Excessive LaunchTemplate creation causing increased AWS Config costs in 1.5.6 #8754
Description
Description
Observed Behavior:
After upgrading to Karpenter Provider AWS v1.5.6, there is a clear increase in the number of LaunchTemplate resources being created, as observed in AWS Config metrics. This is visible in the attached screenshots, which show the sharp rise in AWS::EC2::LaunchTemplate creation. As a result, this leads directly to a significant increase in AWS Config costs due to the higher volume of configuration items being recorded.
This behavior is specific to Karpenter Provider AWS v1.5.6. The increased churn/cycling of LaunchTemplates is unexpected and not associated with an increase in user-driven changes.
This issue appears related to or may be mitigated by changes being discussed in PR #8475.
Expected Behavior:
LaunchTemplate creation rate should remain stable under normal operation unless there is an actual configuration change. The observed volume should not lead to unforeseen AWS Config cost spikes.
The dry-run validation (added in PR #8475) should be configurable—there should be the ability to enable or disable the dry-run for LaunchTemplate validation, to reduce unnecessary resource churn and associated Config costs.
Reproduction Steps:
- Use Karpenter Provider AWS v1.5.6 with default configuration
- Observe LaunchTemplate creation metrics in AWS Config over time
- No increase in user config changes, but continual growth in LaunchTemplate count/events
Versions:
- Chart Version: 1.5.6
- Kubernetes Version: 1.32
Associated PR: #8475