Compute | Amazon EC2 Flashcards
What is changing?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Starting July 2018, all newly created EC2 resources will receive longer format IDs. The new format will only apply to newly created resources; your existing resources won’t be affected. Instances and volumes already use this ID format. Through the end of June 2018, customers will have the ability to opt-in to use longer IDs. During this time, you can choose which ID format resources are assigned and update your management tools and scripts to add support for the longer format. Please visit this documentation for instructions.
Why is this necessary?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Given how fast AWS continues to grow, we will start to run low on IDs for certain resources in 2018. In order to enable the long-term, uninterrupted creation of new resources, we need to introduce a longer ID format. All Amazon EC2 resource IDs will change to the longer format in July 2018.
I already opted in for longer IDs last year. Why do I need to opt-in again?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
In 2016, we moved to the longer ID format for Amazon EC2 instances, reservations, volumes, and snapshots only. This opt-in changes the ID format for all remaining EC2 resource types
What will the new identifier format look like?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The new identifier format will follow the pattern of the current identifier format, but it will be longer. The new format will be -<17 characters>, e.g. “vpc-1234567890abcdef0” for VPCs or “subnet-1234567890abcdef0” for subnets.
Which IDs are changing?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
bundle
conversion-task
customer-gateway
dhcp-options
elastic-ip-allocation
elastic-ip-association
export-task
flow-log
image
import-task
internet-gateway
network-acl
network-acl-association
network-interface
network-interface-attachment
prefix-list
route-table
route-table-association
security-group
subnet
subnet-cidr-block-association
vpc
vpc-cidr-block-assocation
vpc-endpoint
vpc-peering-connection
vpn-connection
vpn-gateway
How does this impact me?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
There is a good chance that you won’t need to make any system changes to handle the new format. If you only use the console to manage AWS resources, you might not be impacted at all, but you should still update your settings to use the longer ID format as soon as possible. If you interact with AWS resources via APIs, SDKs, or the AWS CLI, you might be impacted, depending on whether your software makes assumptions about the ID format when validating or persisting resource IDs. If this is the case, you might need to update your systems to handle the new format.
Some failure modes could include:
If your systems use regular expressions to validate the ID format, you might error if a longer format is encountered.
If there are expectations about the ID length in your database schemas, you might be unable to store a longer ID.
Will this affect existing resources?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No. Only resources that are created after you opt-in to the longer format will be affected. Once a resource has been assigned an ID (long or short), that ID will never change. Each ID is unique and will never be reused. Any resource created with the old ID format will always retain its shorter ID. Any resource created with the new format will retain its longer ID, even if you opt back out.
When will this happen?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Through the end of June 2018, longer IDs will be available for opt-in via APIs and the EC2 Console. All accounts can opt-in and out of longer IDs as needed for testing. Starting on July 1, 2018, the option to switch formats will no longer be available, and newly created EC2 resources to receive longer IDs. All regions launching in July 2018 and onward will only support longer IDs.
Why is there an opt-in period?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
We want to give you as much time as possible to test your systems with the new format. This transition time offers maximum flexibility to test and update your systems incrementally and will help minimize interrupts as you add support for the new format, if necessary.
How do I opt in and out of receiving longer IDs?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Throughout the transition period (Now through the end of June 2018), you can opt to receive longer or shorter IDs by using the APIs or the EC2 Console. Instructions are provided in this documentation.
What will happen if I take no action?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If you do not opt-in to the new format during the transition period, you will be automatically begin receiving the longer format IDs after July 1, 2018. We do not recommend this approach. It is better to add support for the new format during the transition window, which offers the opportunity for controlled testing.
What if I prefer to keep receiving the shorter ID format after the end of June 2018?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
This is not possible regardless of your user settings specified.
When will the longer IDs’ final transition happen?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
In July 2018, your newly created resources will start to receive longer IDs. You can check the scheduled transition date for your each region by using the AWS CLI describe-id-format.
If I opt in to longer IDs and then opt back out during the transition period, what will happen to resources that were created with longer IDs?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Once a resource has been assigned an ID it will not change, so resources that are created with longer IDs will retain the longer IDs regardless of later actions. If you opt in to the longer format, create resources, and then opt out, you will see a mix of long and short resource IDs, even after opting out. The only way to get rid of long IDs will be to delete or terminate the respective resources. For this reason, exercise caution and avoid creating critical resources with the new format until you have tested your tools and automation.
What should I do if my systems are not working as expected before the transition period ends?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If your systems are not working as expected during the transition period, you can temporarily opt out of longer format IDs and remediate your systems, however your account will automatically be transitioned back to using longer IDs after the end of June 2018. Regardless of your account settings, all new resources will receive the longer format IDs, so it is important for you to test your systems with longer format IDs before the transition period ends. By testing and opting in earlier, you give yourself valuable time to make modifications to your resources with short resource IDs and you minimize the risk of any impact to your systems.
What will happen if I launch resources in multiple regions during the transition period?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Your resources’ ID length will depend upon the region you launch your resources. If the region has already transitioned to using longer IDs, resources launched in that region will have longer format IDs; if not, they will have shorter resource IDs. Therefore, during the transition window, you may see a mix of shorter and longer resource IDs.
If AWS adds new regions during the transition period, will new regions support longer IDs?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. All new regions launching after July 2018 will issue longer format IDs by default for both new and existing accounts.
What will be the default ID type for new accounts?
Longer EC2, EBS, and Storage Gateway Resource IDs
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Accounts created on March 15, 2018 or later will be configured to receive the longer ID format by default in every AWS region except AWS GovCloud (US). If you are a new customer, this will make the transition to longer IDs really simple. If you would like your new account to assign the shorter ID format to your resources, then simply reconfigure your account for shorter IDs as described above. This workflow will be necessary until you are ready for your accounts to receive longer IDs.
Will I need to upgrade to a new version of the AWS SDKs or CLI?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The following AWS CLI and SDKs are fully compatible with longer IDs: PHP v2.8.27+, PHP v3.15.0+, AWS CLI v1.10.2+, Boto3v1.2.1+, Botocorev1.3.24+, PHP v1, Boto v1, Boto v2, Ruby v1, Ruby v2, JavaScript, Java, .NET, AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell, and Go.
What is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.
What can I do with Amazon EC2?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Just as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) enables storage in the cloud, Amazon EC2 enables “compute” in the cloud. Amazon EC2’s simple web service interface allows you to obtain and configure capacity with minimal friction. It provides you with complete control of your computing resources and lets you run on Amazon’s proven computing environment. Amazon EC2 reduces the time required to obtain and boot new server instances to minutes, allowing you to quickly scale capacity, both up and down, as your computing requirements change. Amazon EC2 changes the economics of computing by allowing you to pay only for capacity that you actually use.
How can I get started with Amazon EC2?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
To sign up for Amazon EC2, click the “Sign up for This Web Service” button on the Amazon EC2 detail page. You must have an Amazon Web Services account to access this service; if you do not already have one, you will be prompted to create one when you begin the Amazon EC2 sign-up process. After signing up, please refer to the Amazon EC2 documentation, which includes our Getting Started Guide.
