
Necessary Codes:
For AWS users, here are the necessary codes to enable health checks for Auto Scaling groups with a load balancer:
- 1.Create a health check for your load balancer:
aws elbv2 create-target-group --name my-target-group --protocol HTTP --port 80 --health-check-protocol HTTP --health-check-path '/health' --health-check-interval-seconds 30 --health-check-timeout-seconds 10 --healthy-threshold-count 3 --unhealthy-threshold-count 3 --vpc-id my-vpc-id
- 1.Update your Auto Scaling group to associate it with the target group:
aws autoscaling set-load-balancer-target-groups --auto-scaling-group-name my-auto-scaling-group --target-group-arns target-group-arn-1 target-group-arn-2
Ensure to replace
my-target-groupmy-vpc-idmy-auto-scaling-grouptarget-group-arn-1target-group-arn-2Step-by-Step Guide for Remediation:
To enable health checks for Auto Scaling groups with a load balancer, follow these step-by-step instructions:
- 1.Log in to your cloud provider's console.
- 2.Navigate to the Load Balancer section.
- 3.Select the load balancer associated with your Auto Scaling group.
- 4.Go to the Health Check settings or configuration for the load balancer.
- 5.Specify the health check protocol, port, and target URI.
- 6.Configure the health check interval, timeout, healthy threshold, and unhealthy threshold.
- 7.Save the health check settings.
- 8.Access the Auto Scaling group settings.
- 9.Associate the load balancer with the Auto Scaling group.
- 10.Confirm the target group configuration, if applicable.
- 11.Save the changes to update the Auto Scaling group.
- 12.Monitor the instances' health and check if they pass the health checks.
- 13.Test the health checks manually to ensure they function as expected.
- 14.Monitor logs and metrics to verify the health check results.
- 15.If any issues arise, follow the troubleshooting steps outlined earlier to resolve them.
- 16.Regularly review and maintain the health check settings to ensure ongoing compliance with FedRAMP requirements.