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    Auto Scaling:DescribeScalingInstances

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    Auto Scaling:DescribeScalingInstances

    Last Updated:Sep 17, 2026

    Queries the list of ECS instances in a scaling group and instance information by scaling group ID, including the total number of running spot instances, total number of ECS instances, warmup state of ECS instances, and lifecycle state in the current scaling group. You can also filter ECS instances by health check status, lifecycle state, or creation type.

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    RAM authorization

    The table below describes the authorization required to call this API. You can define it in a Resource Access Management (RAM) policy. The table's columns are detailed below:

    • Action: The actions can be used in the Action element of RAM permission policy statements to grant permissions to perform the operation.

    • API: The API that you can call to perform the action.

    • Access level: The predefined level of access granted for each API. Valid values: create, list, get, update, and delete.

    • Resource type: The type of the resource that supports authorization to perform the action. It indicates if the action supports resource-level permission. The specified resource must be compatible with the action. Otherwise, the policy will be ineffective.

      • For APIs with resource-level permissions, required resource types are marked with an asterisk (*). Specify the corresponding Alibaba Cloud Resource Name (ARN) in the Resource element of the policy.

      • For APIs without resource-level permissions, it is shown as All Resources. Use an asterisk (*) in the Resource element of the policy.

    • Condition key: The condition keys defined by the service. The key allows for granular control, applying to either actions alone or actions associated with specific resources. In addition to service-specific condition keys, Alibaba Cloud provides a set of common condition keys applicable across all RAM-supported services.

    • Dependent action: The dependent actions required to run the action. To complete the action, the RAM user or the RAM role must have the permissions to perform all dependent actions.

    Action

    Access level

    Resource type

    Condition key

    Dependent action

    ess:DescribeScalingInstances

    get

    *ScalingGroup

    acs:ess:{#regionId}:{#accountId}:scalinggroup/{#ScalingGroupId}

    		 None None

    Request parameters

    Parameter

    Type

    Required

    Description

    Example
    RegionId

    string

    Yes

    The ID of the region where the scaling group resides.

    cn-hangzhou
    ScalingGroupId

    string

    No

    The ID of the scaling group.

    asg-bp1igpak5ft1flyp****
    ScalingConfigurationId

    string

    No

    The ID of the associated scaling configuration.

    asc-bp1i65jd06v04vdh****
    HealthStatus

    string

    No

    The health check status of the ECS instance or elastic container instance in the scaling group. ECS instances or elastic container instances that are not in the Running state are considered unhealthy. Valid values:

    • Healthy: The ECS instance or elastic container instance is healthy.

    • Unhealthy: The ECS instance or elastic container instance is unhealthy.

    Auto Scaling automatically removes unhealthy ECS instances or elastic container instances from the scaling group and releases instances created by automatic creation.

    Whether manually added ECS instances or elastic container instances are released depends on their managed state. If the instance lifecycle is not managed by the scaling group, the instance is only removed but not released. If the instance lifecycle is managed by the scaling group, the instance is removed and released.

    Note

    Ensure that your account has sufficient active quota. If your account has an overdue payment, all pay-as-you-go ECS instances or elastic container instances (including pay-as-you-go instances and spot instances) are stopped or even released. For more information about how the instance status of ECS instances or elastic container instances in a scaling group changes after an overdue payment occurs, see Overdue payments.

    Healthy
    LifecycleState

    string

    No

    The lifecycle state of the ECS instance, elastic container instance, or managed instance in the scaling group. Valid values:

    • InService: The instance is added to the scaling group and provides services as Normal.

    • Pending: The instance is being added to the scaling group. During this procedure, the instance is also added to the backend server group of the associated load balancing instance and to the access whitelist of the associated ApsaraDB RDS instance.

    • Pending:Wait: The instance is waiting to be added. If a lifecycle hook that applies to scale-out activities is created for the scaling group, the instance is suspended during the scale-out activity and waits for the lifecycle hook timeout epoch to end.

    • Protected: The instance is protected. The instance provides services as Normal, but Auto Scaling does not manage the lifecycle of the instance. You must manually manage the lifecycle of the instance.

