Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Reserved Instances Flashcards
How am I billed when my instance-hour usage exceeds the Free Tier benefit?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
You are billed at standard Amazon RDS prices for instance hours beyond what the Free Tier provides. See the Amazon RDS pricing page for details.
What is a reserved instance (RI)?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Amazon RDS reserved instances give you the option to reserve a DB instance for a one or three year term and in turn receive a significant discount compared to the on-demand instance pricing for the DB instance. There are three RI payment options – No Upfront, Partial Upfront, All Upfront – which enable you to balance the amount you pay upfront with your effective hourly price.
How are reserved instances different from on-demand DB instances?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Functionally, reserved instances and on-demand DB instances are exactly the same. The only difference is how your DB instance(s) are billed: With Reserved Instances, you purchase a one or three year reservation and in return receive a lower effective hourly usage rate (compared with on-demand DB instances) for the duration of the term. Unless you purchase reserved instances in a Region, all DB instances will be billed at on-demand hourly rates.
How do I purchase and create reserved instances?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
You can purchase a reserved instance in the “Reserved Instance” section of the AWS Management Console for Amazon RDS. Alternatively, you can use the Amazon RDS API or AWS Command Line Interface to list the reservations available for purchase then purchase a DB instance reservation.
Once you have made a reserved purchase, using a reserved DB instance is no different than an On-Demand DB instance. Launch a DB instance using the same instance class, engine and region for which you made the reservation. As long as your reservation purchase is active, Amazon RDS will apply the reduced hourly rate for which you are eligible to the new DB instance.
Do reserved instances include a capacity reservation?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Amazon RDS reserved instances are purchased for a Region rather than for a specific Availability Zone. As RIs are not specific to an Availability Zone, they are not capacity reservations. This means that even if capacity is limited in one Availability Zone, reservations can still be purchased in the Region and the discount will apply to matching usage in any Availability Zone within that Region.
How many reserved instances can I purchase?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
You can purchase up to 40 reserved DB instances. If you wish to run more than 40 DB instances, please complete the Amazon RDS DB Instance request form.
What if I have an existing DB instance that I’d like to cover with a reserved instance?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Simply purchase a DB instance reservation with the same DB instance class, DB engine, Multi-AZ option and License Model within the same Region as the DB instance you are currently running and would like to reserve. If the reservation purchase is successful, Amazon RDS will automatically apply your new hourly usage charge to your existing DB instance.
If I sign up for a reserved instance, when does the term begin? What happens to my DB instance when the term ends?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Pricing changes associated with a reserved instance are activated once your request is received while the payment authorization is processed. You can follow the status of your reservation on the AWS Account Activity page or by using the DescribeReservedDBInstances API or describe-reserved-db-instances command. If the one-time payment cannot be successfully authorized by the next billing period, the discounted price will not take effect.
When your reservation term expires, your reserved instance will revert to the appropriate On-Demand hourly usage rate for your DB instance class and Region.
How do I control which DB instances are billed at the reserved instance rate?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
The Amazon RDS operations for creating, modifying, and deleting DB instances do not distinguish between On-Demand and reserved instances. When computing your bill, our system will automatically apply your Reservation(s) such that all eligible DB instances are charged at the lower hourly reserved DB instance rate.
If I scale my DB instance class up or down, what happens to my reservation?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Each reservation is associated with the following set of attributes: DB engine, DB instance class, Multi-AZ deployment option, license model and Region.
A reservation for a DB engine and license model that is eligible for size-flexibility (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Amazon Aurora or Oracle “Bring Your Own License”) will automatically apply to a running DB instance of any size within the same instance family (e.g. M4, T2, or R3) for the same database engine and Region. In addition, the reservation will also apply to DB instances running in either Single-AZ or Multi-AZ deployment options.
For example, let’s say you purchased a db.m4.2xlarge MySQL reservation. If you decide to scale up the running DB instance to a db.m4.4xlarge, the discounted rate of this RI will cover 1/2 of the usage of the larger DB instance.
If you are running a DB engine or license model that is not eligible for size-flexibility (Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle “License Included”), each reservation can only be applied to a DB instance with the same attributes for the duration of the term. If you decide to modify any of these attributes of your running DB instance before the end of the reservation term, your hourly usage rates for that DB instance will revert to on demand hourly rates.
For more details on about size flexibility, see the Amazon RDS User Guide.
Can I move a reserved instance from one Region or Availability Zone to another?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Each reserved instance is associated with a specific Region, which is fixed for the lifetime of the reservation and cannot be changed. Each reservation can, however, be used in any of the available AZs within the associated Region.
Are reserved instances available for Multi-AZ deployments?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
Yes. When you call the DescribeReservedDBInstancesOfferings API or describe-reserved-db-instances-offerings command, simply look for the Multi-AZ options listed among the DB Instance configurations available for purchase. If you want to purchase a reservation for a DB instance with synchronous replication across multiple Availability Zones, specify one of these offerings in your PurchaseReservedDBInstancesOffering call.
Are reserved instances available for Read Replicas?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
A DB instance reservation can be applied to a Read Replica, provided the DB instance class and Region are the same. When computing your bill, our system will automatically apply your Reservation(s), such that all eligible DB instances are charged at the lower hourly reserved instance rate.
Can I cancel a reservation?
Reserved Instances
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) | Database
No, you cannot cancel your reserved DB instance and the one-time payment (if applicable) is not refundable. You will continue to pay for every hour during your Reserved DB instance term regardless of your usage.