Why am I asked to verify my phone number when signing up for Amazon EC2?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EC2 registration requires you to have a valid phone number and email address on file with AWS in case we ever need to contact you. Verifying your phone number takes only a couple of minutes and involves receiving a phone call during the registration process and entering a PIN number using the phone key pad.
What can developers now do that they could not before?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Until now, small developers did not have the capital to acquire massive compute resources and ensure they had the capacity they needed to handle unexpected spikes in load. Amazon EC2 enables any developer to leverage Amazon’s own benefits of massive scale with no up-front investment or performance compromises. Developers are now free to innovate knowing that no matter how successful their businesses become, it will be inexpensive and simple to ensure they have the compute capacity they need to meet their business requirements.
The “Elastic” nature of the service allows developers to instantly scale to meet spikes in traffic or demand. When computing requirements unexpectedly change (up or down), Amazon EC2 can instantly respond, meaning that developers have the ability to control how many resources are in use at any given point in time. In contrast, traditional hosting services generally provide a fixed number of resources for a fixed amount of time, meaning that users have a limited ability to easily respond when their usage is rapidly changing, unpredictable, or is known to experience large peaks at various intervals.
How do I run systems in the Amazon EC2 environment?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Once you have set up your account and select or create your AMIs, you are ready to boot your instance. You can start your AMI on any number of On-Demand instances by using the RunInstances API call. You simply need to indicate how many instances you wish to launch. If you wish to run more than 20 On-Demand instances, complete the Amazon EC2 instance request form.
If Amazon EC2 is able to fulfill your request, RunInstances will return success, and we will start launching your instances. You can check on the status of your instances using the DescribeInstances API call. You can also programmatically terminate any number of your instances using the TerminateInstances API call.
If you have a running instance using an Amazon EBS boot partition, you can also use the StopInstances API call to release the compute resources but preserve the data on the boot partition. You can use the StartInstances API when you are ready to restart the associated instance with the Amazon EBS boot partition.
In addition, you have the option to use Spot Instances to reduce your computing costs when you have flexibility in when your applications can run. Read more about Spot Instances for a more detailed explanation on how Spot Instances work.
If you prefer, you can also perform all these actions from the AWS Management Console or through the command line using our command line tools, which have been implemented with this web service API.
What is the difference between using the local instance store and Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) for the root device?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
When you launch your Amazon EC2 instances you have the ability to store your root device data on Amazon EBS or the local instance store. By using Amazon EBS, data on the root device will persist independently from the lifetime of the instance. This enables you to stop and restart the instance at a subsequent time, which is similar to shutting down your laptop and restarting it when you need it again.
Alternatively, the local instance store only persists during the life of the instance. This is an inexpensive way to launch instances where data is not stored to the root device. For example, some customers use this option to run large web sites where each instance is a clone to handle web traffic.
How quickly will systems be running?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
It typically takes less than 10 minutes from the issue of the RunInstances call to the point where all requested instances begin their boot sequences. This time depends on a number of factors including: the size of your AMI, the number of instances you are launching, and how recently you have launched that AMI. Images launched for the first time may take slightly longer to boot.
How do I load and store my systems with Amazon EC2?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EC2 allows you to set up and configure everything about your instances from your operating system up to your applications. An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is simply a packaged-up environment that includes all the necessary bits to set up and boot your instance. Your AMIs are your unit of deployment. You might have just one AMI or you might compose your system out of several building block AMIs (e.g., webservers, appservers, and databases). Amazon EC2 provides a number of tools to make creating an AMI easy. Once you create a custom AMI, you will need to bundle it. If you are bundling an image with a root device backed by Amazon EBS, you can simply use the bundle command in the AWS Management Console. If you are bundling an image with a boot partition on the instance store, then you will need to use the AMI Tools to upload it to Amazon S3. Amazon EC2 uses Amazon EBS and Amazon S3 to provide reliable, scalable storage of your AMIs so that we can boot them when you ask us to do so.
Or, if you want, you don’t have to set up your own AMI from scratch. You can choose from a number of globally available AMIs that provide useful instances. For example, if you just want a simple Linux server, you can choose one of the standard Linux distribution AMIs.
How do I access my systems?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The RunInstances call that initiates execution of your application stack will return a set of DNS names, one for each system that is being booted. This name can be used to access the system exactly as you would if it were in your own data center. You own that machine while your operating system stack is executing on it.
Is Amazon EC2 used in conjunction with Amazon S3?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, Amazon EC2 is used jointly with Amazon S3 for instances with root devices backed by local instance storage. By using Amazon S3, developers have access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. In order to execute systems in the Amazon EC2 environment, developers use the tools provided to load their AMIs into Amazon S3 and to move them between Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2. See How do I load and store my systems with Amazon EC2? for more information about AMIs.
We expect developers to find the combination of Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3 to be very useful. Amazon EC2 provides cheap, scalable compute in the cloud while Amazon S3 allows users to store their data reliably.
How many instances can I run in Amazon EC2?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You are limited to running up to a total of 20 On-Demand instances across the instance family, purchasing 20 Reserved Instances, and requesting Spot Instances per your dynamic Spot limit per region. New AWS accounts may start with limits that are lower than the limits described here. Certain instance types are further limited per region as follows:
Instance Type On-Demand Limit
Reserved Limit Spot Limit
m5. large 20 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
m5. xlarge 20 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
m5. 2xlarge 20 20 Dyanmic Spot Limit
m5. 4xlarge 10 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
m5. 12xlarge 5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
m5. 24xlarge 5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
m4. 4xlarge
10
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
m4.10xlarge
5
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
m4.16xlarge
5
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
c5. large 20 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
c5. xlarge 20 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
c5. 2xlarge 20 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
c5. 4xlarge 10 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
c5. 9xlarge 5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
c5. 18xlarge 5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
c4. 4xlarge 10 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
c4. 8xlarge 5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
hs1. 8xlarge 2 20 Not offered
cr1. 8xlarge 2 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
p3. 2xlarge
1
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
p3.8xlarge
1
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
p3.16xlarge
1
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
p2.xlarge
1
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
p2.8xlarge
1
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
p2.16xlarge
1
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
g3. 4xlarge 1 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
g3. 8xlarge 1 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
g3. 16xlarge 1 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
r4. large
20
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
r4.xlarge
20
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
r4.2xlarge
20
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
r4.4xlarge
10
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
r4.8xlarge
5
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
r4.16xlarge
1
20
Dynamic Spot Limit
r3. 4xlarge 10 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
r3. 8xlarge 5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
h1. 8xlarge
10 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
h1.16xlarge
5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
i3.large
2
20
Dynamic Spot limit
i3.xlarge
2
20
Dynamic Spot limit
i3.2xlarge
2
20
Dynamic Spot limit
i3.4xlarge
2
20
Dynamic Spot limit
i3.8xlarge
2
20
Dynamic Spot limit
i3.8xlarge
2
20
Dynamic Spot limit
i3.16xlarge
2
20
Dynamic Spot limit
i2. 2xlarge 8 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
i2. 4xlarge 4 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
i2. 8xlarge 2 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
d2. 4xlarge 10 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
d2. 8xlarge 5 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
t2. nano 20 20 Not offered
t2. micro
20 20 Not offered
t2.small
20 20 Not offered
t2.medium
20 20 Not offered
t2.large
20 20 Not offered
t2. xlarge 20 20 Not offered
t2. 2xlarge 20 20 Not offered
All Other Instance Types 20 20 Dynamic Spot Limit
Note that cc2.8xlarge, hs1.8xlarge, cr1.8xlarge, G2, D2, and I2 instances are not available in all regions.