    • Standby: The instance is in the standby state. The instance does not provide services, the weight of SLB backend server is set to zero, and Auto Scaling does not manage the lifecycle of the instance. You must manually manage the lifecycle of the instance.

    • Stopped: The instance is stopped. The ECS instance, elastic container instance, or managed instance is stopped and does not provide services.

    • Removing: The instance is being removed from the scaling group. During this procedure, the instance is also removed from the backend server group of the associated load balancing instance and from the access whitelist of the associated ApsaraDB RDS instance.

    • Removing:Wait: The instance is waiting to be removed. If a lifecycle hook that applies to scale-down activities is created for the scaling group, the instance is suspended during the scale-down activity and waits for the lifecycle hook timeout epoch to end.

    Note

    Managed instances do not support lifecycle hooks, load balancing association, or health check feature.

    InService
    CreationType

    string

    No

    The method used to create instances in the scaling group. Valid values:

    • AutoCreated: The ECS instance or elastic container instance is created by automatic creation based on the instance configuration source.

    • Attached: The ECS instance or elastic container instance is not created by Auto Scaling but manually added to the scaling group.

    • Managed: The managed instance is not created by Auto Scaling but manually added to the scaling group.

    AutoCreated
    PageNumber

    integer

    No

    The page number of the instance list. Minimum value: 1.

    Default value: 1.

    1
    PageSize

    integer

    No

    The number of entries per page for paging. Maximum value: 100.

    Default value: 10.

    10
    ScalingActivityId

    string

    No

    The ID of the scaling activity.

    asa-bp1c9djwrgxjyk31****
    InstanceId

    array

    No

    The IDs of instances in the scaling group.

    i-bp109k5j3dum1ce6****

    string

    No

    The ID of an instance in the scaling group. Valid values of N: 1 to 20.

    Invalid InstanceId values are ignored in the query results, and no error is returned.

    i-bp109k5j3dum1ce6****
    CreationTypes

    array

    No

    The methods used to create instances in the scaling group. You can specify only one of this parameter and CreationType.

    string

    No

    The method used to create instances in the scaling group. You cannot specify both this parameter and CreationType. Valid values:

    • AutoCreated: The ECS instance is created by automatic creation based on the instance configuration source.

    • Attached: The ECS instance is not created by Auto Scaling but manually added to the scaling group.

    • Managed: The managed instance is not created by Auto Scaling but manually added to the scaling group.

    Note

    When you configure this parameter, you can specify multiple creation types (for example, AutoCreated, Attached, and Managed).

    AutoCreated
    LifecycleStates

    array

    No

    The lifecycle states of ECS instances, elastic container instances, or managed instances in the scaling group. You can specify only one of this parameter and LifecycleState. We recommend that you use this parameter.

    string

    No

    The lifecycle state of the ECS instance, elastic container instance, or managed instance in the scaling group. Valid values:

    • InService: The instance is added to the scaling group and provides services as Normal.

    • Pending: The instance is being added to the scaling group. During this procedure, the instance is also added to the backend server group of the associated load balancing instance and to the access whitelist of the associated ApsaraDB RDS instance.

    • Pending:Wait: The instance is waiting to be added. If a lifecycle hook that applies to scale-out activities is created for the scaling group, the instance is suspended during the scale-out activity and waits for the lifecycle hook timeout epoch to end.

    • Protected: The instance is protected. The instance provides services as Normal, but Auto Scaling does not manage the lifecycle of the instance. You must manually manage the lifecycle of the instance.

    • Standby: The instance is in the standby state. The instance does not provide services, the weight of SLB backend server is set to zero, and Auto Scaling does not manage the lifecycle of the instance. You must manually manage the lifecycle of the instance.

    • Stopped: The instance is stopped. The ECS instance, elastic container instance, or managed instance is stopped and does not provide services.

    • Removing: The instance is being removed from the scaling group. During this procedure, the instance is also removed from the backend server group of the associated load balancing instance and from the access whitelist of the associated ApsaraDB RDS instance.

    • Removing:Wait: The instance is waiting to be removed. If a lifecycle hook that applies to scale-down activities is created for the scaling group, the instance is suspended during the scale-down activity and waits for the lifecycle hook timeout epoch to end.

    Note

    Managed instances do not support lifecycle hooks, load balancing association, or health check feature.

