diff --git a/controllers/providers/aws/autoscaling.go b/controllers/providers/aws/autoscaling.go
index d578f1c8..6bfef0a6 100644
--- a/controllers/providers/aws/autoscaling.go
+++ b/controllers/providers/aws/autoscaling.go
@@ -53,3 +53,18 @@ func (a *AmazonClientSet) TerminateInstance(instance *autoscaling.Instance) erro
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+func (a *AmazonClientSet) SetInstanceStandBy(instance *autoscaling.Instance, scalingGroupName string) error {
+	instanceID := aws.StringValue(instance.InstanceId)
+	input := &autoscaling.EnterStandbyInput{
+		AutoScalingGroupName:           aws.String(scalingGroupName),
+		InstanceIds:                    aws.StringSlice([]string{instanceID}),
+		ShouldDecrementDesiredCapacity: aws.Bool(false),
+	}
+
+	if _, err := a.AsgClient.EnterStandby(input); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/controllers/providers/aws/utils.go b/controllers/providers/aws/utils.go
index 3db1cbc5..28e5c340 100644
--- a/controllers/providers/aws/utils.go
+++ b/controllers/providers/aws/utils.go
@@ -125,3 +125,14 @@ func GetTemplateLatestVersion(templates []*ec2.LaunchTemplate, templateName stri
 	}
 	return "0"
 }
+
+func GetInServiceInstances(scalingGroup *autoscaling.Group) []string {
+	instances := scalingGroup.Instances
+	inServiceInstances := []string{}
+	for _, instance := range instances {
+		if aws.StringValue(instance.LifecycleState) == autoscaling.LifecycleStateInService {
+			inServiceInstances = append(inServiceInstances, aws.StringValue(instance.InstanceId))
+		}
+	}
+	return inServiceInstances
+}
diff --git a/controllers/providers/kubernetes/utils.go b/controllers/providers/kubernetes/utils.go
index 7f37508f..79f148b8 100644
--- a/controllers/providers/kubernetes/utils.go
+++ b/controllers/providers/kubernetes/utils.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 
+	"github.com/keikoproj/upgrade-manager/api/v1alpha1"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
@@ -87,11 +88,39 @@ func GetKubernetesLocalConfig() (*rest.Config, error) {
 
 func SelectNodeByInstanceID(instanceID string, nodes *corev1.NodeList) corev1.Node {
 	for _, node := range nodes.Items {
-		tokens := strings.Split(node.Spec.ProviderID, "/")
-		nodeID := tokens[len(tokens)-1]
+		nodeID := GetNodeInstanceID(node)
 		if strings.EqualFold(instanceID, nodeID) {
 			return node
 		}
 	}
 	return corev1.Node{}
 }
+
+func GetNodeInstanceID(node corev1.Node) string {
+	tokens := strings.Split(node.Spec.ProviderID, "/")
+	nodeInstanceID := tokens[len(tokens)-1]
+	return nodeInstanceID
+}
+
+func IsNodeReady(node corev1.Node) bool {
+	for _, condition := range node.Status.Conditions {
+		if condition.Type == corev1.NodeReady && condition.Status == corev1.ConditionTrue {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func IsNodePassesReadinessGates(node corev1.Node, requiredReadinessGates []v1alpha1.NodeReadinessGate) bool {
+	if len(requiredReadinessGates) == 0 {
+		return true
+	}
+	for _, gate := range requiredReadinessGates {
+		for key, value := range gate.MatchLabels {
+			if node.Labels[key] != value {
+				return false
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
diff --git a/controllers/upgrade.go b/controllers/upgrade.go
index 6e682692..76a5d78f 100644
--- a/controllers/upgrade.go
+++ b/controllers/upgrade.go
@@ -111,13 +111,25 @@ func (r *RollingUpgradeReconciler) ReplaceNodeBatch(rollingUpgrade *v1alpha1.Rol
 			// Add in-progress tag
 			if err := r.Auth.TagEC2instance(instanceID, instanceStateTagKey, inProgressTagValue); err != nil {
 				r.Error(err, "failed to set instance tag", "name", rollingUpgrade.NamespacedName(), "instance", instanceID)
+				return false, err
 			}
 
 			// Standby
+			if aws.StringValue(target.LifecycleState) == autoscaling.LifecycleStateInService {
+				r.Info("setting instance to stand-by", "name", rollingUpgrade.NamespacedName(), "instance", instanceID)
+				if err := r.Auth.SetInstanceStandBy(target, rollingUpgrade.Spec.AsgName); err != nil {
+					r.Error(err, "couldn't set the instance to stand-by", "name", rollingUpgrade.NamespacedName(), "instance", instanceID)
+					return false, err
+				}
+			}
 
 			// Wait for desired nodes
+			if !r.DesiredNodesReady(rollingUpgrade) {
+				r.Info("new node is yet to join the cluster")
+				return true, nil
+			}
 
-			// predrain script
+			// Predrain script
 			if err := r.ScriptRunner.PreDrain(scriptTarget); err != nil {
 				return false, err
 			}
@@ -137,25 +149,20 @@ func (r *RollingUpgradeReconciler) ReplaceNodeBatch(rollingUpgrade *v1alpha1.Rol
 				return false, err
 			}
 
-			// Wait for desired nodes
-
-			// Issue drain/scripts concurrently - set lastDrainTime
-
-			// Is drained?
-
 			// Post Wait Script
 			if err := r.ScriptRunner.PostWait(scriptTarget); err != nil {
 				return false, err
 			}
 
 			// Terminate - set lastTerminateTime
+			r.Info("terminating instance", "name", rollingUpgrade.NamespacedName(), "instance", instanceID)
 			if err := r.Auth.TerminateInstance(target); err != nil {
 				r.Info("failed to terminate instance", "name", rollingUpgrade.NamespacedName(), "instance", instanceID, "message", err)
 				return true, nil
 			}
 			rollingUpgrade.SetLastNodeTerminationTime(metav1.Time{Time: time.Now()})
 
-			// Post Wait Script
+			// Post Terminate Script
 			if err := r.ScriptRunner.PostTerminate(scriptTarget); err != nil {
 				return false, err
 			}
@@ -334,3 +341,30 @@ func (r *RollingUpgradeReconciler) IsScalingGroupDrifted(rollingUpgrade *v1alpha
 	}
 	return false
 }
+
+func (r *RollingUpgradeReconciler) DesiredNodesReady(rollingUpgrade *v1alpha1.RollingUpgrade) bool {
+	var (
+		scalingGroup     = awsprovider.SelectScalingGroup(rollingUpgrade.ScalingGroupName(), r.Cloud.ScalingGroups)
+		desiredInstances = aws.Int64Value(scalingGroup.DesiredCapacity)
+		readyNodes       = 0
+	)
+
+	// wait for desired instances
+	inServiceInstances := awsprovider.GetInServiceInstances(scalingGroup)
+	if len(inServiceInstances) != int(desiredInstances) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// wait for desired nodes
+	for _, node := range r.Cloud.ClusterNodes.Items {
+		instanceID := kubeprovider.GetNodeInstanceID(node)
+		if common.ContainsEqualFold(inServiceInstances, instanceID) && kubeprovider.IsNodeReady(node) && kubeprovider.IsNodePassesReadinessGates(node, rollingUpgrade.Spec.ReadinessGates) {
+			readyNodes++
+		}
+	}
+	if readyNodes != int(desiredInstances) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return true
+}