ElastiCache nodes not distributed across Availability Zones

Distribute multi-node ElastiCache Memcached clusters across Availability Zones.

Description

Placing Memcached nodes in one Availability Zone can leave all of them affected by a zone failure, even with multiple nodes. Use az_mode = "cross-az" to distribute nodes across zones.

Potential impact

A zone failure affecting several cache nodes can reduce cache hit rates and service performance. Distributing nodes across zones does not replicate Memcached data.

Remediation

Set az_mode = "cross-az" for Memcached clusters with at least two nodes. Check that the subnet group and node placement support multiple Availability Zones.

Examples

The examples show only the Memcached node count and Availability Zone settings. Other required settings, such as node type, are omitted.

Before

hcl
resource "aws_elasticache_cluster" "example" {
  cluster_id      = "cluster-example"
  engine          = "memcached"
  num_cache_nodes = 3
}

After

hcl
resource "aws_elasticache_cluster" "example" {
  cluster_id      = "cluster-example"
  engine          = "memcached"
  num_cache_nodes = 3
  az_mode         = "cross-az"
}

References