I noticed in the Cluster Resource settings that the “Nodes Auto-Scaling” slider can go all the way up to 200 nodes. Is there a recommended limit for when to increase the capacity of a node (upgrade to a better EC2 instance) vs when to just keep adding more nodes. Will a cluster run just fine at 200 nodes? Is there a point where you should just make a second cluster?
Hey @colin, sorry for the lag here.
In theory, there is no issues having clusters with a lot of nodes, it works pretty well.
Now the question about when should you increase machine size and / or split into several clusters really depends on what you want and what you are trying to achieve, here are couple of inputs:
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Increasing node type (bigger nodes) can nice because you will be able to put more apps on the same node. Cluster updates will be shorter (because less nodes). Applications will be less spread, hence losing a node will eventually crash more apps (everything on the node), but if your apps are set to have several instances, you are good
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More small nodes has the benefit of having more spread for your apps, and it will be maybe easier to schedule but can take more time because for example one node can fit only one or two of your apps, so every time your apps scales, new nodes will be provisioned
About split between several clusters, IMO the benefit here is more about splitting concerns and you don’t want to have your prod living next to your dev / staging on the same cluster. It’s a matter of security but also of sizing. For example, your prod should be relatively stable in terms of provioning and it might be a good idea to have small nodes or big nodes (depending on your apps needs) whereas your dev might be way more flexible because you might have a lot of preview env spawning for example. Also on dev / stagging you can afford different machines than prod. It allows you to size / manage dev / prod differently and brings your more flexibility.
There is no one single answer to your question, I would advise you to test what’s best for your use case (in term of performances, stability, security, etc).
We will try to share an article about how to pick the best node type for your need , stay tuned 
Cheers
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