    InService

    Response elements

    Element

    Type

    Description

    Example

    object

    RequestId

    string

    The request ID.

    B13527BF-1FBD-4334-A512-20F5E9D3****
    PageSize

    integer

    The number of entries per page.

    10
    PageNumber

    integer

    The current page number.

    1
    TotalSpotCount

    integer

    The total number of running spot instances in the current scaling group.

    4
    TotalCount

    integer

    The total number of instances.

    1
    ScalingInstances

    object

    ScalingInstance

    array<object>

    The collection of instance information.

    object

    The collection of instance information.

    CreationTime

    string

    The time when the instance was added to the scaling group. The time is displayed in UTC in ISO 8601 format, accurate to the minute.

    2020-05-18T03:11Z
    LoadBalancerWeight

    integer

    [Deprecated] The load balancing instance weight. This parameter is deprecated.

    50
    LaunchTemplateId

    string

    The ID of the launch template.

    lt-m5e3ofjr1zn1aw7****
    InstanceId

    string

    The ID of the instance.

    i-bp109k5j3dum1ce6****
    SpotStrategy

    string

    The preemption policy of the spot instance. Valid values:

    • SpotWithPriceLimit: The spot instance has a maximum bid price.

    • SpotAsPriceGo: The system automatically bids at the current market price.

    SpotWithPriceLimit
    LaunchTemplateVersion

    string

    The version of the launch template.

    1
    HealthStatus

    string

    The health check status of the ECS instance or elastic container instance in the scaling group. ECS instances or elastic container instances that are not in the Running state are considered unhealthy. Valid values:

    • Healthy: The ECS instance or elastic container instance is healthy.

    • Unhealthy: The ECS instance or elastic container instance is unhealthy.

    Auto Scaling automatically removes unhealthy ECS instances or elastic container instances from the scaling group and releases instances created by automatic creation.

    Whether manually added ECS instances or elastic container instances are released depends on their managed state. If the instance lifecycle is not managed by the scaling group, the instance is only removed but not released. If the instance lifecycle is managed by the scaling group, the instance is removed and released.

    Note

    Ensure that your account has sufficient active quota. If your account has an overdue payment, all pay-as-you-go ECS instances or elastic container instances (including pay-as-you-go instances and spot instances) are stopped or even released. For more information about how the instance status of ECS instances or elastic container instances in a scaling group changes after an overdue payment occurs, see Overdue payments.

    Healthy
    ScalingGroupId

    string

    The ID of the scaling group to which the instance belongs.

    asg-bp1igpak5ft1flyp****
    WarmupState

    string

    The warmup state of the instance. Valid values:

    • NoNeedWarmup: No warmup is required.

    • WaitingForInstanceWarmup: The instance is waiting for the warmup to complete.

    • InstanceWarmupFinish: The warmup is complete.

    NoNeedWarmup
    LifecycleState

    string

    The lifecycle state of the ECS instance, elastic container instance, or managed instance in the scaling group. Valid values:

    • InService: The instance is added to the scaling group and provides services as Normal.

    • Pending: The instance is being added to the scaling group. During this procedure, the instance is also added to the backend server group of the associated load balancing instance and to the access whitelist of the associated ApsaraDB RDS instance.

    • Pending:Wait: The instance is waiting to be added. If a lifecycle hook that applies to scale-out activities is created for the scaling group, the instance is suspended during the scale-out activity and waits for the lifecycle hook timeout epoch to end.

    • Protected: The instance is protected. The instance provides services as Normal, but Auto Scaling does not manage the lifecycle of the instance. You must manually manage the lifecycle of the instance.

    • Standby: The instance is in the standby state. The instance does not provide services, the weight of SLB backend server is set to zero, and Auto Scaling does not manage the lifecycle of the instance. You must manually manage the lifecycle of the instance.

    • Stopped: The instance is stopped. The ECS instance, elastic container instance, or managed instance is stopped and does not provide services.

    • Removing: The instance is being removed from the scaling group. During this procedure, the instance is also removed from the backend server group of the associated load balancing instance and from the access whitelist of the associated ApsaraDB RDS instance.

    • Removing:Wait: The instance is waiting to be removed. If a lifecycle hook that applies to scale-down activities is created for the scaling group, the instance is suspended during the scale-down activity and waits for the lifecycle hook timeout epoch to end.

