Unused ElastiCache Reserved Cache Nodes

01 Login to the AWS Management Console.

02 Navigate to ElastiCache dashboard at https://console.aws.amazon.com/elasticache/.

03 In the left navigation panel, under ElastiCache Dashboard, choose Reserved Cache Nodes.

04 Choose the active ElastiCache Reserved Node that you want to examine.

05 Click Show or Hide Item Details button to expand the details panel and check the Node Type attribute value used for reservation (e.g. cache.m3.large).

06 Within the same AWS region, in the navigation panel, under ElastiCache Dashboard, click Memcached to access the clusters created with Memcached in-memory cache engine or Redis to access the clusters created with Redis engine.

07 Choose the Memcached/Redis cluster that you want to examine for corresponding nodes, then click Show or Hide Item Details button:

to expand the cluster configuration details panel.

08 On the selected cache cluster details panel, verify the Node type attribute value, e.g.

09 Now repeat step no. 7 and 8 for other ElastiCache clusters provisioned in the current AWS region. If none of the verified AWS ElastiCache cache clusters have active nodes that match the reservation type (node type) parameter identified at step no. 5, the selected Reserved Cache Node (RCN) does not have a corresponding node running within the cache clusters provisioned in the current region, therefore the selected ElastiCache RCN is not utilized.

10 If you are using Consolidated Billing and the current AWS account is member of an AWS Organization, access the ElastiCache clusters configuration page on each linked account, under the same region, and repeat step no. 7 and 8 to check for any corresponding cache cluster nodes.

11 Repeat steps no. 4 - 10 for other ElastiCache RCNs available in the current region.

12 Change the AWS region from the navigation bar and repeat the entire audit process for other regions.

01 Run describe-reserved-cache-nodes command (OSX/Linux/UNIX) using custom query filters to list the unique identifiers of all ElastiCache RCNs available in the selected AWS region:

aws elasticache describe-reserved-cache-nodes
    --region us-east-1
    --output table
    --query 'ReservedCacheNodes[*].ReservedCacheNodeId'

02 The command output should return a table with the requested RCNs identifiers (IDs):

------------------------
| ReservedCacheNodeIds |
+----------------------+
| cc-rediswebcache-001 |
| cc-rediswebcache-002 |
+----------------------+

03 Run again describe-reserved-cache-nodes command (OSX/Linux/UNIX) using the ID of RCN that you want to examine as identifier and custom query filters to expose the cache node type used by the specified ElastiCache Reserved Cache Node:

aws elasticache describe-reserved-cache-nodes
    --region us-east-1
    --reserved-cache-node-id cc-rediswebcache-001
    --query 'ReservedCacheNodes[*].CacheNodeType'

04 The command output should return the cache node type currently used:

[
    "cache.m3.large"
]

05 Now run describe-cache-clusters command (OSX/Linux/UNIX) using custom query filters to list the identifiers (ID) of all ElastiCache clusters available in the selected region:

aws elasticache describe-cache-clusters
    --region us-east-1
    --output table
    --query 'CacheClusters[*].CacheNodeId'

06 The command output should return a table with the requested cluster identifiers:

-------------------------
| DescribeCacheClusters |
+-----------------------+
| cc-rediscache         |
| cc-webcachedcluster   |
+-----------------------+

07 Run again describe-cache-clusters command (OSX/Linux/UNIX) using the identifier (name) of the cluster that you want to examine and the custom query filters to expose the cache node(s) type used by the selected Amazon ElastiCache cluster:

aws elasticache describe-cache-clusters
    --region us-east-1
    --cache-cluster-id cc-rediscache
    --query 'CacheClusters[*].CacheNodeType'

08 The command output should return the requested cluster cache node type:

[
    "cache.r3.large"
]

09 If you have an active AWS Consolidated Billing implementation and the current AWS account is member of an AWS Organization, repeat steps no. 5 - 8 to check for the corresponding cache cluster nodes within other AWS accounts, members of your AWS Organization.

10 Repeat steps no. 1 – 9 for other ElastiCache RCNs purchased within the current region.

11 Change the AWS region by updating the --region command parameter value and perform the audit process for other regions.

01 Login to the AWS Management Console.

02 Navigate to ElastiCache dashboard at https://console.aws.amazon.com/elasticache/.

03 In the navigation panel, under ElastiCache Dashboard, click Redis to access the clusters created with Redis in-memory cache engine then click Create to initiate the new cache cluster setup.

04 On Create your Amazon ElastiCache cluster page, perform the following actions:

1. Chose Redis from the Cluster Engine section to select the in-memory cache engine that will run the cluster.
2. Within Redis settings section, choose the required cache node type from the Node type dropdown list (see Audit section part I, step no. 5 to identify the right node type used for reservation). Configure the rest of the cluster parameters based on your application requirements.
3. Click Advanced Redis settings tab to expand the cluster advanced settings panel and customize your cluster configuration as needed.
4. Click the Create button to launch your new Amazon ElastiCache cluster. Once the cache cluster has been successfully created, its status should change from creating to available.

05 Repeat step no. 3 and 4 to provision new ElastiCache clusters with corresponding cache nodes for other Amazon ElastiCache RCNs purchased in the current AWS region/account or within any other member accounts available in your AWS Organization (if applicable).

06 Change the AWS region from the navigation bar and repeat the remediation process for other regions.

01 Run create-cache-cluster command (OSX/Linux/UNIX) to launch a new Amazon ElastiCache cluster with corresponding cache nodes that match the existing RCN purchase criteria. The following command example creates an AWS ElastiCache Redis cache cluster with one initial cache.m3.large node, within US East (N. Virginia) AWS region:

aws elasticache create-cache-cluster
    --region us-east-1
    --cache-cluster-id rediscachecluster
    --num-cache-nodes 1
    --cache-node-type cache.m3.large
    --engine redis
    --engine-version "3.2.4"
    --security-group-ids "sg-5f9ab421"
    --port 6379

02 The command output should return the new ElastiCache cluster configuration metadata:

{
    "CacheCluster": {
        "Engine": "redis",
        "CacheParameterGroup": {
            "CacheNodeIdsToReboot": [],
            "CacheParameterGroupName": "default.redis3.2",
            "ParameterApplyStatus": "in-sync"
        },
        "CacheClusterId": "rediscachecluster",
        "NumCacheNodes": 1,
        "AutoMinorVersionUpgrade": true,
        "CacheClusterStatus": "creating",

         ...

        "CacheSubnetGroupName": "default",
        "EngineVersion": "3.2.4",
        "PendingModifiedValues": {},
        "PreferredMaintenanceWindow": "sat:04:30-sat:05:30",
        "CacheNodeType": "cache.m3.large"
    }
}

03 Repeat step no. 1 and 2 to create new ElastiCache clusters with corresponding cache nodes for other Amazon ElastiCache RCNs purchased within the current AWS region/account or within any other member accounts available in your AWS Organization (if applicable).

04 Change the AWS region by updating the --region command parameter value and perform the entire process for other regions.