[JENKINS-67190] EC2-plugin not spooling up stopped nodes, starting new nodes instead

The Jenkins EC2 plugin isn't starting existing (stopped) nodes, instead, it always starts a new one. I can see the past instances as offline in the nodes tab, but instead of starting these nodes, the plugin always starts a new instance instead.

---
Originally reported by greyjackal, imported from: EC2-plugin not spooling up stopped nodes, starting new nodes instead

• status: Open
  
• priority: Blocker
  
• component(s): ec2-plugin
  
• resolution: Unresolved
  
• votes: 4
  
• watchers: 8
  
• imported: 2025-12-06
  

Raw content of original issue

The Jenkins EC2 plugin isn't starting existing (stopped) nodes, instead, it always starts a new one. I can see the past instances as offline in the nodes tab, but instead of starting these nodes, the plugin always starts a new instance instead.

• environment: Jenkins 2.303.3, Ec2 plugin 1.66

Start by reproducing the behavior with Jenkins 2.303.3 and EC2 plugin 1.66, checking the stopped instances shown offline in the Jenkins nodes tab. Trace the EC2 plugin's node provisioning and reuse behavior; done means an eligible stopped node is started instead of a new instance being created.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.