Schedulers
Overview
The OneLens Scheduler helps you automate routine AWS operations and reduce costs by running resources only when they’re needed. It allows you to define schedules that automatically start, stop, or adjust AWS services such as EC2, RDS, ElastiCache, and Auto Scaling Groups (ASG).
You can:
Create flexible schedules (daily, weekly, or monthly) for predictable automation.
Instantly trigger ad-hoc actions when immediate changes are required.
Apply rules across multiple AWS accounts and regions, ensuring consistent governance at scale.
Track all activity with detailed operation logs for auditing and troubleshooting.
With OneLens Scheduler, you can eliminate unnecessary runtime costs, enforce operational discipline, and free your teams from manual resource management.
How Does Scheduler Work
The Scheduler in OneLens gives you full control over when and how your AWS resources are managed:
Open the Scheduler section in your OneLens dashboard.
Create a new schedule by selecting:
The service (e.g., EC2, RDS, ElastiCache, ASG)
The specific resource
The action to automate (start, stop, scale, etc.)
Define the time and frequency (daily, weekly, monthly, or custom).
Once saved, the Scheduler automatically executes your action at the scheduled time.
You can pause or resume a schedule at any time, giving you flexibility to temporarily stop automation without deleting the configuration.
At any point, you can also manually trigger the action directly from the dashboard.
This flexible approach lets you automate operations for cost savings while still keeping the option to pause, adjust, or act immediately when needed
Services Covered
You can apply the Scheduler across multiple AWS services. Each service supports specific automated actions:
EC2
Start Instance – Start EC2 instances when needed.
Stop Instance – Stop EC2 instances during idle hours to reduce costs.
Auto Stop Idle Instances – Automatically stop EC2 instances that are idle based on CloudWatch metrics (CPU, Network In/Out thresholds).
Auto Stop running EC2 – Automatically stop EC2 instances that are running from defined hours.
Modify Instance Type – Modify EC2 instance type to lower type during idle hours.
Auto Scaling Groups (ASG)
Modify Desired Capacity – Adjust the desired capacity, minimum size, and maximum size of your Auto Scaling Groups based on your demand patterns.
Modify ASG instance type – Modify ASG EC2 instance type to lower type during idle hours.
RDS
Start Resources – Start your RDS databases (instances and clusters) when your workload requires them.
Stop Resources – Stop your RDS databases during non-business hours to avoid unnecessary spend.
Update Instance Type – Modify RDS instance types to optimize costs and performance.
ElastiCache
Modify Node Type – Change the node type of your ElastiCache cluster at the scheduled time. Supports Redis, Valkey and Memcache clusters.
Adjust Replica Count – Increase or decrease the number of replicas based on your needs.
Adjust Shard Count – Scale the shard count of your cluster to the specified configuration.
DynamoDB
Modify Table Capacity – Modify table-level provisioned capacity settings.
Modify Index Capacity – Modify global secondary index provisioned capacity settings.
ECS (Elastic Container Service)
Modify Task Count – Adjust the desired task count for ECS services to scale your containerized applications.
Lambda
Modify Provisioned Concurrency – Adjust provisioned concurrency units for Lambda functions to optimize performance and costs.
OpenSearch
Update Domain Configuration – Modify OpenSearch domain configuration settings including instance types and data node count.
High Level Architecture
OneLens setup SQS,Lambda and EventBrigde in your AWS account which internally will have IAM permission to access to your resources. OneLens only has permission send the event to SQS in order to register/deregister the schedule in EventBridge.
Cost of Running Scheduler
The Scheduler is designed as a lightweight service with minimal impact on your overall cloud bill. Its operational overhead is negligible compared to the savings it enables.
For example, running 100 schedules twice a day across 20 AWS accounts is estimated to cost around $2 per month.
In most cases, the cost savings from shutting down unused resources far outweigh this nominal expense.
Next Step
To start using the Scheduler, follow these guides:
Install Schedulers – Learn how to set up the Scheduler in your AWS account.
Create Schedules– Step-by-step instructions to create your first schedule and automate actions.
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