Overview of Autoscaler
Autoscaling is a functionality that is available through the Cisco CSR 1000v DMVPN Transit VNET template on Microsoft Azure. When you deploy this template, resources such as the Transit VNet solution, an Autoscaler container, an Azure Service bus, and the Application Insights are created. The Autoscaler functionality is enabled, which automatically performs scale-in and scale-out operations by adding and removing CSR 1000v instances depending on the volume of traffic.
In an Autoscaler solution, there are a minimum of two CSR 1000v instances that act as the Hub. These instances connect to the Spoke VNets. The Hub also continuously sends metrics to the Application Insights on a periodic basis, and the Autoscaler container retrieves the metrics periodically.
Whenever the traffic load increases or decreases, it triggers a scale-out or a scale-in action. In turn, Autoscaler adds a new CSR1000v instance to the Transit VNet Hub and delivers a message to the Topic in the Service bus namespace of the Autoscaler resource group. This message contains the configuration information about the new CSR 1000v instance in the Hub. Since the Spoke VNet is subscribed to this Topic, it receives the message and self-configures itself to use the new CSR 1000v instance to forward traffic.
The following image represents a sample Transit VNet solution with the Autoscaling functionality:
Autoscaler Functionalists
Before you deploy the Autoscaler solution, you might need to be familiar with the following actions that an Autoscaler solution performs:
Scale-out: Scaling out refers to adding a new CSR 1000v instance in the Transit VNet solution to increase the capacity of the Transit VNet solution. When the Autoscaler detects an increased load for a sustained period of time, it performs a scale-out by adding a new CSR instance to the Transit VNet capacity. While performing scale-out, the Autoscaler configures the CSR 1000v instance for all the existing on-premise VPN networks and the spoke VNets.
Scale-in: Scaling in refers to deleting or removing CSR 1000v instances to reduce the extended capacity. When the Autoscaler detects a decrease in traffic for a sustained period of time, it performs scale-in action by terminating one or more CSR1000v instances from the Transit Vnet.
 Note |
Autoscaler performs scale-out and scale-in operations based on the metrics that are published on Azure Application Insights. When Autoscaler detects that the metrics meet the per-defined conditions, it takes appropriate action. To know about how metrics are published, see Cloud Service Monitoring in Azure. To learn more about the configuration conditions, see the contents of the autoscale_config.json file that is available in File Share under your private Transit VNet account. |
Rotate: When Autoscaler monitors the solution, if the Image ID of the CSR 1000v instances do not match the Image ID in the autoscaler configuration file, Autoscaler spins up a new CSR 1000v instance with a new Image ID that is mentioned in the autoscale_config.json file. When the Autoscaler monitors the solution, if the image ID does not match the image ID mentioned in the config file, Autoscaler spins a new instance with a new or modified image ID that is in the config file for the same license type for which the current image ID fits in.
Replace: When Autoscaler detects a CSR1000v instance failure, Autoscaler replaces the faulty instance with a new CSR 1000v instance. For example, when the CSR Gi1 interface which the Transit VNet solution uses to pass the IPsec tunnel traffic goes down, Autoscaler performs the Replace action. However, the instance configuration such as the instance number, ios configuration etc. is retained by the Autoscaler solution.
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