If you need more instances, complete the Amazon EC2 instance request form with your use case and your instance increase will be considered. Limit increases are tied to the region they were requested for.
Are there any limitations in sending email from Amazon EC2 instances?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. In order to maintain the quality of Amazon EC2 addresses for sending email, we enforce default limits on the amount of email that can be sent from EC2 accounts. If you wish to send larger amounts of email from EC2, you can apply to have these limits removed from your account by filling out this form.
How quickly can I scale my capacity both up and down?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EC2 provides a truly elastic computing environment. Amazon EC2 enables you to increase or decrease capacity within minutes, not hours or days. You can commission one, hundreds or even thousands of server instances simultaneously. When you need more instances, you simply call RunInstances, and Amazon EC2 will typically set up your new instances in a matter of minutes. Of course, because this is all controlled with web service APIs, your application can automatically scale itself up and down depending on its needs.
What operating system environments are supported?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EC2 currently supports a variety of operating systems including: Amazon Linux, Ubuntu, Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Fedora, Debian, CentOS, Gentoo Linux, Oracle Linux, and FreeBSD. We are looking for ways to expand it to other platforms.
Does Amazon EC2 use ECC memory?
General
Amazon EC2 | Compute
In our experience, ECC memory is necessary for server infrastructure, and all the hardware underlying Amazon EC2 uses ECC memory.
How is this service different than a plain hosting service?
Billing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Traditional hosting services generally provide a pre-configured resource for a fixed amount of time and at a predetermined cost. Amazon EC2 differs fundamentally in the flexibility, control and significant cost savings it offers developers, allowing them to treat Amazon EC2 as their own personal data center with the benefit of Amazon.com’s robust infrastructure.
When computing requirements unexpectedly change (up or down), Amazon EC2 can instantly respond, meaning that developers have the ability to control how many resources are in use at any given point in time. In contrast, traditional hosting services generally provide a fixed number of resources for a fixed amount of time, meaning that users have a limited ability to easily respond when their usage is rapidly changing, unpredictable, or is known to experience large peaks at various intervals.
Secondly, many hosting services don’t provide full control over the compute resources being provided. Using Amazon EC2, developers can choose not only to initiate or shut down instances at any time, they can completely customize the configuration of their instances to suit their needs – and change it at any time. Most hosting services cater more towards groups of users with similar system requirements, and so offer limited ability to change these.
Finally, with Amazon EC2 developers enjoy the benefit of paying only for their actual resource consumption – and at very low rates. Most hosting services require users to pay a fixed, up-front fee irrespective of their actual computing power used, and so users risk overbuying resources to compensate for the inability to quickly scale up resources within a short time frame.
How will I be charged and billed for my use of Amazon EC2?
Billing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You pay only for what you use. Displayed pricing is an hourly rate but depending on which instances you choose, you pay by the hour or second (minimum of 60 seconds) for each instance type. Partial instance-hours consumed are billed based on instance usage. Data transferred between AWS services in different regions will be charged as Internet Data Transfer on both sides of the transfer. Usage for other Amazon Web Services is billed separately from Amazon EC2.
For EC2 pricing information, please visit the pricing section on the EC2 detail page.
When does billing of my Amazon EC2 systems begin and end?
Billing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Billing commences when Amazon EC2 initiates the boot sequence of an AMI instance. Billing ends when the instance terminates, which could occur through a web services command, by running “shutdown -h”, or through instance failure. When you stop an instance, we shut it down but don’t charge hourly usage for a stopped instance, or data transfer fees, but we do charge for the storage for any Amazon EBS volumes. To learn more, visit the AWS Documentation.
What defines billable EC2 instance usage?
Billing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Instance usages are billed for any time your instances are in a “running” state. If you no longer wish to be charged for your instance, you must “stop” or “terminate” the instance to avoid being billed for additional instance usage. Billing starts when an instance transitions into the running state.
If I have two instances in different availability zones, how will I be charged for regional data transfer?
Billing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Each instance is charged for its data in and data out at corresponding Data Transfer rates. Therefore, if data is transferred between these two instances, it is charged at “Data Transfer Out from EC2 to Another AWS Region” for the first instance and at “Data Transfer In from Another AWS Region” for the second instance. Please refer to this page for detailed data transfer
If I have two instances in different regions, how will I be charged for data transfer?
Billing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Each instance is charged for its data in and data out at Internet Data Transfer rates. Therefore, if data is transferred between these two instances, it is charged at Internet Data Transfer Out for the first instance and at Internet Data Transfer In for the second instance.
How will my monthly bill show per-second versus per-hour?
Billing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Although EC2 charges in your monthly bill will now be calculated based on a per second basis, for consistency, the monthly EC2 bill will show cumulative usage for each instance that ran in a given month in decimal hours. An example would be an instance running for 1 hour 10 minutes and 4 seconds would look like 1.1677. Below is an example of a detailed billing report. The two highlighted areas show how the new report will look based on decimal hours.
Do your prices include taxes?
Hardware Information
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Except as otherwise noted, our prices are exclusive of applicable taxes and duties, including VAT and applicable sales tax. For customers with a Japanese billing address, use of AWS services is subject to Japanese Consumption Tax. Learn more.
What kind of hardware will my application stack run on?
Hardware Information
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Visit Amazon EC2 Instance Type for a list of EC2 instances available by region.
How do I select the right instance type?
Hardware Information
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EC2 instances are grouped into 5 families: General Purpose, Compute Optimized, Memory Optimized, Storage Optimized and Accelerated Computing instances. General Purpose Instances have memory to CPU ratios suitable for most general purpose applications and come with fixed performance (M5, M4) or burstable performance (T2); Compute Optimized instances (C5, C4) have proportionally more CPU resources than memory (RAM) and are well suited for scale out compute-intensive applications and High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads; Memory Optimized Instances (X1e, X1, R4) offer larger memory sizes for memory-intensive applications, including database and memory caching applications; Accelerating Computing instances (P3, P2, G3, F1) take advantage of the parallel processing capabilities of NVIDIA Tesla GPUs for high performance computing and machine/deep learning; GPU Graphics instances (G3) offer high-performance 3D graphics capabilities for applications using OpenGL and DirectX; F1 instances deliver Xilinx FPGA-based reconfigurable computing; Storage Optimized Instances (H1, I3, D2) that provide very high, low latency, I/O capacity using SSD-based local instance storage for I/O-intensive applications, with D2 or H1, the dense-storage and HDD-storage instances, provide local high storage density and sequential I/O performance for data warehousing, Hadoop and other data-intensive applications. When choosing instance types, you should consider the characteristics of your application with regards to resource utilization (i.e. CPU, Memory, Storage) and select the optimal instance family and instance size.
