HA & Scaling
Launch Configuration and Templates
Launch Configurations and Launch Templates perform the same task. They provide the WHAT to Auto scaling groups. They define WHAT gets provisioned.
The AMI, the Instance Type, the networking & security, the key pair to use, the userdata to inject and IAM Role to attach.
- Both of them are NOT EDITABLE. Launch Templates has versions.
- LT provide newer features: including T2/T3 Unlimited, Placement Groups, Capacity Reservations, Elastic Graphics.
Launch Configuration
Launch configurations have one use: they are used for Auto Scaling Groups.
If you need to adjust the configuration, you need to create a new one and use that new configuration.
Launch Templates
In addition to Launch Configurations, they can also launch EC2 instances from the console/CLI.