Use DescribeScalingActivities with an AWS SDK or CLI

Example 1: To describe scaling activities for the specified Amazon ECS service

The following describe-scaling-activities example describes the scaling activities for an Amazon ECS service called web-app that is running in the default cluster. The output shows a scaling activity initiated by a scaling policy.

aws application-autoscaling describe-scaling-activities \
    --service-namespace ecs \
    --resource-id service/default/web-app

Output:

{
    "ScalingActivities": [
        {
            "ScalableDimension": "ecs:service:DesiredCount",
            "Description": "Setting desired count to 1.",
            "ResourceId": "service/default/web-app",
            "ActivityId": "e6c5f7d1-dbbb-4a3f-89b2-51f33e766399",
            "StartTime": 1462575838.171,
            "ServiceNamespace": "ecs",
            "EndTime": 1462575872.111,
            "Cause": "monitor alarm web-app-cpu-lt-25 in state ALARM triggered policy web-app-cpu-lt-25",
            "StatusMessage": "Successfully set desired count to 1. Change successfully fulfilled by ecs.",
            "StatusCode": "Successful"
        }
    ]
}

For more information, see Scaling activities for Application Auto Scaling in the Application Auto Scaling User Guide.

Example 2: To describe scaling activities for the specified DynamoDB table

The following describe-scaling-activities example describes the scaling activities for a DynamoDB table called TestTable. The output shows scaling activities initiated by two different scheduled actions.

aws application-autoscaling describe-scaling-activities \
    --service-namespace dynamodb \
    --resource-id table/TestTable

Output:

{
    "ScalingActivities": [
        {
            "ScalableDimension": "dynamodb:table:WriteCapacityUnits",
            "Description": "Setting write capacity units to 10.",
            "ResourceId": "table/my-table",
            "ActivityId": "4d1308c0-bbcf-4514-a673-b0220ae38547",
            "StartTime": 1561574415.086,
            "ServiceNamespace": "dynamodb",
            "EndTime": 1561574449.51,
            "Cause": "maximum capacity was set to 10",
            "StatusMessage": "Successfully set write capacity units to 10. Change successfully fulfilled by dynamodb.",
            "StatusCode": "Successful"
        },
        {
            "ScalableDimension": "dynamodb:table:WriteCapacityUnits",
            "Description": "Setting min capacity to 5 and max capacity to 10",
            "ResourceId": "table/my-table",
            "ActivityId": "f2b7847b-721d-4e01-8ef0-0c8d3bacc1c7",
            "StartTime": 1561574414.644,
            "ServiceNamespace": "dynamodb",
            "Cause": "scheduled action name my-second-scheduled-action was triggered",
            "StatusMessage": "Successfully set min capacity to 5 and max capacity to 10",
            "StatusCode": "Successful"
        },
        {
            "ScalableDimension": "dynamodb:table:WriteCapacityUnits",
            "Description": "Setting write capacity units to 15.",
            "ResourceId": "table/my-table",
            "ActivityId": "d8ea4de6-9eaa-499f-b466-2cc5e681ba8b",
            "StartTime": 1561574108.904,
            "ServiceNamespace": "dynamodb",
            "EndTime": 1561574140.255,
            "Cause": "minimum capacity was set to 15",
            "StatusMessage": "Successfully set write capacity units to 15. Change successfully fulfilled by dynamodb.",
            "StatusCode": "Successful"
        },
        {
            "ScalableDimension": "dynamodb:table:WriteCapacityUnits",
            "Description": "Setting min capacity to 15 and max capacity to 20",
            "ResourceId": "table/my-table",
            "ActivityId": "3250fd06-6940-4e8e-bb1f-d494db7554d2",
            "StartTime": 1561574108.512,
            "ServiceNamespace": "dynamodb",
            "Cause": "scheduled action name my-first-scheduled-action was triggered",
            "StatusMessage": "Successfully set min capacity to 15 and max capacity to 20",
            "StatusCode": "Successful"
        }
    ]
}

For more information, see Scaling activities for Application Auto Scaling in the Application Auto Scaling User Guide.

Example 1: Provides descriptive information about the scaling activities in the specified namespace from the previous six weeks.

Get-AASScalingActivity -ServiceNamespace AppStream

Output:

ActivityId        : 2827409f-b639-4cdb-a957-8055d5d07434
Cause             : monitor alarm Appstream2-MyFleet-default-scale-in-Alarm in state ALARM triggered policy default-scale-in
Description       : Setting desired capacity to 2.
Details           :
EndTime           : 12/14/2019 11:32:49 AM
ResourceId        : fleet/MyFleet
ScalableDimension : appstream:fleet:DesiredCapacity
ServiceNamespace  : appstream
StartTime         : 12/14/2019 11:32:14 AM
StatusCode        : Successful
StatusMessage     : Successfully set desired capacity to 2. Change successfully fulfilled by appstream.