What is an “EC2 Compute Unit” and why did you introduce it?
Hardware Information
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Transitioning to a utility computing model fundamentally changes how developers have been trained to think about CPU resources. Instead of purchasing or leasing a particular processor to use for several months or years, you are renting capacity by the hour. Because Amazon EC2 is built on commodity hardware, over time there may be several different types of physical hardware underlying EC2 instances. Our goal is to provide a consistent amount of CPU capacity no matter what the actual underlying hardware.
Amazon EC2 uses a variety of measures to provide each instance with a consistent and predictable amount of CPU capacity. In order to make it easy for developers to compare CPU capacity between different instance types, we have defined an Amazon EC2 Compute Unit. The amount of CPU that is allocated to a particular instance is expressed in terms of these EC2 Compute Units. We use several benchmarks and tests to manage the consistency and predictability of the performance from an EC2 Compute Unit. The EC2 Compute Unit (ECU) provides the relative measure of the integer processing power of an Amazon EC2 instance. Over time, we may add or substitute measures that go into the definition of an EC2 Compute Unit, if we find metrics that will give you a clearer picture of compute capacity.
What is the regional availability of Amazon EC2 instance types?
Security
Amazon EC2 | Compute
For a list of all instances and regional availability, visit Amazon EC2 Pricing.
How do I prevent other people from viewing my systems?
Security
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You have complete control over the visibility of your systems. The Amazon EC2 security systems allow you to place your running instances into arbitrary groups of your choice. Using the web services interface, you can then specify which groups may communicate with which other groups, and also which IP subnets on the Internet may talk to which groups. This allows you to control access to your instances in our highly dynamic environment. Of course, you should also secure your instance as you would any other server.
Can I get a history of all EC2 API calls made on my account for security analysis and operational troubleshooting purposes?
Security
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. To receive a history of all EC2 API calls (including VPC and EBS) made on your account, you simply turn on CloudTrail in the AWS Management Console. For more information, visit the CloudTrail home page.
Where can I find more information about security on AWS?
Elastic IP
Amazon EC2 | Compute
For more information on security on AWS please refer to our Amazon Web Services: Overview of Security Processes white paper and to our Amazon EC2 running Windows Security Guide.
Why am I limited to 5 Elastic IP addresses per region?
Elastic IP
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Public (IPV4) internet addresses are a scarce resource. There is only a limited amount of public IP space available, and Amazon EC2 is committed to helping use that space efficiently.
By default, all accounts are limited to 5 Elastic IP addresses per region. If you need more the 5 Elastic IP addresses, we ask that you apply for your limit to be raised. We will ask you to think through your use case and help us understand your need for additional addresses. You can apply for more Elastic IP address here. Any increases will be specific to the region they have been requested for.
Why am I charged when my Elastic IP address is not associated with a running instance?
Elastic IP
Amazon EC2 | Compute
In order to help ensure our customers are efficiently using the Elastic IP addresses, we impose a small hourly charge for each address when it is not associated to a running instance.
Do I need one Elastic IP address for every instance that I have running?
Elastic IP
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No. You do not need an Elastic IP address for all your instances. By default, every instance comes with a private IP address and an internet routable public IP address. The private address is associated exclusively with the instance and is only returned to Amazon EC2 when the instance is stopped or terminated. The public address is associated exclusively with the instance until it is stopped, terminated or replaced with an Elastic IP address. These IP addresses should be adequate for many applications where you do not need a long lived internet routable end point. Compute clusters, web crawling, and backend services are all examples of applications that typically do not require Elastic IP addresses.
How long does it take to remap an Elastic IP address?
Elastic IP
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The remap process currently takes several minutes from when you instruct us to remap the Elastic IP until it fully propagates through our system.
Can I configure the reverse DNS record for my Elastic IP address?
Availability Zones
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, you can configure the reverse DNS record of your Elastic IP address by filling out this form. Note that a corresponding forward DNS record pointing to that Elastic IP address must exist before we can create the reverse DNS record.
How isolated are Availability Zones from one another?
Availability Zones
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Each Availability Zone runs on its own physically distinct, independent infrastructure, and is engineered to be highly reliable. Common points of failures like generators and cooling equipment are not shared across Availability Zones. Additionally, they are physically separate, such that even extremely uncommon disasters such as fires, tornados or flooding would only affect a single Availability Zone.
Is Amazon EC2 running in more than one region?
Availability Zones
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. Please refer to Regional Products and Services for more details of our product and service availability by region.
How can I make sure that I am in the same Availability Zone as another developer?
Availability Zones
Amazon EC2 | Compute
We do not currently support the ability to coordinate launches into the same Availability Zone across AWS developer accounts. One Availability Zone name (for example, us-east-1a) in two AWS customer accounts may relate to different physical Availability Zones.
If I transfer data between Availability Zones using public IP addresses, will I be charged twice for Regional Data Transfer (once because it’s across zones, and a second time because I’m using public IP addresses)?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No. Regional Data Transfer rates apply if at least one of the following is true, but is only charged once for a given instance even if both are true:
The other instance is in a different Availability Zone, regardless of which type of address is used.
Public or Elastic IP addresses are used, regardless of which Availability Zone the other instance is in.
What is the Nitro Hypervisor?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The launch of C5 instances introduced a new hypervisor for Amazon EC2, the Nitro Hypervisor. As a component of the Nitro system, the Nitro Hypervisor primarily provides CPU and memory isolation for EC2 instances. VPC networking and EBS storage resources are implemented by dedicated hardware components, Nitro Cards that are part of all current generation EC2 instance families. The Nitro Hypervisor is built on core Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology, but does not include general-purpose operating system components.
How does the Nitro Hypervisor benefit customers?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The Nitro Hypervisor provides consistent performance and increased compute and memory resources for EC2 virtualized instances by removing host system software components. It allows AWS to offer larger instance sizes (like c5.18xlarge) that provide practically all of the resources from the server to customers. Previously, C3 and C4 instances each eliminated software components by moving VPC and EBS functionality to hardware designed and built by AWS. This hardware enables the Nitro Hypervisor to be very small and uninvolved in data processing tasks for networking and storage.
Will all EC2 instances use the Nitro Hypervisor?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Eventually all new instance types will use the Nitro Hypervisor, but in the near term, some new instance types will use Xen depending on the requirements of the platform.
