Amazon EC2 | Memory Optimized Instances Flashcards
Are Dense-storage instances offered in EC2 Classic?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The current generation of Dense-storage instances (D2 instances) can be launched in both EC2-Classic and Amazon VPC. However, by launching a Dense-storage instance into a VPC, you can leverage a number of features that are available only on the Amazon VPC platform – such as enabling enhanced networking, assigning multiple private IP addresses to your instances, or changing your instances’ security groups. For more information about the benefits of using a VPC, see Amazon EC2 and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC). You can take steps to migrate your resources from EC2-Classic to Amazon VPC. For more information, see Migrating a Linux Instance from EC2-Classic to a VPC.
When should I use Memory-optimized instances?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Memory-optimized instances offer large memory size for memory intensive applications including in-memory applications, in-memory databases, in-memory analytics solutions, High Performance Computing (HPC), scientific computing, and other memory-intensive applications.
When should I use X1 instances?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
X1 instances are ideal for running in-memory databases like SAP HANA, big data processing engines like Apache Spark or Presto, and high performance computing (HPC) applications. X1 instances are certified by SAP to run production environments of the next-generation Business Suite S/4HANA, Business Suite on HANA (SoH), Business Warehouse on HANA (BW), and Data Mart Solutions on HANA on the AWS cloud.
When should I use X1e instances?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
X1e instances are ideal for running in-memory databases like SAP HANA, high-performance databases and other memory optimized enterprise applications. X1e instances offer twice the memory per vCPU compared to the X1 instances. The x1e.32xlarge instance is certified by SAP to run production environments of the next-generation Business Suite S/4HANA, Business Suite on HANA (SoH), Business Warehouse on HANA (BW), and Data Mart Solutions on HANA on the AWS Cloud.
How do X1 and X1e instances differ?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
X1e instances offer 32GB of memory per vCPU whereas X1 instances offer 16GB of memory per vCPU. X1e instance sizes enable six instance configurations starting from 4 vCPUs and 122 GiB memory up to 128 vCPUs and 3,904 GiB of memory. X1 instances enable two instance configurations, 64 vCPUs with 976 GiB memory and 128 vCPUs with 1,952 GiB memory.
What are the key specifications of Intel E7 (codenamed Haswell) processors that power X1 and X1e instances?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The E7 processors have a high core count to support workloads that scale efficiently on large number of cores. The Intel E7 processors also feature high memory bandwidth and larger L3 caches to boost the performance of in-memory applications. In addition, the Intel E7 processor:
Enables increased cryptographic performance via the latest Intel AES-NI feature.
Supports Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) to boost the performance of in-memory transactional data processing.
Supports Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (Intel AVX2) processor instructions to expand most integer commands to 256 bits.
Do X1 and X1e instances enable CPU power management state control
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. You can configure C-states and P-states on x1e.32xlarge, x1e.16xlarge, x1e.8xlarge, x1.32xlarge and x1.16xlarge instances. You can use C-states to enable higher turbo frequencies (as much as 3.1 GHz with one or two core turbo). You can also use P-states to lower performance variability by pinning all cores at P1 or higher P states, which is similar to disabling Turbo, and running consistently at the base CPU clock speed.
What operating systems are supported on X1 and X1e instances?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
X1 and X1e instances provide high number of vCPUs, which might cause launch issues in some Linux operating systems that have a lower vCPU limit. We strongly recommend that you use the latest AMIs when you launch these instances.
AMI support for SAP HANA workloads include: SUSE Linux 12, SUSE Linux 12 SP1, SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES for SAP 12 SP2, and RHEL 7.2 for SAP HANA.
x1e.32xlarge will also support Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2012 RTM. x1e.xlarge, x1e.2xlarge, x1e.4xlarge, x1e.8xlarge, x1e.16xlarge and x1.32xlarge will also support Windows Server 2012 R2, 2012 RTM and 2008 R2 64bit (Windows Server 2008 SP2 and older versions will not be supported) and x1.16xlarge will support Windows Server 2012 R2, 2012 RTM, 2008 R2 64bit, 2008 SP2 64bit, and 2003 R2 64bit (Windows Server 32bit versions will not be supported).
What storage options are available for X1 customers?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
X1 instances offer SSD based instance store, which is ideal for temporary storage of information such as logs, buffers, caches, temporary tables, temporary computational data, and other temporary content. X1 instance store provides the best I/O performance when you use a Linux kernel that supports persistent grants, an extension to the Xen block ring protocol.
X1 instances are EBS-optimized by default and offer up to 14 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth to EBS volumes. EBS offers multiple volume types to support a wide variety of workloads. For more information see the EC2 User Guide.
What storage options are available for X1e customers?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
X1e instances offer SSD based instance store, which is ideal for temporary storage of information such as logs, buffers, caches, temporary tables, temporary computational data, and other temporary content. X1e instance store provides the best I/O performance when you use a Linux kernel that supports persistent grants, an extension to the Xen block ring protocol.
X1e instances enable dedicated throughput to Amazon Elastic Block Storage (EBS) starting from 500 Mbps (x1e.xlarge) up to 14 Gbps (x1e.32xlarge) and are EBS-optimized by default at no additional cost. For more information see the EC2 User Guide.
How do I build cost-effective failover solution on X1 and X1e instances?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can design simple and cost-effective failover solutions on X1 instances using Amazon EC2 Auto Recovery, an Amazon EC2 feature that is designed to better manage failover upon instance impairment. You can enable Auto Recovery for X1 instances by creating an AWS CloudWatch alarm. Choose the “EC2 Status Check Failed (System)” metric and select the “Recover this instance” action. Instance recovery is subject to underlying limitations, including those reflected in the Instance Recovery Troubleshooting documentation. For more information visit Auto Recovery documentation and Creating Amazon CloudWatch Alarms respectively.
Are there standard SAP HANA reference deployment frameworks available for the X1 instance and the AWS Cloud?
Memory Optimized Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can use the AWS Quick Start reference HANA deployments to rapidly deploy all the necessary HANA building blocks on X1 instances following SAP’s recommendations for high performance and reliability. AWS Quick Starts are modular and customizable, so you can layer additional functionality on top or modify them for your own implementations. For additional information on deploying HANA on AWS, please refer to SAP HANA on AWS Cloud: Quick Start Reference Deployment Guide.