    Note

    Managed instances do not support lifecycle hooks, load balancing association, or health check feature.

    InService
    CreationType

    string

    The method used to create the instance in the scaling group. Valid values:

    • AutoCreated: The ECS instance is created by automatic creation based on the instance configuration source.

    • Attached: The ECS instance is not created by Auto Scaling but manually added to the scaling group.

    • Managed: The managed instance is not created by Auto Scaling but manually added to the scaling group.

    AutoCreated
    ZoneId

    string

    The ID of the zone where the instance resides.

    cn-hangzhou-g
    ScalingConfigurationId

    string

    The ID of the associated scaling configuration.

    asc-bp1i65jd06v04vdh****
    Entrusted

    boolean

    Indicates whether the manually added instance is managed by the scaling group. Managed instances that are manually added are released when they are removed from the scaling group (excluding manual removal). Valid values:

    • true: The instance is managed by the scaling group.

    • false: The instance is not managed by the scaling group.

    true
    WeightedCapacity

    integer

    The weight of the instance type. The weight indicates the capacity that a single instance of this instance type represents in the scaling group. A higher weight means that fewer instances of this type are required to meet the expected capacity.

    4
    CreatedTime

    string

    The time when the instance was added to the scaling group. The time is displayed in UTC in ISO 8601 format, accurate to the second.

    2020-05-18T03:11:39Z
    ScalingActivityId

    string

    The ID of the scaling activity during which the instance was added to the scaling group.

    asa-bp1c9djwrgxjyk31****
    InstanceType

    string

    The instance type of the instance.

    ecs.n1.small
    ScalingInstanceId

    string

    The instance identity in the scaling group, which has a one-to-one mapping with the ECS instance or elastic container instance identity.

    asi-j6cj1gcte640ekhb****
    PrivateIpAddress

    string

    The internal IP address of the instance in the scaling group.

    1**.2*.1**.2**
    ReplaceStatus

    string

    The instance replacement process that the instance is in. Valid values:

    • Normal: The instance is not in any replacement process.

    • ReBalance: The instance is in the scaling group rebalancing replacement process.

    • SpotRemedy: The instance is in the spot instance remediation replacement process.

    • MaxInstanceLifetimeExpire: The instance is in the maximum instance lifetime expiration replacement process.

    • InstanceRefresh: The instance is in the instance refresh replacement process.

    • SpotReplaceOnDemand: The instance is in the spot-to-pay-as-you-go replacement process.

    ReBalance

    Examples

    Success response

    JSON format

    {
  "RequestId": "B13527BF-1FBD-4334-A512-20F5E9D3****",
  "PageSize": 10,
  "PageNumber": 1,
  "TotalSpotCount": 4,
  "TotalCount": 1,
  "ScalingInstances": {
    "ScalingInstance": [
      {
        "CreationTime": "2020-05-18T03:11Z",
        "LoadBalancerWeight": 50,
        "LaunchTemplateId": "lt-m5e3ofjr1zn1aw7****",
        "InstanceId": "i-bp109k5j3dum1ce6****",
        "SpotStrategy": "SpotWithPriceLimit",
        "LaunchTemplateVersion": "1",
        "HealthStatus": "Healthy",
        "ScalingGroupId": "asg-bp1igpak5ft1flyp****",
        "WarmupState": "NoNeedWarmup",
        "LifecycleState": "InService",
        "CreationType": "AutoCreated",
        "ZoneId": "cn-hangzhou-g",
        "ScalingConfigurationId": "asc-bp1i65jd06v04vdh****",
        "Entrusted": true,
        "WeightedCapacity": 4,
        "CreatedTime": "2020-05-18T03:11:39Z",
        "ScalingActivityId": "asa-bp1c9djwrgxjyk31****",
        "InstanceType": "ecs.n1.small",
        "ScalingInstanceId": "asi-j6cj1gcte640ekhb****",
        "PrivateIpAddress": "1**.2*.1**.2**",
        "ReplaceStatus": "ReBalance"
      }
    ]
  }
}

    Error codes

    See Error Codes for a complete list.

    Release notes

    See Release Notes for a complete list.