Will AWS continue to invest in its Xen-based hypervisor?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. As AWS expands its global cloud infrastructure, EC2’s use of its Xen-based hypervisor will also continue to grow. Xen will remain a core component of EC2 instances for the foreseeable future. AWS is a founding member of the Xen Project since its establishment as a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project and remains an active participant on its Advisory Board. As AWS expands its global cloud infrastructure, EC2’s Xen-based hypervisor also continues to grow. Therefore EC2’s investment in Xen continues to grow, not shrink
How many EBS volumes and Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) can be attached to instances running on the Nitro Hypervisor?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Instances running on the Nitro Hypervisor support a maximum of 27 additional PCI devices for EBS volumes and VPC ENIs. Each EBS volume or VPC ENI uses a PCI device. For example, if you attach 3 additional network interfaces to an instance that uses the Nitro Hypervisor, you can attach up to 24 EBS volumes to that instance.
Will the Nitro Hypervisor change the APIs used to interact with EC2 instances?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, all the public facing APIs for interacting with EC2 instances that run using the Nitro Hypervisor will remain the same. For example, the “hypervisor” field of the DescribeInstances response, which will continue to report “xen” for all EC2 instances, even those running under the Nitro Hypervisor. This field may be removed in a future revision of the EC2 API.
Which AMIs are supported on instances that use the Nitro Hypervisor?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
EBS backed HVM AMIs with support for ENA networking and booting from NVMe storage can be used with instances that run under the Nitro Hypervisor. The latest Amazon Linux AMI and Windows AMIs provided by Amazon are supported, as are the latest AMI of Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and FreeBSD.
Will I notice any difference between instances using Xen hypervisor and those using the Nitro Hypervisor?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. For example, instances running under the Nitro Hypervisor boot from EBS volumes using an NVMe interface. Instances running under Xen boot from an emulated IDE hard drive, and switch to the Xen paravirtualized block device drivers.
Operating systems can identify when they are running under a hypervisor. Some software assumes that EC2 instances will run under the Xen hypervisor and rely on this detection. Operating systems will detect they are running under KVM when an instance uses the Nitro Hypervisor, so the process to identify EC2 instances should be used to identify EC2 instances that run under both hypervisors.
All the features of EC2 such as Instance Metadata Service work the same way on instances running under both Xen and the Nitro Hypervisor. The majority of applications will function the same way under both Xen and the Nitro Hypervisor as long as the operating system has the needed support for ENA networking and NVMe storage.
How are instance reboot and termination EC2 API requests implemented by the Nitro Hypervisor?
Nitro Hypervisor
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The Nitro Hypervisor signals the operating system running in the instance that it should shut down cleanly by industry standard ACPI methods. For Linux instances, this requires that acpid be installed and functioning correctly. If acpid is not functioning in the instance, termination events will be delayed by multiple minutes and will then execute as a hard reset or power off.
How do EBS volumes behave when accessed by NVMe interfaces?
Enhanced Networking
Amazon EC2 | Compute
There are some important differences in how operating system NVMe drivers behave compared to Xen paravirtual (PV) block drivers.
First, the NVMe device names used by Linux based operating systems will be different than the parameters for EBS volume attachment requests and block device mapping entries such as /dev/xvda and /dev/xvdf. NVMe devices are enumerated by the operating system as /dev/nvme0n1, /dev/nvme1n1, and so on. The NVMe device names are not persistent mappings to volumes, therefore other methods like file system UUIDs or labels should be used when configuring the automatic mounting of file systems or other startup activities. When EBS volumes are accessed via the NVMe interface, the EBS volume ID is available via the controller serial number and the device name specified in EC2 API requests is provided by an NVMe vendor extension to the Identify Controller command. This enables backward compatible symbolic links to be created by a utility script. For more information see the EC2 documentation on device naming and NVMe based EBS volumes.
Second, by default the NVMe drivers included in most operating systems implement an I/O timeout. If an I/O does not complete in an implementation specific amount of time, usually tens of seconds, the driver will attempt to cancel the I/O, retry it, or return an error to the component that issued the I/O. The Xen PV block device interface does not time out I/O, which can result in processes that cannot be terminated if it is waiting for I/O. The Linux NVMe driver behavior can be modified by specifying a higher value for the nvme.io timeout kernel module parameter.
Third, the NVMe interface can transfer much larger amounts of data per I/O, and in some cases may be able to support more outstanding I/O requests, compared to the Xen PV block interface. This can cause higher I/O latency if very large I/Os or a large number of I/O requests are issued to volumes designed to support throughput workloads like EBS Throughput Optimized HDD (st1) and Cold HDD (sc1) volumes. This I/O latency is normal for throughput optimized volumes in these scenarios, but may cause I/O timeouts in NVMe drivers. The I/O timeout can be adjusted in the Linux driver by specifying a larger value for the nvme_core.io_timeout kernel module parameter.
What networking capabilities are included in this feature?
Enhanced Networking
Amazon EC2 | Compute
We currently support enhanced networking capabilities using SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization). SR-IOV is a method of device virtualization that provides higher I/O performance and lower CPU utilization compared to traditional implementations. For supported Amazon EC2 instances, this feature provides higher packet per second (PPS) performance, lower inter-instance latencies, and very low network jitter.
Why should I use Enhanced Networking?
Enhanced Networking
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If your applications benefit from high packet-per-second performance and/or low latency networking, Enhanced Networking will provide significantly improved performance, consistence of performance and scalability.
How can I enable Enhanced Networking on supported instances?
Enhanced Networking
Amazon EC2 | Compute
In order to enable this feature, you must launch an HVM AMI with the appropriate drivers. M5, C5, H1, R4, X1, I3, P3, P2, G3, and m4.16xlarge instances provide the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) interface (which uses the “ena” Linux driver) for Enhanced Networking. C3, C4, R3, I2, M4 (except m4.16xlarge) and D2 instances use Intel® 82599g Virtual Function Interface (which uses the “ixgbevf” Linux driver). Amazon Linux AMI includes both of these drivers by default. For AMIs that do not contain these drivers, you will need to download and install the appropriate drivers based on the instance types you plan to use. You can use Linux or Windows instructions to enable Enhanced Networking in AMIs that do not include the SR-IOV driver by default. Enhanced Networking is only supported in Amazon VPC.
Do I need to pay an additional fee to use Enhanced Networking?
Enhanced Networking
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, there is no additional fee for Enhanced Networking. To take advantage of Enhanced Networking you need to launch the appropriate AMI on a supported instance type in a VPC.
Why is Enhanced Networking only supported in Amazon VPC?
Enhanced Networking
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon VPC allows us to deliver many advanced networking features to you that are not possible in EC2-Classic. Enhanced Networking is another example of a capability enabled by Amazon VPC.
Which instance types support Enhanced Networking?
Enhanced Networking
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Currently C3, C4, C5, D2, I3, I2, H1, M5, M4, X1 and R3 instances support Enhanced Networking. X1, P2, P3, G3, I3, R4 and m4.16xlarge instances provide the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) interface for Enhanced Networking. C3, C4, R3, I2, M4 (except m4.16xlarge) and D2 instances, use Intel® 82599 Virtual Function Interface.
