SpotIQ User Guide

Everything you need to deploy, configure, and optimize your EC2 workloads with SpotIQ — part of the Xosphere IQ platform.

SpotIQ is the new name for Xosphere Instance Orchestrator. The underlying CloudFormation stacks, Terraform module, and IAM role names are unchanged.

Quick Start

Get up and running in under 10 minutes.

  1. Create Your Account
    Sign up at dashboard.xosphere.io and authorize your AWS account.

  2. Install SpotIQ
    Deploy using CloudFormation or Terraform in under 10 minutes.

  3. Tag Your Resources
    Add xosphere.io/instance-orchestrator/enabled=true to your Auto Scaling Groups.

  4. Start Saving
    SpotIQ automatically optimizes your workloads with Spot instances.

Architecture

SpotIQ runs entirely within your AWS account as a set of AWS Lambda functions. There is no SaaS data plane, no external access required, and no state stored outside your account.

Architectural Diagram

How SpotIQ integrates with AWS services

How replacements happen

  1. A time-based CloudWatch event triggers the core SpotIQ Lambda function on a regular cadence.
  2. SpotIQ inspects Xosphere-enabled Auto Scaling Groups (via tags) and launches a Spot instance to replace an eligible On-Demand instance.
  3. Once the Spot instance is fully bootstrapped and passing health checks, it is attached to the ASG, the original On-Demand instance is detached, load balancer connections are drained, and the On-Demand instance is gracefully terminated.
  4. When a Spot termination notification arrives via CloudWatch, the Terminator Lambda triggers a scale-out and begins draining connections from the terminating Spot instance.
  5. Execution logs are written to CloudWatch logs; SNS notifications are optional on launch and termination events.
  6. Each Lambda function uses its own IAM role with the least minimum privileges required.

Security Model

  • Self-hosted in your AWS account — no remote access or SaaS callbacks.
  • Per-Lambda IAM roles with least-privilege policies; Enhanced Security mode available for stricter resource-tag-based access control.
  • Lambdas execute inside AWS Lambda's secure VPC by default — no additional networking configuration required.
  • Optional KMS CMKs (EnhancedSecurityUseCMK) replace AWS-managed keys when policy requires it.
  • SOC 2 Type II certified operations.

Instance Sizing

SpotIQ runs exclusively as AWS Lambda — no AMIs, no EC2 instances to size or patch. When choosing replacement instance types it considers vCPU/memory requirements from your launch template, current Spot prices, interruption frequency, and AZ availability.

Disaster Recovery

SpotIQ stores no state in your AWS account, which makes disaster recovery trivial: re-install the CloudFormation stack or re-apply the Terraform module and SpotIQ resumes managing tagged workloads on the next cycle.

Need Help?

Contact our support team for assistance with your deployment.

Contact Support