Create a scale group

Create a scale group whose nodes are built from one of your saved images on one plan, and added and removed by the policy you choose. You set up the whole scale group on one page, in three steps: Select Saved Image, Select Plan, and Scale Group Settings. The saved image, the plan, the name, and encryption are set when you create the scale group. To change one, create a new scale group.

Before you begin

• MyAccount is set to Delhi or Chennai, the regions Auto Scaling is offered in. The scale group is created in the region you are working in. In Delhi, an account created on or after May 15, 2026 needs an exemption from E2E before it can create a scale group; see Why is creating a scale group refused in Delhi?
• You have a saved image in that region, in the Ready state, that was saved from a C3, M3, SDC3, E1, or E1WC node, or from the older C, C2, or M series. For Windows, you have one saved from an E1WC node. See Save a node as an image.
• The image starts your application at boot, and holds the SSH key and root password you want to sign in with, because the nodes keep them. See Sign in to scale group nodes.
• You have a security group with inbound rules for the ports your application serves, or you are ready to create one from the page. See Create a security group.
• (Optional) You have a VPC in the Active state, or you are ready to create one from the page. With a VPC, you choose whether the nodes keep the saved image’s public network. See Create a VPC.
• On a prepaid account, you have infra credits for 24 hours of the scale group’s starting nodes.
• Your role in the current project has the create permission for Auto Scaling, which makes Create New Scale Group available.

Open the create page

In MyAccount, under Compute, click Auto Scaling. On Manage Auto Scaling, click Create New Scale Group. If you have no scale group yet, click Get Started instead.

You can also start from the image: on the Saved Images page, in the image’s Actions menu, click Create Scale Group. The create page opens with that image selected.

Select the saved image

Select Saved Image lists your saved images in the Ready state, with their Creation Date. Select the image your nodes will start from. GPU images are left out of the list. If none of your images can be used, the page says:

Currently no Saved Image is available Click Here to create a new Saved Image.

Select the plan

Every node in the scale group gets this plan’s vCPU and RAM, and for plans other than E1, its disk too. Select Plan lists the active plans that match the image’s OS, OS version, and OS category. Which plans those are depends on the node the image came from:

• An image from a C3, M3, or SDC3 node can use any C3, M3, or SDC3 plan with at least the image’s disk size. An image saved from an app node can use only plans for that same app.
• An image from an E1 or E1WC node can use plans of its own type, whatever their disk size; see For an E1 or E1WC image.
• An image of any other type can use plans of its own type with at least the image’s disk size.

So you can save the image from a small node and run the scale group on a larger plan.

To narrow the list, filter it with All vCPU, ALL RAM, and All Storage. On the plan you want, click Select. Select appears on the plans you can use right now. If a plan shows Request instead, click Request to ask E2E for capacity on it, and We have accepted your request, will contact you shortly. confirms it.

From this step on, prices are shown per month and marked Hourly Billed, which means the nodes are billed by the minute at the hourly price. For current prices, see E2E’s pricing page.

For an E1 or E1WC image

For an E1 or E1WC image, each node’s root storage is always the same size as the saved image. The Summary panel shows this as Disk Size. As with E1 nodes, each node gets the IOPS that go with that root storage, and the root storage is charged on top of the plan price. See Node families.

Name the scale group

Scale Group Name is filled in from the image name, a hyphen, and a three-digit number. Keep it, or enter your own name, two to 40 characters long, using letters, digits, underscores, or hyphens. You choose the name once, when you create the scale group.

Set the node counts

Under Scale group parameters, set Minimum Node and Maximum Node, which start at 2 and 5. The new scale group starts with as many nodes as Minimum Node, and its policies keep the count between the two. Set Minimum Node to the fewest nodes that carry your quietest load, and Maximum Node to the most you want to pay for at your busiest. Each running node is billed by the hour.

• Minimum Node can be anything from 1 up to Maximum Node, and the two can be equal.
• Maximum Node can go up to 50. Above that, the field says This cannot be greater than 50.
• If you add a scheduled policy, set its Cardinality values between the two as well; see Set a scheduled policy.

Choose a policy

Under Select Policy, choose how the scale group decides when to add and remove nodes. A scale group needs at least one policy.

• Elastic Policy changes the number of nodes as CPU use goes up and down. Choose it when your load rises and falls without a set pattern. Its starting values add a node when CPU use is more than 60% and remove one when it is less than 30%. Keep them to begin with. See Set an elastic policy.
• Scheduled Policy changes the number of nodes at times you set with cron expressions. Choose it when you know your busy hours. See Set a scheduled policy.
• Elastic and Scheduled Policy does both, and it is the one selected when the page opens. If you keep it, fill in both Upscale Recurrence and Downscale Recurrence before you click Create Scale, or the empty field shows This field is required. To scale on CPU alone, choose Elastic Policy instead.

To change the starting values, fill in the fields as Set an elastic policy or Set a scheduled policy describes, then come back here for the VPC, encryption, and security group. You can switch to another policy later, while the scale group reads Running.

(Optional) Attach a VPC

To give the nodes private addresses in your own network, use a VPC. In the VPC panel, pick a VPC in the Active state. To make one without leaving the page, click Create New VPC, and create it in the panel that opens.

Once you pick a VPC, Enable this option to assign static public IP to scale group. becomes available, already turned on. Leave it on to keep the saved image’s public network, and the nodes get a public IP only when the saved image has one. Turn it off to give the nodes only a private address in the VPC.

Without a VPC, nodes from a C3 image keep the image’s own network and get a public IP.

You can change the scale group’s VPCs and public IP later, while the scale group is stopped. Stopping removes every node. See Manage a scale group’s network and security groups.

(Optional) Encrypt the nodes

To encrypt the data at rest on every node the scale group launches, in the Security panel, turn on Enable Encryption; see Node encryption. You can turn on encryption only when you create the scale group, and it stays on.

(Optional) Enter a passphrase in Enter Passphrase(Optional). Use eight to 12 characters, with at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one of !@#$%^&*. Use only letters, digits, those symbols, and ..

E2E keeps the passphrase with the scale group’s settings and uses it for every new node, including after Start and on each scale-up. You enter the passphrase only here, and the portal keeps it out of sight from then on. The passphrase is permanent for the scale group, so keep a copy somewhere safe.

Choose a security group

In the Security Group panel, your default security group is already selected. A scale group needs a security group, so keep it, or choose one whose inbound rules allow the ports your application serves. To make one without leaving the page, click Create New Security Group.

You can attach and detach security groups later on the scale group’s Security Group tab; see Manage a scale group’s network and security groups.

Create the scale group

Check the Summary panel, and click Create Scale.

You return to the list with Scale group creation in progress., and the scale group reads Creating. Wait until it reads Running, which takes about three minutes in Delhi, or under a minute for a one-node scale group in Chennai. On the way, it can briefly show Deploying Nets, which is normal.

On a prepaid account, you need enough infra credits to run the starting nodes for 24 hours. Without them, the request stops at You do not have sufficient credits to launch the desired nodes in this scale group., which shows the amounts.

To create a scale group from a script instead, see the as-create operation in the API reference.

Check that the scale group is running

The scale group reads Running in the list. Click the scale group to open its tabs. Active Node Details lists each node with its Public IP and Private IP. If you turned on encryption, a shield beside the scale group’s name in the list marks it as encrypted.

Your scale group is running. Next, put a load balancer in front of it; see Put a load balancer in front of a scale group. If creation is refused or the scale group stays on Creating, see Troubleshooting Auto Scaling.