Which instance types offer NVMe instance storage?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
High I/O instances use NVMe based local instance storage to deliver very high, low latency, I/O capacity to applications, and are optimized for applications that require millions of IOPS. Like Cluster instances, High I/O instances can be clustered via cluster placement groups for high bandwidth networking.
What happens to my data when a system terminates?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The data stored on a local instance store will persist only as long as that instance is alive. However, data that is stored on an Amazon EBS volume will persist independently of the life of the instance. Therefore, we recommend that you use the local instance store for temporary data and, for data requiring a higher level of durability, we recommend using Amazon EBS volumes or backing up the data to Amazon S3. If you are using an Amazon EBS volume as a root partition, you will need to set the Delete On Terminate flag to “N” if you want your Amazon EBS volume to persist outside the life of the instance.
What kind of performance can I expect from Amazon EBS volumes?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EBS provides four current generation volume types and are divided into two major categories: SSD-backed storage for transactional workloads and HDD-backed storage for throughput intensive workloads. These volume types differ in performance characteristics and price, allowing you to tailor your storage performance and cost to the needs of your applications. For more information on see the EBS product details page, and for additional information on performance, see the Amazon EC2 User Guide’s EBS Performance section.
What are Throughput Optimized HDD (st1) and Cold HDD (sc1) volume types?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
ST1 volumes are backed by hard disk drives (HDDs) and are ideal for frequently accessed, throughput intensive workloads with large datasets and large I/O sizes, such as MapReduce, Kafka, log processing, data warehouse, and ETL workloads. These volumes deliver performance in terms of throughput, measured in MB/s, and include the ability to burst up to 250 MB/s per TB, with a baseline throughput of 40 MB/s per TB and a maximum throughput of 500 MB/s per volume. ST1 is designed to deliver the expected throughput performance 99% of the time and has enough I/O credits to support a full-volume scan at the burst rate.
SC1 volumes are backed by hard disk drives (HDDs) and provides the lowest cost per GB of all EBS volume types. It is ideal for less frequently accessed workloads with large, cold datasets. Similar to st1, sc1 provides a burst model: these volumes can burst up to 80 MB/s per TB, with a baseline throughput of 12 MB/s per TB and a maximum throughput of 250 MB/s per volume. For infrequently accessed data, sc1 provides extremely inexpensive storage. SC1 is designed to deliver the expected throughput performance 99% of the time and has enough I/O credits to support a full-volume scan at the burst rate.
To maximize the performance of st1 and sc1, we recommend using EBS-optimized EC2 instances.
Which volume type should I choose?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EBS includes two major categories of storage: SSD-backed storage for transactional workloads (performance depends primarily on IOPS) and HDD-backed storage for throughput workloads (performance depends primarily on throughput, measured in MB/s). SSD-backed volumes are designed for transactional, IOPS-intensive database workloads, boot volumes, and workloads that require high IOPS. SSD-backed volumes include Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) and General Purpose SSD (gp2). HDD-backed volumes are designed for throughput-intensive and big-data workloads, large I/O sizes, and sequential I/O patterns. HDD-backed volumes include Throughput Optimized HDD (st1) and Cold HDD (sc1). For more information on Amazon EBS see the EBS product details page.
Do you support multiple instances accessing a single volume?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
While you are able to attach multiple volumes to a single instance, attaching multiple instances to one volume is not supported at this time.
Will I be able to access my EBS snapshots using the regular Amazon S3 APIs?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, EBS snapshots are only available through the Amazon EC2 APIs.
Do volumes need to be un-mounted in order to take a snapshot? Does the snapshot need to complete before the volume can be used again?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, snapshots can be done in real time while the volume is attached and in use. However, snapshots only capture data that has been written to your Amazon EBS volume, which might exclude any data that has been locally cached by your application or OS. In order to ensure consistent snapshots on volumes attached to an instance, we recommend cleanly detaching the volume, issuing the snapshot command, and then reattaching the volume. For Amazon EBS volumes that serve as root devices, we recommend shutting down the machine to take a clean snapshot.
Are snapshots versioned? Can I read an older snapshot to do a point-in-time recovery?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Each snapshot is given a unique identifier, and customers can create volumes based on any of their existing snapshots.
What charges apply when using Amazon EBS shared snapshots?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If you share a snapshot, you won’t be charged when other users make a copy of your snapshot. If you make a copy of another user’s shared volume, you will be charged normal EBS rates.
Can users of my Amazon EBS shared snapshots change any of my data?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Users who have permission to create volumes based on your shared snapshots will first make a copy of the snapshot into their account. Users can modify their own copies of the data, but the data on your original snapshot and any other volumes created by other users from your original snapshot will remain unmodified.
How can I discover Amazon EBS snapshots that have been shared with me?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can find snapshots that have been shared with you by selecting “Private Snapshots” from the viewing dropdown in the Snapshots section of the AWS Management Console. This section will list both snapshots you own and snapshots that have been shared with you.
How can I find what Amazon EBS snapshots are shared globally?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can find snapshots that have been shared globally by selecting “Public Snapshots” from the viewing dropdown in the Snapshots section of the AWS Management Console.
Do you offer encryption on Amazon EBS volumes and snapshots?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. EBS offers seamless encryption of data volumes and snapshots. EBS encryption better enables you to meet security and encryption compliance requirements.
How can I find a list of Amazon Public Data Sets?
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
All information on Public Data Sets is available in our Public Data Sets Resource Center. You can also obtain a listing of Public Data Sets within the AWS Management Console by choosing “Amazon Snapshots” from the viewing dropdown in the Snapshots section.
Where can I learn more about EBS?
Amazon Elastic File Storage (EFS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can visit the Amazon EBS FAQ page.
How do I access a file system from an Amazon EC2 instance?
Amazon Elastic File Storage (EFS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
To access your file system, you mount the file system on an Amazon EC2 Linux-based instance using the standard Linux mount command and the file system’s DNS name. Once you’ve mounted, you can work with the files and directories in your file system just like you would with a local file system.
Amazon EFS uses the NFSv4.1 protocol. For a step-by-step example of how to access a file system from an Amazon EC2 instance, please see the Amazon EFS Getting Started guide.
What Amazon EC2 instance types and AMIs work with Amazon EFS?
Amazon Elastic File Storage (EFS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EFS is compatible with all Amazon EC2 instance types and is accessible from Linux-based AMIs. You can mix and match the instance types connected to a single file system. For a step-by-step example of how to access a file system from an Amazon EC2 instance, please see the Amazon EFS Getting Started guide.
How do I load data into a file system?
Amazon Elastic File Storage (EFS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can load data into an Amazon EFS file system from your Amazon EC2 instances or from your on-premises datacenter servers.
Amazon EFS file systems can be mounted on an Amazon EC2 instance, so any data that is accessible to an Amazon EC2 instance can also be read and written to Amazon EFS. To load data that is not currently stored on the Amazon cloud, you can use the same methods you use to transfer files to Amazon EC2 today, such as Secure Copy (SCP).
