3.4 Ensure Auto-Scaling Launch Configuration for App-Tier is configured to use an approved Amazon Machine Image

Information

Auto Scaling helps maintain application availability and allows you to scale your Amazon EC2 capacity up or down automatically according to conditions you define.

You should use Auto Scaling to help ensure that you are running your desired number of Amazon EC2 instances or can automatically increase the number of Amazon EC2 instances during demand spikes to maintain performance and decrease capacity during lulls to reduce costs.

These properties can be defined within the Auto-Scaling Group configuration.

Additional properties can be defined through the launch configuration such as:

* Instance Type
* Amazon Machine Image (Pre-configured Operating System Images - allows for O.S Hardening)
* IAM Role
* Security Groups

Your organization must maintain a list of approved AMIs. Use these when creating Auto-Scaling Groups.
Instances within an Auto-Scaling Group are launched from an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) which itself is defined within the Launch Configuration. The AMI should be configured to follow security best practices as is defined within the CIS Benchmark for Amazon Linux or your other desired operating system.

Solution

Using the Amazon unified command line interface:

* Create new launch configuration for the App tier using the approved App tier AMI from your organization's list:

aws autoscaling create-launch-configuration --launch-configuration-name <_new_app_tier_launch_config_> --image-id <_app_tier_ami>_ --key-name <_your_key_pair>_ --security-groups <app_tier_security_group_>_ --instance-type <_desired_instance_type>_ --iam-instance-profile <_app_tier_instance_profile>_

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/260

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-7

Plugin: amazon_aws

Control ID: bdb9dd19ed36afde973d850041211635a5d959b6a22dadedba40ea4dc84572e2