Amazon EFS file systems can also be mounted on an on-premises server, so any data that is accessible to an on-premises server can be read and written to Amazon EFS using standard Linux tools. For more information about accessing a file system from an on-premises server, please see the On-premises Access section of the Amazon EFS FAQ.
For more information about moving data to the Amazon cloud, please see the Cloud Data Migration page.
How do I access my file system from outside my VPC?
Amazon Elastic File Storage (EFS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EC2 instances within your VPC can access your file system directly, and Amazon EC2 Classic instances outside your VPC can mount a file system via ClassicLink. On-premises servers can mount your file systems via an AWS Direct Connect connection to your VPC.
How many Amazon EC2 instances can connect to a file system?
Amazon Elastic File Storage (EFS)
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon EFS supports one to thousands of Amazon EC2 instances connecting to a file system concurrently.
Where can I learn more about EFS?
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can visit the Amazon EFS FAQ page.
What is the minimum time interval granularity for the data that Amazon CloudWatch receives and aggregates?
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Metrics are received and aggregated at 1 minute intervals.
Which operating systems does Amazon CloudWatch support?
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Amazon CloudWatch receives and provides metrics for all Amazon EC2 instances and should work with any operating system currently supported by the Amazon EC2 service.
Will I lose the metrics data if I disable monitoring for an Amazon EC2 instance?
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can retrieve metrics data for any Amazon EC2 instance up to 2 weeks from the time you started to monitor it. After 2 weeks, metrics data for an Amazon EC2 instance will not be available if monitoring was disabled for that Amazon EC2 instance. If you want to archive metrics beyond 2 weeks you can do so by calling mon-get-stats command from the command line and storing the results in Amazon S3 or Amazon SimpleDB.
Can I access the metrics data for a terminated Amazon EC2 instance or a deleted Elastic Load Balancer?
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. Amazon CloudWatch stores metrics for terminated Amazon EC2 instances or deleted Elastic Load Balancers for 2 weeks.
Does the Amazon CloudWatch monitoring charge change depending on which type of Amazon EC2 instance I monitor?
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, the Amazon CloudWatch monitoring charge does not vary by Amazon EC2 instance type.
Why does the graphing of the same time window look different when I view in 5 minute and 1 minute periods?
Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If you view the same time window in a 5 minute period versus a 1 minute period, you may see that data points are displayed in different places on the graph. For the period you specify in your graph, Amazon CloudWatch will find all the available data points and calculates a single, aggregate point to represent the entire period. In the case of a 5 minute period, the single data point is placed at the beginning of the 5 minute time window. In the case of a 1 minute period, the single data point is placed at the 1 minute mark. We recommend using a 1 minute period for troubleshooting and other activities that require the most precise graphing of time periods.
Can I automatically scale my Amazon EC2 fleets?
Elastic Load Balancing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling is a fully managed service designed to launch or terminate Amazon EC2 instances automatically to help ensure you have the correct number of Amazon EC2 instances available to handle the load for your application. EC2 Auto Scaling helps you maintain application availability through fleet management for EC2 instances, which detects and replaces unhealthy instances, and by scaling your Amazon EC2 capacity up or down automatically according to conditions you define. You can use EC2 Auto Scaling to automatically increase the number of Amazon EC2 instances during demand spikes to maintain performance and decrease capacity during lulls to reduce costs. For more information see the Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling FAQ.
What load balancing options does the Elastic Load Balancing service offer?
Elastic Load Balancing
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Elastic Load Balancing offers two types of load balancers that both feature high availability, automatic scaling, and robust security. These include the Classic Load Balancer that routes traffic based on either application or network level information, and the Application Load Balancer that routes traffic based on advanced application level information that includes the content of the request.
When should I use the Classic Load Balancer and when should I use the Application Load Balancer?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The Classic Load Balancer is ideal for simple load balancing of traffic across multiple EC2 instances, while the Application Load Balancer is ideal for applications needing advanced routing capabilities, microservices, and container-based architectures. Please visit Elastic Load Balancing for more information.
What is a Reserved Instance?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
A Reserved Instance (RI) is an EC2 offering that provides you with a significant discount on EC2 usage when you commit to a one-year or three-year term.
What are the differences between Standard RIs and Convertible RIs?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Standard RIs offer a significant discount on EC2 instance usage when you commit to a particular instance family. Convertible RIs offer you the option to change your instance configuration during the term, and still receive a discount on your EC2 usage. For more information on Convertible RIs, please click here.
Do RIs provide a capacity reservation?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, when a Standard or Convertible RI is scoped to a specific Availability Zone (AZ), instance capacity matching the exact RI configuration is reserved for your use (these are referred to as “zonal RIs”). Zonal RIs give you additional confidence in your ability to launch instances when you need them.
You can also choose to forego the capacity reservation and purchase Standard or Convertible RIs that are scoped to a region (referred to as “regional RIs”). Regional RIs automatically apply the discount to usage across Availability Zones and instance sizes in a region, making it easier for you to take advantage of the RI’s discounted rate.
When should I purchase a zonal RI?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If you want to take advantage of the capacity reservation, then you should buy an RI in a specific Availability Zone.
When should I purchase a regional RI?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If you do not require the capacity reservation, then you should buy a regional RI. Regional RIs provide AZ and instance size flexibility, which offers broader applicability of the RI’s discounted rate.
What are Availability Zone and instance size flexibility?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Availability Zone and instance size flexibility make it easier for you to take advantage of your regional RI’s discounted rate. Availability Zone flexibility applies your RI’s discounted rate to usage in any Availability Zone in a region, while instance size flexibility applies your RI’s discounted rate to usage of any size within an instance family. Let’s say you own an m5.2xlarge Linux/Unix regional RI with default tenancy in US East (N.Virginia). Then this RI’s discounted rate can automatically apply to two m5.xlarge instances in us-east-1a or four m5.large instances in us-east-1b.
What types of RIs provide instance size flexibility?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Linux/Unix regional RIs with the default tenancy provide instance size flexibility. Instance size flexibility is not available on RIs of other platforms such as Windows, Windows with SQL Standard, Windows with SQL Server Enterprise, Windows with SQL Server Web, RHEL, and SLES.
Do I need to take any action to take advantage of Availability Zone and instance size flexibility?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Regional RIs do not require any action to take advantage of Availability Zone and instance size flexibility.
I own zonal RIs how do I assign them to a region?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can assign your Standard zonal RIs to a region by modifying the scope of the RI from a specific Availability Zone to a region from the EC2 management console or by using the ModifyReservedInstances API.
How do I purchase an RI?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
To get started, you can purchase an RI from the EC2 Management Console or by using the AWS CLI. Simply specify the instance type, platform, tenancy, term, payment option, and region or Availability Zone.
Can I purchase an RI for a running instance?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, AWS will automatically apply an RI’s discounted rate to any applicable instance usage from the time of purchase. Visit the Getting Started page to learn more.
Can I control which instances are billed at the discounted rate?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No. AWS automatically optimizes which instances are charged at the discounted rate to ensure you always pay the lowest amount. For information about billing, and how it applies to RIs, see Billing Benefits and Payment Options.
How does instance size flexibility work?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
EC2 uses the scale shown below, to compare different sizes within an instance family. In the case of instance size flexibility on RIs, this scale is used to apply the discounted rate of RIs to the normalized usage of the instance family. For example, if you have an m5.2xlarge RI that is scoped to a region, then your discounted rate could apply towards the usage of 1 m5.2xlarge or 2 m5.xlarge instances.
Click here to learn more about how instance size flexibility of RIs applies to your EC2 usage. And click here to learn about how instance size flexibility of RIs is presented in the Cost and Usage Report.
Instance Size
Normalization Factor
nano
0.25
micro 0.5
small 1
medium 2
large 4
xlarge 8
2xlarge 16
4xlarge 32
8xlarge 64
9xlarge 72
10xlarge 80
12xlarge 96
16xlarge 128
18xlarge 144
24xlarge 192
32xlarge 256
Can I change my RI during its term?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, you can modify the Availability Zone of the RI, change the scope of the RI from Availability Zone to region (and vice-versa), change the network platform from EC2-VPC to EC2-Classic (and vice versa) or modify instance sizes within the same instance family (on the Linux/Unix platform).
Can I change the instance type of my RI during its term?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, Convertible RIs offer you the option to change the instance type, operating system, tenancy or payment option of your RI during its term. Please refer to the Convertible RI section of the FAQ for additional information.
What are the different payment options for RIs?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can choose from three payment options when you purchase an RI. With the All Upfront option, you pay for the entire RI term with one upfront payment. With the Partial Upfront option, you make a low upfront payment and are then charged a discounted hourly rate for the instance for the duration of the RI term. The No Upfront option does not require any upfront payment and provides a discounted hourly rate for the duration of the term.
When are RIs activated?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The billing discount and capacity reservation (if applicable) is activated once your payment has successfully been authorized. You can view the status (pending | active | retired) of your RIs on the “Reserved Instances” page of the Amazon EC2 Console.
Do RIs apply to Spot instances or instances running on a Dedicated Host?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, RIs do not apply to Spot instances or instances running on Dedicated Hosts. To lower the cost of using Dedicated Hosts, purchase Dedicated Host Reservations.
How do RIs work with Consolidated Billing?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Our system automatically optimizes which instances are charged at the discounted rate to ensure that the consolidated accounts always pay the lowest amount. If you own RIs that apply to an Availability Zone, then only the account which owns the RI will receive the capacity reservation. However, the discount will automatically apply to usage in any account across your consolidated billing family.
Can I get a discount on RI purchases?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, EC2 provides tiered discounts on RI purchases. These discounts are determined based on the total list value (non-discounted price) for the active RIs you have per region. Your total list value is the sum of all expected payments for an RI within the term, including both the upfront and recurring hourly payments. The tier ranges and corresponding discounts are shown alongside.
Tier Range of List Value
Discount on Upfront
Discount on Hourly
Less than $500k
0%
0%
$500k-$4M
5%
5%
$4M-$10M 10% 10%
More than $10M Call Us
Can you help me understand how volume discounts are applied to my RI purchases?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Sure. Let’s assume that you currently have $400,000 worth of active RIs in the US-east-1 region. Now, if you purchase RIs worth $150,000 in the same region, then the first $100,000 of this purchase would not receive a discount. However, the remaining $50,000 of this purchase would be discounted by 5 percent, so you would only be charged $47,500 for this portion of the purchase over the term based on your payment option.
To learn more, please visit the Understanding Reserved Instance Discount Pricing Tier portion of the Amazon EC2 User Guide.
How do I calculate the list value of an RI?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Here is a sample list value calculation for three-year Partial Upfront Reserved Instances:
3yr Partial Upfront Volume Discount Value in US-East
Upfront $
Recurring Hourly $
Recurring Hourly Value
List Value
m3.xlarge
$ 1,345
$ 0.060
$ 1,577
$ 2,922
c3.xlarge
$ 1,016
$ 0.045
$ 1,183
$ 2,199
How are volume discounts calculated if I use Consolidated Billing?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
If you leverage Consolidated Billing, AWS will use the aggregate total list price of active RIs across all of your consolidated accounts to determine which volume discount tier to apply. Volume discount tiers are determined at the time of purchase, so you should activate Consolidated Billing prior to purchasing RIs to ensure that you benefit from the largest possible volume discount that your consolidated accounts are eligible to receive.
Do Convertible RIs qualify for Volume Discounts?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, however the value of each Convertible RI that you purchase contributes to your volume discount tier standing.
How do I determine which volume discount tier applies to me?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
To determine your current volume discount tier, please consult the Understanding Reserved Instance Discount Pricing Tiers portion of the Amazon EC2 User Guide.
Will the cost of my RIs change, if my future volume qualifies me for other discount tiers?
Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No. Volume discounts are determined at the time of purchase, therefore the cost of your RIs will continue to remain the same as you qualify for other discount tiers. Any new purchase will be discounted according to your eligible volume discount tier at the time of purchase.
Do I need to take any action at the time of purchase to receive volume discounts?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, you will automatically receive volume discounts when you use the existing PurchaseReservedInstance API or EC2 Management Console interface to purchase RIs. If you purchase more than $10M worth of RIs contact us about receiving discounts beyond those that are automatically provided.
What is a Convertible RI?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
A Convertible RI is a type of Reserved Instance with attributes that can be changed during the term.
When should I purchase a Convertible RI instead of a Standard RI?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
The Convertible RI is useful for customers who can commit to using EC2 instances for a three-year term in exchange for a significant discount on their EC2 usage, are uncertain about their instance needs in the future, or want to benefit from changes in price.
What term length options are available on Convertible RIs?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Like Standard RIs, Convertible RIs are available for purchase for a one-year or three-year term.
Can I exchange my Convertible RI to benefit from a Convertible RI matching a different instance type, operating system, tenancy, or payment option?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
Yes, you can select a new instance type, operating system, tenancy, or payment option when you exchange your Convertible RIs. You also have the flexibility to exchange a portion of your Convertible RI or merge the value of multiple Convertible RIs in a single exchange. Click here to learn more about exchanging Convertible RIs.
Can I transfer a Convertible or Standard RI from one region to another?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, a RI is associated with a specific region, which is fixed for the duration of the reservation’s term.
How do I change the configuration of a Convertible RI?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
You can change the configuration of your Convertible RI using the EC2 Management Console or the GetReservedInstancesExchangeQuote API. You also have the flexibility to exchange a portion of your Convertible RI or merge the value of multiple Convertible RIs in a single exchange. Click here to learn more about exchanging Convertible RIs.
Do I need to pay a fee when I exchange my Convertible RIs?
Convertible Reserved Instances
Amazon EC2 | Compute
No, you do not pay a fee when you exchange your RIs. However may need to pay a one-time true-up charge that accounts for differences in pricing between the Convertible RIs that you have and the Convertible RIs that you want.
